In Mid-March, dealership service departments became like ghost towns with about 80 percent of service business vaporizing. Some dealerships in the country were forced to close their doors and send everyone home until the service departments were deemed essential businesses. Suddenly, the service advisors who had established an incentive-based income could no longer rely on a steady paycheck.

Today, it seems like service departments in most non-hotspot locations are back to work, but it’s not the same as it was before. On average, consumers are spending less per repair order than before and others have taken advantage of new car incentives rather than fix their vehicle. Three metrics that comprise many service advisor pay plans – Effective Labor Rate, Dollars per RO, and RO Count – have been severely impacted.

For a highly commission-based position that’s been impacted by Force Majeur, it doesn’t seem fair to leave service advisor pay plans the same. Some dealers are doing it, though. I’ve heard from dealers that have put their service advisors on interim pay plans with a guarantee during the coronavirus pandemic. But those temporary measures will need a more permanent solution, in time.

Pay Based On Service Quality

Everyone knows that a service advisor’s top job is sales. It shouldn’t be. It should be to provide the customer with excellent service during their visit, and it’s far from that in most stores.

Customers are discerning about where they take their cars for service – as much as they are for where they decide to buy. Rather than continuing to make the service advisor position about sales, make it about relationship building with customers and guaranteeing a repeat visit.

Sales are absolutely necessary and maintaining sales should be a condition of the role. However, incentivizing high CSI scores and loyalty rates would be a better metric for service.

Higher Base

Rather than a minimum wage base plus commission, provide service advisors with a comfortable living wage as their base. When they aren’t scrapping to make ends meet with every dollar they can get out of a customer, it serves to both improve employee morale and customer satisfaction.

I once had a manager tell me, “If I don’t have a complaint once a month from a customer about a service advisor being too aggressive, they aren’t doing their job well.” That should never be the case. It’s borne out of a need to earn more, not serve the customer better. Pay well as a base so customers aren’t getting pressured or oversold.

Incentivize Sales, but Not the Largest Slice of the Pie

Again, it’s a service advisor or consultant position, not a service sales agent. It’s good to incentivize sales at the service desk, but not so much that it makes a significant difference in making a living wage or not.

Make commission or incentives around 20 to 30 percent of a service advisor’s earnings. During COVID-19, your advisors will still have a decent income even while the economy continues to recover. Working hard still has enough incentive to make it worthwhile. But the focus is put on customer service – right where it should be.