Service department designs have evolved in the past few years to the extent that they are becoming more of an ‘on-display’ feature within the dealership facility, said Robert Arnone, Vice-President of RH Carter Architects Inc. and the lead architect for Ford Canada’s Ford, Lincoln and Quick Lane brands.
“The current trend is to celebrate service and improve the transparency between sales and service,” said Arnone.
In some cases, Arnone said the service department actually forms the basis for the facility design, making it the focal point of the dealership operation.
“Ford has long thought that placing and designing the customer lounge and cafe with views into the service department creates a dynamic that improves customer perception,” said Arnone.
“It does this by exposing the business to customers and elevating their level of trust, puts the expertise of the technicians on display, and demonstrates to customers the care the fixed operations staff takes to keep the facilities clean, organized, visible and free of clutter.”
For example, Shanahan Ford Lincoln in Newmarket, Ont., was designed around this premise and offers full transparency, from showroom into service, through the customer lounge and cafe areas.
Consulting and design firm Autoplan Plus Inc. has a distinctive vision of how a dealership’s service area should be set up.
“We’re operational planners,” said owner Gordon Manock. “Our focus is on what we call the sales-service transition.”
This includes offering complete vehicle diagnostics in the drive-through. “Offering diagnostics allows you to bring customers back, even at non-scheduled intervals,” he said.
An example of this type of operation is Nurse Chevrolet Cadillac, in Whitby, Ont., an Autoplan Plus customer five years ago. The dealership boasts that customers will find its lube, oil and filter service to be a “one-of-a-kind experience.”
Prior to the dealership’s renovation and expansion five years ago, “we were the specialists in the four-hour or five-hour oil change,” said Mary Nurse, dealer principal of Nurse Cadillac Chevrolet.
“When Autoplan presented the full package for what we now call the Envirolube Lane, we knew we’d hit the jackpot.”
When a vehicle enters the lane, the interior is cleaned, and then it is positioned on a Hunter 400 for diagnostics. It then proceeds to the lube lane. Finally, it goes through an exterior car wash.
Customers don’t have to wait in a lineup and they don’t have to make an appointment. As a result, “the volume of our lube business has gone up,” said Nurse.
“My favourite part of the process is the mat washer,” Nurse added. “It’s included in the package. Having a clean car on the inside is so much more noticeable and more significant than anything else that possibly could be done. When I look over customer comments, it’s the ‘clean’ part that receives the exceptional notice.”
Service area design improvements are included in the new facility designs that Hyundai Auto Canada Corp. is rolling out across the country.
Based on the company’s Global Dealership Space Identity (GDSI) concept, the new look includes lots of glass and a bronze-coloured roof structure. The interior features modern, premium furniture, customer lounges, digital kiosks and tablets to enhance the customer experience.
“What we’re seeing is a lot of our dealers adding a service drive, which they did not have before,” said Ted Troughton, National Manager of Dealership Development for Hyundai Auto Canada. “They’ve got the advisors right in the drive-through.”
When the customer comes in, the advisors are looking at the car and walking around it. It’s not a brand new idea, but dealers are starting to see this as an opportunity to look and touch without being outside in the rain or the cold, said Troughton.
This helps turn the drive-through into a profit centre, Troughton added.
“They’re putting in Hunter equipment and they’re doing quick lubes right in the drive-through. The Hunter equipment will check cars, do brake and tire checks, and will provide a report card, showing ‘red light’ issues — things that need to be dealt with now, and ‘yellow light’ issues that can be dealt with next time. The dealers are using these to build rapport with the customer.”
Fundamental to any service department is the customer lounge. Customers need to have access to a separate waiting room, which must be neat and clean, said Manock.
The area should offer free food, water and coffee. Comfortable seating is a must, Manock added.
Joe Buccella, President of Bay City Developments, which designed Budds’ BMW in Oakville, Ont., said the store goes as far as including massage chairs, televisions, WiFi and even a ‘barista’ area in the customer lounge area.
The BMW dealership takes customer service seriously, first by greeting the customer the moment they walk through the door.
Buccella also said the service reps walk around with iPads to show customers what work they need to have done, rather than having them lean over to look at a computer screen. “I think this is the coming thing and it will be an evolution for everybody,” said Buccella.
Troughton said that from an operations viewpoint, the service department is probably the most important area of the dealership.
“Moving metal is nice but having that metal come back [for service] is critical. If customers are treated well in service, they’re going to come back.”
