You expect the occasional disgruntled customer or miscommunication when you work in ANY service industry. It’s a fact of life when you work with the public. But it seems that your best customer is the one that’s always the loudest one when they aren’t satisfied, and it’s not someone coming through your service drive.

This customer uses the back door. The staff entrance. This person is a familiar face and one you begin to rue after a while. It’s the used car manager.

When Steve, the used car manager, steps into the service department, it’s never with a smile and a soft-spoken word. When Steve has to make his way back to the service department, it’s because something hasn’t gone his way. Nine times out of ten, it’s because there’s a vehicle that’s not yet reconditioned, detailed, certified, or otherwise unready for the used car lot. So Steve’s not a happy guy.

What Goes Wrong?

Neither service managers, service advisors, nor used car managers are known to be subtle – especially when it comes to interdepartmental discrepancies. One thinks the other is lazy, another thinks someone has lost control, and someone else is thought to be completely unreasonable. You can figure out who’s who.  And so the problem always becomes a bigger issue than it has to, all due to ego.

Let’s play this out quickly: the UCD manager demands to have a vehicle completed right this minute. After all, it’s been 24 hours and it hasn’t hit the shop yet. The service advisor rebuts that there are customers with appointments that haven’t gone through yet. The service manager placates both parties somehow, making promises they can’t necessarily satisfy on both ends. And in the end, you have three frustrated staff and potentially dissatisfied customers (if their vehicle was bumped in queue). Nobody wins.

The argument that no service person wants to hear is this: “The used car department is your biggest and best customer”. Ugh. Unfortunately, it really is true, and somehow you have to keep your biggest customer satisfied. It’s much larger than just getting the work completed. It’s getting additional vehicles ready for sale and retailed so you have consistent work coming through the service department.

So How Do You Deal with the UCD?

There’s a balance to strike. Understanding is important. Flexibility is crucial. And cool heads have to prevail.

As a management team, the service and sales managers should have a pretty open relationship to discuss the ebbs and flows of their departments. Sales managers know when used cars have been purchased at auction, and when they’ll likely arrive. Service managers are aware of their workflow trends, and how many spare hours there are in each day.

Working together, an organic schedule can be written out. Make target timelines specifying how long each vehicle will ideally take through each step of reconditioning. 5 days for safety certification, 2 days for detailing, 3 days for dent removal and paint, and so on (purely sample numbers).

UCD managers have to realize that it takes time. Unless extenuating circumstances arise, no questions need to be asked until the vehicle is overdue. Service advisors need to understand that the sales department is, in fact, the biggest customer. That work is just as important as your customer appointments as it’s literally your “next generation” of customers that will be buying them.

The most important role is in the hands of the service manager. Controlling the workflow in the shop is a precision role left to a dispatcher, but done so at the behest of the service manager. When there’s an influx of used cars coming, the service department bookings may need to be reduced to allow the extra flow from UCD. It might not be a popular decision but it’s critical to maintaining a balance.

When a store has grown into a medium- to large-volume dealer, communication with Steve, the UCD manager, is probably best left to a single point person. In that way, Steve has only one person to inquire of for vehicle statuses, special requests, and the like. You free up your service advisors to deal primarily with the customers off the street, providing a high level of service on that end. You keep your UCD department satisfied with a point of contact that will be up to speed on all the ins and outs of each vehicle.

But because of the type of personality that is predisposed to the auto industry, someone will blow their top eventually, even with a structured plan in place. Give each other a little grace for these times. Another phrase everyone loves – “you are all on the same team.”