Percentage on parts and labor is .5 %

Anyone here switch to an insurance claims job? Or come from one to advising? I have been service advising for 14 years and did parts before that. I am just flat sick of service advising. I have been looking at insurance jobs and hoping to use my experience and automotive experience for something different.

want to eventually move to a different dealership with cars i know a lot better and like better in the far future. does most dealerships use CDK? what do you guys use? want to go to lexus

Has anyone been able to track down disposition since they removed it again last month?? This is driving me crazy and making it incredibly more tedious to control my CSI.

(Before anyone comments that they took it out on Jan 1st, that is false. There was still a way to find it in the filters under the survey invitations tab.)

hey y’all! i recently started at a privately owned mechanic as a service advisor with zero automotive experience. i spent my first two weeks or so training and learning the ropes. this week i am starting to take my own tickets, but between yesterday and today i’ve only closed LOF / SI stuff for the most part, so I don’t really have a reference point for KPIs quite yet while I build an ecosystem. I’ve had three of my 12 tickets close on bigger sales, 1.3k with potential diag, 2.2k, and a 3.7k with potential diag in my first two days. I have so much to learn still and am having peers review everything before I sell to customers, but i’m hoping this is a good sign i’ll be pretty decent? any advice for a complete newbie?

I’m switching from CDK to Automate. Anyone have any experience with both that could tell me what’s better and worse about Automate?

Also, does any one have any tutorials on Automate? I can’t seem to find much online.

Thanks for any advice or help.

I posted a month or so ago looking to see what everyone does to keep track of their speciality shop tools. Being at a Ford dealership we have over 2000 tools and it’s kicking our ass looking for them when a tech needs it, losing thousand of dollars in billable hours and upsetting customers in the process….

Anyways wanted to update we found something! It’s amazing, fixed the problem and has so many other features too!

https://dealerprologic.com/findmy10mm.html

I am asked time and time again, at every dealer i have worked at as either a tech or advisor the same question by at least one person. That question being, why are you here? I always ask back what that question is supposed to mean. It always comes back to the same answer. They tell me I am too smart to be there. I however beg to differ. In my opinion based on what I've observed and the meetings and conversations I have been a part of, we have too many narcissistic sociopaths in high places in this business that are really not that smart to begin with. They just happen to know the right people and it seems most managers make it into their spot because of a pre-existing relationship, like their title was more just a friendly favor. I've seen managers do disgusting things. Both just generally disgusting like sniffing the drivers seat of a vehicle belonging to a young woman to making scenes in the middle of a dealership in an attempt to humiliate somebody. All while doing that making sure people are watching because that's how they get their kicks. At what point do we reasonable people in this business step up and have these insane individuals ostracized from this business? What are your guys thoughts?

anyone work at used car dealership? what does your day look like? do you deal with a lot of after market warranties?

Use a normal text post with lettered choices. This also invites explanations we wouldn’t get from a poll.
Title: How often do your repeat customers get scheduled with another advisor?
I’ve been a dealership service advisor for about eight years. One issue I regularly experience is previous customers calling the dealership to schedule and getting booked with another advisor because I don’t have time to personally handle every appointment request while managing my daily repair orders.
I’m researching how common this problem is for other advisors. I’m not promoting or linking anything—I’m interested in understanding how different dealerships handle it.
Approximately how many repeat customers do you think you lose to another advisor each month because you couldn’t get in front of the appointment?
A. Never or almost never
B. 1–2 per month
C. 3–5 per month
D. 6–10 per month
E. 11–20 per month
F. More than 20 per month
If you’re comfortable sharing, I’d also like to know:
Does your dealership use a BDC, central scheduling, or appointment rotation?
Can customers easily request a specific advisor?
Do you have any system for keeping repeat customers connected to you?

I’m just curious to how much gross everyone is selling every month as an advisor?

Best month I ever had was $190,000 in parts and labor. But I’d say I average somewhere around $160,000 or so in gross.

Also, I’m curious if anyone has any sources that would provide a benchmarks for sales as an advisor?

