Service adviser becomes a lifeline

Before the coronavirus pandemic, Thomas Cocuzzo, a service adviser at Lexus of Watertown, had never been to a customer's home.

His store, just outside Boston, had long offered white-glove pickup and delivery service to customers, averaging five appointments a day. That number has since increased to 25 a day. But Cocuzzo, 28, wasn't at his customer's house for his car. He was there to take him prescriptions for cancer treatment.

"We had gone down to a skeleton crew. He had reached my desk and found out that I was furloughed. He found me on Facebook," Cocuzzo told Automotive News. "He said, 'Tommy, I don't know who else to turn to.' "

The man, a dealership customer in his 70s whom Cocuzzo had worked with for several years, had been diagnosed with cancer prior to the pandemic. His children didn't live in the area, he told Cocuzzo in April, and with a compromised immune system, he didn't feel comfortable leaving the house to get his medication.

What's more, his car wouldn't start.

Cocuzzo called the dealership, and service employees went out to diagnose and fix the car. While dropping off the medication, Cocuzzo realized his customer was light on groceries. Cocuzzo asked for a list of what his customer needed. "I didn't really think twice about it," he said.

After two weeks, Cocuzzo returned to work from furlough, and continued to run occasional errands for his customer.

Amanda Carr, service manager at Lexus of Watertown, said the dealership chose not to close during the pandemic because of the high concentration of essential workers in its customer base.

"We're very close to the hospitals, and our clientele is a lot of doctors and nurses," she said. "Not once did our dealership close."

The customer's son has since moved to the area to care for his father, but the dad still checks in with Cocuzzo about once a week.

"When he reached out to me on Facebook, I put myself in his shoes," Cocuzzo said. "At that time, I could help him out."