More than half of all sales customers will abandon your dealership’s service department in the first year. It’s a widely varying statistic – some say 50 percent, others say 70 percent. It doesn’t really matter the exact number, because never seeing half of your customers come back for service after the first year is abysmal.

Manufacturers know it too. That’s one of the reasons you see so many brands offering ‘two years of complimentary maintenance’ or business offices selling maintenance packages. It’s one way to draw at least a portion of your customer base back through your service doors. But why is it your customers don’t come back without an incentive?

It Isn’t Because of Expertise

Manufacturers have done an excellent job of emphasizing dealerships as the best place to service a vehicle, new or used. Terms like ‘factory-trained technicians’ and ‘service experts’ have been engrained into consumers’ brains. I encourage you to randomly ask someone who has the best technicians to service your car – it’s going to be the dealership almost every time.

And it’s true. Technicians at franchised dealerships are highly-trained, highly-qualified people who have access to diagnostic, service, and repair information that no independent has. Your technicians are the best people for the job, yet customers stop coming to your store.

It Isn’t Price

Sure, you get the occasional objection to service pricing, whether or not you’re higher than the shop down the street. For one service, you might be a little higher, and another might be a little lower. The typical customer won’t drive an extra ten minutes to save five dollars at a separate appointment on a different day – they’ll chock it up to the cost of doing business.

It's a Convenience Thing

Take your car and a small slice of your advertising budget and visit a local quick service shop. Pep Boys, Jiffy Lube, Midas – it doesn’t matter much which one. You’re there to do some research. After all, this is where your customers are defecting to.

An oil change is extremely quick, like ten to fifteen minutes usually. The fluids are checked, a Check Engine light can be scanned (for free), and tire services are completed while the oil is still draining. The typical maintenance visit takes mere minutes and doesn’t require an appointment, a long wait, or a shuttle ride.

Most of all, it’s available when at convenient hours, usually stretching well into the evening.

Be Extraordinary

If you’re honest about it, you know your service department – even your “quick lube” bay is less convenient than those other guys. If you want to keep your customers and possibly bring back a few defectors, there are lessons we can learn.

• Be available when customers want you. Shift outside of the norm with your service hours. Keep your quick lube bay open into the evenings – at least on the nights when the sales department is open late.
• Offer service above and beyond the usual. We all love to earn a paycheck, but nickel-and-diming customers will drive them away. Offer an express Check Engine light scan at no cost with any oil change. It’s an opportunity to set a valuable service appointment at a future date if there’s a problem.
• Make your service special. Pick one thing – anything – and do it better than anyone else. Offer free car washes for express oil changes, provide a loyalty oil change program, or let customers watch the work using a camera and a tablet. Whatever it is, be the only one who does it so well. Make it your brand.

You are losing your customers to quick lube shops at an alarming rate. Show your customers what they stand to gain by being loyal instead of just expecting that they should.