Why Do Dealers Struggle With Service Drive Acquisition? Four Takeaways From Dealer Calls
Every dealer wants more cars out of service, yet most stores stall before they start. Mike Crothers shares what dealers told him and what separates the stores already buying.
Most dealers have already tried service drive acquisition with printed sheets, a new process, or some technology, and it did not stick.
Many stores are waiting to hire the perfect service drive person, and one store has been waiting for over a year.
A busy showroom pulls salespeople and managers away from mining service opportunities, so the store's own success works against it.
Dealers who stop waiting for the right hire and use the service customers, salespeople, and sales managers they already have are getting results today.
A Subaru store in Illinois bought eight cars out of service in about 25 days without a dedicated service acquisition person.
Ask any dealer if they want more cars out of service and the answer is yes, every time. So why do dealers struggle with service drive acquisition? I spoke with a group of dealers about it last week, and the same four themes came up on almost every call.
None of them were about a lack of interest. They were about timing, people, and a showroom that never slows down.
What I heard from dealers about service drive acquisition
Most of them have tried it before. Printing sheets out, trying to put some process in place, leveraging some technology. The intent was there. It just did not hold.
A lot of them are waiting to hire the perfect service drive person. One store has been waiting for over a year to find the right person. That is a year of service customers driving in and out without anyone asking about their car.
The success of their business is the detriment to them. When the showroom gets busy, salespeople and managers get pulled away from mining service opportunities. Other things happen, and the service drive is the first thing to slide.
Every single one of them wants more cars out of service. Nobody I talked to was on the fence about the goal.
Why do dealers struggle with service drive acquisition?
Put those four takeaways together and the pattern is clear. Dealers are not struggling because they do not see the value. They are struggling because they treat service drive acquisition as something that has to wait for the right hire, the right process, or a slow month.
A slow month rarely comes. If the plan depends on someone walking the drive with a printed list, it breaks the first busy Saturday. If the plan depends on hiring a specialist, it can sit on hold for a year while the cars keep leaving.
Meanwhile, you are paying to acquire inventory at auction while equity rolls through your service lane every day. That gap is what every dealer on those calls was trying to close.
Do dealers need a dedicated service drive acquisition manager?
Our big conclusion: the dealers who are not waiting to hire the right person are the ones getting results today. We believe dealers already have what they need. They have service customers. They have salespeople. They have sales managers.
Here is an example. We have a Subaru store in Illinois that launched about 25 days ago and has already bought eight cars out of service. They did it without a dedicated service acquisition person.
Start first, then build the process
That store did not wait for a perfect org chart. They started buying, and now they are ready to put more process in place and pour gas on the fire. Results first gives you something to build a process around. Waiting for the perfect person first often gives you nothing to build on at all.
If you want to see how other stores approach it, browse our service drive acquisition videos or watch how one dealer group profited from service acquisition.
Where MOTO(drive) fits
MOTO(drive) is built for stores that want to buy cars from service customers without adding a service buyer. It uses your DMS data and automated texts to reach service customers, pushes VIN and miles to your inventory tools, and alerts your sales team when a customer is ready.
That means the work does not depend on someone remembering to walk the drive when the showroom is slammed. MOTO(drive) stores consistently buy about 1% of their repair orders without dedicated service acquisition hires.
If you are a dealer who wants to try service drive acquisition, reach out to us. We will help you get started with the team you already have.
Frequently asked questions
Why do dealers struggle with service drive acquisition?
In Mike's conversations with dealers, the issue was not interest. Most had tried it with printed sheets or a new process, many were waiting to hire the perfect service drive person, and a busy showroom kept pulling people away from service opportunities.
Do dealers need a dedicated service drive acquisition manager?
Mike's view is no. Dealers already have service customers, salespeople, and sales managers, and the stores that stopped waiting for the right hire are getting results today. A Subaru store in Illinois bought eight cars out of service in about 25 days without a dedicated service acquisition person.
Can you buy cars from service customers when the showroom is busy?
Yes, if the process does not depend on someone walking the drive by hand. MOTO(drive) uses DMS data and automated texts to reach service customers and alerts the sales team when a customer is ready, so a busy showroom does not stop the outreach.
Which DMS platforms does MOTO(drive) work with?
MOTO(acquire) integrates with all major DMS platforms and many others, including Tekion, Dealertrack, CDK, Reynolds, and Auto/Mate. If your store uses a DMS we do not integrate with yet, we will build the integration.
What kind of results do stores see from service drive acquisition without a buyer?
MOTO(drive) stores consistently buy about 1% of their repair orders without dedicated service acquisition hires. Mike's advice is to start with the team you have, get results, and then add more process once it is working.
Find out what's sitting in your service drive
See how MOTO(drive) stores consistently buy about 1% of repair orders without adding a service buyer. Start with our service drive readiness questionnaire.
More on Service Drive Acquisition
Full transcript
I spoke with a group of dealers about service drive acquisition last week, and here are the four major takeaways from those calls. One, most of them have tried it before: printing sheets out, trying to put some process in place, leveraging some technology. Two, a lot of them are waiting to hire the perfect service drive person. One store has been waiting for over a year to try to find the right person.
Three, the success of their business is the detriment to them. They're getting pulled away from mining service opportunities because the showroom gets busy and other things happen. Then number four, of course, every single one of them wants more cars out of service. The big conclusion on our end is that the dealers who aren't waiting to hire the right person are starting to get results today.
We believe dealers have what they need already. They have service customers, they have salespeople, they have sales managers. At MOTO(acquire), we have a Subaru store here in Illinois who launched about 25 days ago and already bought eight cars out of service without having a dedicated service acquisition person. Now they're ready to start putting more process in place and pour gas on the fire. So if you're a dealer who wants to try service drive acquisition, comment below or reach out to us. We'll help you.