Overview
Fixed-ops consultant Frank Eckert argues that dealerships lose service revenue more to unclear pricing, slow scheduling, and inconsistent processes than to customer resistance. He recommends prioritizing transparency, speed, and practical uses of AI to reduce friction, boost approvals, and increase retention.
Key Recommendations
- Show clear, specific prices tied to defined services with plain-language descriptions that explain the value.
- Simplify online schedulers to minimize clicks and information gaps that cause abandonment.
- Track take rates to diagnose pricing issues vs. value communication gaps.
- Empower advisors with controlled flexibility (e.g., seasonal specials, selective employee pricing) to overcome cost objections without eroding margins.
- Adopt AI-enabled scheduling for 24/7 booking, rescheduling, and cancellations with instant confirmations and reminders to cut no-shows.
- Use AI to augment staff by removing manual tasks so advisors can focus on inspections, estimates, and customer conversations.
- Align sales, service, and parts on pricing, timelines, and messaging to deliver a consistent experience.
- Ensure marketing offers match in-store reality to avoid friction and preserve credibility.
- Follow up on declined work or missed appointments with data-driven, timely, and tailored outreach rather than blanket discounts.
Why It Matters
Answering “how much” and “how long” upfront, streamlining digital interactions, and maintaining cross-department consistency reduce cancellations and handoff friction. The result is steadier bay utilization, higher approval rates, and stronger customer loyalty.
Practical Low-Cost Tweaks
- Clean up service descriptions in online schedulers to lower drop-off.
- Provide advisors pre-approved pricing levers to lift acceptances without changing menu pricing.
- Enable after-hours AI scheduling to capture customers when call centers are closed.
Bottom Line
Dealerships control key variables that determine whether customers book, show, and authorize work. By systemically improving transparency, speed, and process consistency—supported by practical AI—stores can convert more interactions into completed jobs and recurring visits.
