Adaptations to curb virus spread could 'change everything' in fixed ops

Mobile servicing. Pickup and delivery. Electronic payments. Gloves. Masks. Steering wheel covers. Disinfecting supplies.

These are some of the new tools that have been pressed into service in the past month by fixed ops directors as auto dealerships adapt to life in the coronavirus era.

At many stores in the scores of states where governors have issued orders restricting or banning auto sales, fixed operations are shouldering the financial load. Service and parts and body repair have been deemed essential, and those departments have remained open with reduced hours and fewer staff.

Based on consumer surveys conducted in late March, Cox Automotive estimates that franchised new-car dealerships’ fixed ops departments will take a massive financial hit this year because of consumers delaying service and maintenance. Jonathan Smoke, Cox’s chief economist, said 29 percent of consumers surveyed plan to delay maintenance and service as they shelter in place.

Though business is far from normal, fixed ops directors and dealers have relied on creativity, caution and courage as they help fleet customers and others in need of repairs, such as first responders and health care workers, to keep vehicles on the road.

There is no template for how to do this that works for all stores. Dealership layouts, geography, the concentration of the pandemic, equipment on hand, personnel and the store’s finances mean there is no one-size-fits-all way for fixed ops directors to approach running their businesses as the nation grapples with the virus.

Stores around the country have rolled out many strategies that create distance between service personnel and customers in an effort to help slow the spread of COVID-19 in dealerships. But coming to work is still risky business, says Rob Gehring, president of Fixed Performance, a consulting firm specializing in fixed operations.

“We’re in some uncharted territory because there is no real strong way to keep everybody safe,” Gehring told Fixed Ops Journal.

He says these challenging times are a perfect opportunity for dealerships to be determined and resolute in their efforts to innovate and improve their fixed operations. After all, Gehring says, with service departments being deemed an essential service, the work done in the back half of a dealership is not just numbers on a financial statement.

“Fixed operations have instantly become critical for survival of car dealerships,” he says.

Once this crisis is over and dealership operations return to normal, what will happen to the measures — pickup and delivery, mobile servicing, videotaped multipoint inspections,  communication by text message and electronic signatures — undertaken as a means to stay in business? Brian Benstock, general manager of Paragon Honda and Paragon Acura in Queens, N.Y., says parts and service departments will be permanently changed.

Benstock, whose dealerships were ahead of the curve on pickup and delivery of service vehicles, believes customers have never wanted to visit service departments. The changes brought on by the coronavirus era will ease customers into making pickup and delivery and other concierge services a permanent way to have their vehicles serviced.

“This is going to change everything,” he says. “Prior to this, customers wanted to share control of the process. Now, customers are going to insist that they are safe and in control.

“Customers want control of their safety and are no longer going to trust it to anybody. And that, I think, is going to cause us to rethink everything.”