chapter 11

[mlock]

I am going through the worst period in my automotive career. My dealership filed chapter 11 3 months ago.(single point Dodge) Even though I was rated high in overall dealership performance and the highest csi andd ssi scores in my zone, DCX has done everything to make a recovery impossible. I quess my Dad was right, " don't ever fool yourself into believing the factory is your friend"

[franks283]

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. My last dealership went under June 15, 2005. We were a great dealership, won CSI and SSI awards(highest in zone). Cars were fixed right, lof's took 30 minutes, etc. etc. The writing was on the wall, however. We had a 60,000 mortage every month, and DCX trying to push cars on us. DCX knew it was a matter of time. The Chrysler dealership that took us over absorbed about half the employees. The others(including me) were left to fend for themselves. Bottom line is we were a good dealership, a proud AMC dealership. In the end, all we had was Jeep and Suzuki. It's known DCX wants to merge all dealerships to make "six packs." Just gotta say hang in there, use the net for a job search, and I hope u wind up in a good dealership. I landed in one of those CarMax/Power type dealerships. Good luck

[zsmith]

My sympathy to you both. You raise an interesting question. With all the money dealers are spending on CSI nowadays, how do CSI scores actually relate to profitability? Obviously CSI scores are an advertising benefit, but how much money and time should we spend to maintain high numbers? Your situations prove that good CSI doesn't necessarily equal profitability. Just a thought, I don't know the answer.

[spwilkins]

I was told by the owner of a very large dealership, which was once a very small dealership, "I never want to be number one, it's too expensive!" We have terrific CSI, at times the highest in the country, but as a small dealership the bottom line is more important than our reps liking us. And since our reps are always new, always trying to score points on programs, and since we do not sign on to every new program out there, they do not always like us. Like mlock's dad said, the factory isnt your friend.

[Old Irish]

Who wouldn't like 100% CSI scores? We all would, but to anticipate success or failure of a store on a "Completely Satisfied" customer is foolish.

We've (meaning car dealerships) been indoctrinated into believing anything less than 100% is a failure....and it's just not true. Our CSI scores have been a roller coaster ride for years....and our business just keeps growing.

I can think of several restuarants that I enjoy and visit each of them several times a year. Am I totally satisfied with any of them ? No. I can think of a number of improvements for each one. But, I like 'em well enough to keep going back....

I could spend hours pontificating on this but you get the idea....

Cheers
DD

[This message has been edited by Old Irish (edited 01-31-2006).]

[GMwithquestions]

So sorry to hear about Chapter 11. Been there done that.

As for the CSI speak I am reading about, I have to respectivly disagree with some of the facts made. CSI is merely a number we all know that, however if we as dealers stop soliciting our clients to provide us great scoring, it may help turn around something in our fixed ops departments...LOYALTY. A loyal client will fight to service their car at your store, and refer others. The question remains is how do we do this?

I use a tool called AutoSurvey www.autosurvey.com i think? that provides me data within minutes of my service clients completing an R.O super slick program, that provides complete advisor, service manager accountability. They have many good ideas that I have implemented throughout my store surrounding client loyalty, and they actually operate as a business partner rather than just some software vendor that slams in a product, and my staff or myself never hear from again. (ie: a certain DMS company)

Since I have been working with them I have increased my overall client return rate in fixed, and our CSI went from #5 in our zone to number 2 nationally within 90days.

As for Chapter 11, keep yor chin up you will get through this, and life will go on.

I wish all of you good selling!

[zsmith]

I agree 100%. It sounds like you're using your survey the way it was intended, to improve the quality of service you provide to your customers. Too often the question we ask is "how can we improve our scores?" and forget that the original question was "how can we provide better service?". Sounds like just semantics I know, but I think there's a difference. When the survey score is tied to money or job security it's easy to forget the original objective.

[mlock]

I didn't mean to give the impression that customer satisfaction alone was all I needed. The point I was trying to make was inspite of improving the ssi and csi. Getting the dealership to the 5 star level. Taking some of the sales bank cars they pushed on me. But, if you the dealer could use help,when sales in your area all but stop, they turn their back on you. The store failed because it was under-capitalized, period.

[pjdevereaux2003]

I, too, am sorry to hear about your dealership's situation. I assume you are the dealer or GM? I have done commercial/dealer finance for almost 20 years. If I can be of any help please contact me at pjdevereaux2003@yahoo.com.