Auto Dealerships: Is Your Auto Detail Company a Vendor Or a Strategic Partner?

If you think that detail companies just wash the cars, you may be missing an opportunity to increase sales and generate higher profits. Enhanced Internet Ads. Make ready services for pre-owned purchases are critical to enhancing the appeal of the car in internet photos. Enhanced appearance on lot & in the showroom. Invest the money up front to insure the cars have a luxurious finish and all the details have been addressed. Your detail company should be monitoring the condition of the showroom cars – daily – to insure the best presentation possible. Partnership on Service Department Sales. Sell more details to your current customers-keep them coming to you for all their car needs. This is a clear win-win for the auto dealership and the detail company. Focus on what you do well. Auto Dealerships are talented at selling and servicing cars. Detail companies are focused and talented at cleaning and reconditioning cars. Invest in a Partnership. To maximize the benefits of outsourcing, you must select a business partner – not just a car wash company. This means the corporate culture and values should be an important part of the evaluation and selection process. The business acumen of the outsource organization- their ability to understand dealership problems and help in finding solutions – should be critical to you. For example, the number one reason customers are dissatisfied with the delivery of their car (either upon purchase or service) is that it is not clean. A Partnership allows the dealership and the detailing firm to work together to improve CSI scores. Great CSI scores mean bonus’ and incentives to the Dealership. Develop a partnership with your Detail Company in order to align goals and work together to maximize each others’ profits. Overall, by outsourcing the auto detail function at a dealership and selecting the right strategic partner, an auto dealership should be able to: • Enhance auto appearance; • Add services to expand customer offerings and profit dollars; and • Focus on Dealership core competencies (Sales & Service).