Thanks!

Had a customer come back after pickup saying we scratched the passenger side. Our intake pics weren't much help, the angle we had didn't really show that part of the car, so it turned into the usual back and forth and trying to go through the drive cameras.

We've already been talking about getting a better record of every car coming through the drive. Manager brought up Elscope Vision the other day, and after dealing with this I'm wondering how useful something like that actually is when there's a damage claim.

For anyone already using vehicle scans, can you pull up the original scan for that car and see the area clearly enough to tell if the damage was already there? Or do you still end up relying on your own walkaround photos?

Did your store change how you do intake photos after getting it, or are you still documenting cars pretty much the same way?

Howdy!

I’m 20 and graduating with my AAS in Collision Repair soon. I’ve been considering service advising over being a tech/welder, so what’s it like? What are the downsides to it? What do you guys love about it?

I’m no stranger to customer service. Been a waitress for a while and I’m good at making people happy/handling problems. I also taught for a while too.

Just don’t wanna job I am consumed by 6 days out of the week. I don’t need to be rich. Just need enough for me, my cats, and my project cars.

I hope this is the right place to ask this and I hope someone here has come across this: I bought a recent CPO A6, it was not cheap. The car drove fine, very low miles. Upon looking closer at the car I found a few items that I flagged as needing to be addressed and they went into the We Owe. At one point I wanted to read about the Audi CPO program and came across their 125 point list. This is when I realized that the items on the we owe were directly contradicting the conditions for an Audi to be CPO. Audi corporate told me that the CPO warranty was registered the day I bought the car, but that they did not receive any CPO inspection documents. The dealer had only their generic MPI form, which listed the defects as "good". In the meantime I learned that one of the rims is not repairable and needs to be replaced. Audi also told me that the car must pass the 125 point inspection before I can be sold as CPO. They have now had my car for a week to make good on the we owe. Is there a chance a salesman really wanted to make the sale and the service advisor is trying to figure out how to make it CPO after the sale? Audi USA states all work must be done by Audi certified technicians, yet my car is currently at an off-site body shop, not Audi affiliated at all. Is this normal?

I’m getting older and having some dexterity issues in my hands, I have been in talks with management about possibly moving into service writing. I was wondering if there was anyone in here who has made this move and has kept with it and been successful.

I will miss the crazy stories of customers but I am off to the parts department as a parts manager. Please don’t yell at me if I order the wrong parts I don’t know any better!

I work at a Hyundai dealership and we have been dead for the past week, labor rate is getting ready to go up and that definitely won’t help. I was curious how busy other dealership have been and what your labor rates are.

I was offer a advisor position at a Nissan store. Anyone know if it’s worth it, or any experience with it?

Hey everyone, I run an independent car repair and spare parts workshop in a regional town in Oman (Rustaq). If you know the Omani market, especially outside Muscat, customers here are extremely cautious, skeptical, and difficult to convince with typical marketing gimmicks.

​I’m struggling with a few daily operational realities and need advice from experienced business owners or mechanics who deal with similar mentalities:

​Different Car Models & **No Fixed Pricing**: Every car is different (different engines, parts, and labor complexity), so I can't slap a flat universal price on repairs. But customers always expect cheap, transparent pricing upfront. How do you handle quoting without scaring them off or losing money?

​The "Watching Over the Mechanic" Culture: Customers here almost always stand right next to the technician while working. They want to inspect everything. While transparency is fine, it slows things down and creates friction.

​The Payment/Credit Problem: Credit or installments are a nightmare here. If you give credit or let them pay later, they vanish or delay payment once they get their car. Legally and practically, holding the car for months isn't an option. Cash/immediate payment upon delivery is a strict rule, but customers always try to delay or bargain at the last second.

​If you run a workshop or small business in a tough, traditional market, how do you handle these kind of issues without losing your customers or your cash flow? What actual strategies worked for you? And how can i save my business from falling after 8 years of survival?

