Why Do Service Drive Programs Fail?

• When dealers say service drive acquisition didn't work, the cause is often the person they hired or a tool that never really automated anything.

• A tool that only produces results when someone sits down and works it every day tends to stall, and if no one uses it, nothing happens.

• Mike's starting point is that no one has to use the tool. The only barrier to entry is whether your team can answer the leads that come into your CRM.

• Stair step one is handling hand raisers with your current staff, not building a new role around a dashboard.

• MOTO(drive) stores consistently buy about 1% of their repair orders without dedicated service acquisition hires.

Ask around and you will hear it from plenty of dealers: we tried service drive acquisition and it didn't work. Before you write the whole idea off, it is worth asking why. Why do service drive programs fail? In most stores, the answer has less to do with the service lane and more to do with how the program was set up and who was expected to run it.

Mike Crothers, CEO of MOTO(acquire), hears this story often. The follow-up is almost always the same: "We hired a guy," and then a list of reasons it fell apart.

Why do service drive programs fail?

Mike points to two common causes. One: maybe you hired the wrong person. A program built around a single dedicated hire lives or dies with that person, and if the fit is wrong, the program goes with them.

Two: the tools did not really automate anything. In Mike's words, they "almost made the tool so that somebody has to work it." A tool that only produces results when someone sits in front of it every day is closer to a job description than to automation.

That is where a lot of programs quietly die. Mike has heard from many dealers who pulled their people off of those programs, and the reason was simple: no one was using it. And if no one uses it, nothing happens.

The hidden cost of a tool someone has to work

Think about what it takes to get a new person productive on a manual service acquisition tool. Mike describes it this way: imagine training a new person. "This is how you read this dashboard. And here's who you're going to call. And here's who you're not going to call. And when you call them, here's what you're going to say."

That is a lot of process to stand up before a single car gets bought. It also has to be rebuilt every time that person leaves, gets pulled onto the sales floor, or simply stops logging in. Every one of those steps is a place where the program can stall.

If you are evaluating service drive acquisition software, this is the question to ask: does the tool do the work, or does it hand your team more work?

Start with stair step one: hand raisers and your current staff

Mike's approach flips the setup. The starting point is that no one has to use it. The only barrier to entry, as he puts it, is a simple question: can you answer the leads that come into your CRM?

If your team can do that, they already have what they need. Can they sell a car? Yes. Can they ask a customer questions? Yes. That is the skill set for working a service customer who has said they are open to selling.

"Stair step one," Mike says. "Let's call and handle hand raisers with our current staff." Instead of building a new role and a new daily routine around a dashboard, you let automation surface the customers who want a conversation and let the people you already have take it from there.

This is what service drive acquisition without a buyer looks like in practice. You are not asking a dedicated hire to dig through repair orders. You are asking your existing team to respond to customers who already raised their hand.

How MOTO(drive) handles service drive acquisition

MOTO(drive) is the MOTO(acquire) service drive acquisition product. It uses DMS data and automated texts to reach service customers, pushes VIN and miles to inventory tools, and alerts the sales team when a customer is ready.

The idea matches what Mike describes in the video: the program should keep running whether or not someone logs in to work it. MOTO(drive) stores consistently buy about 1% of their repair orders without dedicated service acquisition hires.

MOTO(acquire) integrates with all major DMS platforms and many others, including Tekion, Dealertrack, CDK, Reynolds, and Auto/Mate. If your DMS is not one of those, MOTO(acquire) will build the integration. To see what going live can look like, watch how a dealership bought a car within hours of going live, or browse more videos on service drive acquisition.