Alexandre Thivierge, Regional Manager
Alexandre Thivierge, Regional Manager
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Things were buzzing in the Hunter Engineering booth at the NADA Show this year. It was one supplier at NADA that didn’t really have to talk a lot about their products, because they were fully on display with interactive demos and lots of onlookers.
The company showcased its automated Quick Check vehicle inspection system, and the Revolution Walkaway Tire Changer, among many other new products. “Dealers are pressed for time, they’re trying to make money in service and every dollar counts. The Quick Check Drive is a product designed to raise the dollar per RO, to try to take every opportunity that comes in the door,” said Alexandre Thivierge, a Regional Manager with Hunter Engineering.
As the vehicles drive into the automated vehicle inspection system, it provides information directly to the customer about any alignment or tire issue with their vehicle. “It’s there to create customer retention and raise CSI because you’re creating transparency from the time the customer drives in to the time you actually see the supervisor. And that is very, very important,” said Thivierge.
He said customers appreciate getting free information about the condition of their vehicle. “If you’re providing them with the right information upfront, they’re going to trust you. So that does speak a lot to the world of dealerships.”
He said there’s a perception among some dealers that if you don’t have a service advisor there explaining everything that needs to be done, people don’t buy the services. “But they do want to make decisions on their own. So you give them that information. People are not trusting humans as much as before, they’re trusting their phone, they’re trusting computers. So it’s the same thing that’s happening in F&I,” he said.
The company also showcased a new rack, designed for Canada and the Northern states, and that features a rich zinc primer that helps the powder coat stay on the rack longer in tough environmental conditions and with salt.
The company’s Revolution automated tire changeover machine was also on display. “There’s two times a year that dealerships are backed up like crazy. It’s tire changeover season. They can’t seem to get enough throughput. So a product like this would help them,” he said. “Then you can take more work, you can do two jobs instead of doing one.”
He said the machine is much less physically demanding than traditional tire changeover methods, so that means dealerships can employ different staff who don’t need the physical strength to do the task.
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