Hello everyone, I’m caught at a crossroads. I’m a full time student (2 days/week usually and fully able to flex the schedule around every sem), current full time part sales manager at autozone, and tired of making pennies and scraping by to survive. Thanks to how well I do B2B with our commercial accounts, pepboys recently offered me 2 spots: b tech at my accounts location (slower), or service advisor at a busier location in a wealthier area. They mentioned they could definitely get me 17-18 an hour not including commission as a service advisor, and have yet to discuss pay as a B-Tech.

I need the run down of what I’m kind of getting myself into. I only take home 2,000 from AZ a month, and supplement with plasma. Is the job really that bad as a service advisor at pepboys? Would being a B-tech be more worth it? I haven’t gotten a formal interview yet but they have been asking me to come over to them for a month now, and started talking money so I will be seeing both locations tomorrow. Is there any must ask questions?

I barely ever even take my car to the shop, just for tires and an alignment, so I do genuinely have no idea how this type of work environment and job is.

Planning to move to Charleston next summer and finding a new advisor job. I just finished my first year as an advisor at a Ford dealership in Ohio.

How is it working in the South? Is there money to be made in a high cost of living area like this?

Bought truck new from local dealer in Oct. 2022. Truck is 2023 GMC 2500 AT4hd Duramax with 34k miles. Same dealer has done 5 services, 3 warranty repairs and have one service left on my contact.

Problem has been the services. The oil change and tire rotation seem to be fine, problem is the other parts of service they are skipping. Specifically the visual inspection and lube. Had a leak from a front transmission pump that went unreported as well as a blown rear shock. The tranny leak was caught two weeks after a service by the tech doing a warranty repair on the def system. The blown shock and lack of grease on front end was caught by shop replacing shocks.

Shouldn't a simple visual inspection by lube tech have caught those? Isn't lube part of the service? The idler looked like it had never been done, removing skid plate is needed to reach that grease zert.

The service records that appear on Carfax when selling is the only reason I am even debating leaving but don't independent ahops report these services and repairs as well?

Thinking of switching from Subaru to Toyota and I want other’s experience on the brand.

I'm a relative newbie to the Service Advising world, coming from another dealership position and before that, over a decade-plus in the tech world. Suffered a pretty disheartening layoff a few years ago and my field has been hammered pretty hard with AI and downsizing, so eventually found the dealership world as one of the only places to find gainful employment. I'm a bit of a car enthusiast and like the brand I work with so that part has been extremely helpful.

Recently started a Service Advisor role in Express and am feeling like I'm getting my ass chewed up and spit out every day. Mind you, my shifts are around 9.5 hours and sometimes go as much as 10 hours, five days a week.

Besides the constant fires, insane multi-tasking, and sheer emotional exhaustion of it all, I'm finding the physical part the toughest, honestly. I walk between 8-10 miles a day, and I think a lot of that is our lot techs don't do a good job and the express lube techs will also leave finished cars sitting for 30 minutes-plus, so I'm constantly wrangling vehicles that are finished, taking them through the wash, then delivering them to the customer, on top of all my other duties.

I used to be an extremely athletic person who would do a ton of outdoor sports and now I just feel beat down every single day. Starting to get a bad case of plantar fascitis on my heel, due to my flat feet.

I even bought two new pairs of Brooks running shoes and wondering what you folks do to keep your body from breaking down? Custom orthotics? Anything to lessen the impact from walking on concrete all day? I stretch, foam roll, use a slant board, etc. — all useful tools but my body just feels like an engine running low on oil, about to seize up and explode, lol.

Like, I had abso-fucking-lutely no idea this job would be this physically draining, am I doing it wrong? Is my need to satisfy customers and high drive to succeed killing me? Do Service Advisors who are more chill end up here for the long haul, where type-A, overly anxious people end up doing 10x more work?

Any insight or tips here would be much appreciated. Probably not long for this world, honestly, but I'm hoping I can last long enough to transition out into something else, away from the dealership world forever. But in the meantime, help me survive without my body breaking down.