Wading into online parts sales, collision

The third installment of the Fixed Ops Journal Forum featured discussions about dealership parts sales and the collision business.

Brian Crossin, an instructor at the NADA Academy, and Mike King, parts director at Tasca Automotive Group in Cranston, R.I., began their conversation by talking about how dealerships can sell more parts.

Later, Michael Cuene, co-owner and managing partner at Broadway Automotive in Green Bay, Wis., addressed the dealership collision business. Broadway Automotive is building a 70,000-square-foot collision facility.

Here are edited highlights on:

Why it's a good time to sell parts online

Crossin: With the pandemic, with consumer buying habits changing rapidly, the opportunities dealers have now to sell parts online is really just endless.

Convenience is the name of the game. And e-commerce is one of the easiest ways to add convenience to your parts department for your customers.

What dealerships need to know before committing to selling parts online

King: Diving into the online world is not for the faint of heart. It comes with its own set of pitfalls, and most of them cost money. And then it's not a case of, "Build a website and they will come."

You build the website and then you work your tail off to go find those customers and let them know that you are there to take care of them. And it takes a while. It's not something that happens overnight.

What dealerships need to do to attract customers to their parts website

Crossin: [You need to] make sure [your parts page is] available on your [dealership] website as a focus. It needs to have a front-and-center splash page. It needs to be on your scroller ads. Blog posts and videos are super helpful, especially the things that customers need to know how to do, like install a key fob battery or install their wiper blades.

Dispelling the notion that you can't compete against Amazon

King: I don't know if competing against them is really the right way to think about it. You're better off to hone your own skills and do what you do as best you can and let the buying public who purchase from you — let them experience a good buying experience and then they're not so quick to go back to Amazon. Identify your marketplace, know who your customer base is and then do everything you can — and in your processes — to make sure you take care of them. And they get what they need at a price they feel is advantageous to buy from you as opposed to anywhere else.

Cuene: Identify the top 15 to 20 insurance companies in your area, understand who they are and then try and develop a relationship with those companies. Understanding that insurance company piece of it along with the rates. Also identify what those requirements are for insurance companies in your area. What sort of equipment are they looking for? What software do they require? What sort of training standards do they have? You have to build kind of the foundation first before you have the opportunity to ask the insurance company to be part of their network.

Embracing technology is a huge part of that. I believe technician development is very, very important. And then to be successful, I think you have to have a good estimating process.

Competing against independent collision centers

Cuene: I believe competition will make it better as long as you achieve the core foundation of making sure you're taking care of the guests when they're on your campus.

Our core philosophy is fixed coverage and fixed operations. And the collision center is part of the customer life cycle for us. The number of visits that we can keep at our dealership increases the likelihood that they're going to use our collision center and increases the likelihood they're going to use our service department.

Whether dealerships have a competitive advantage over independents

Cuene: If you're in the business, I believe you have to make the financial commitment to be in the business.

Do I believe that franchised car dealers will have perhaps a slight edge over an independent? I don't believe so. That would be underestimating the market. They have access to the same technology we do. So I don't believe it's going to give us an edge.

I just think you have to stay ahead of the curve, and understand what the collision center industry is worth, to make sure that you're leading the pack.