Service charging labour to Parts

[DRCROMER]

You are right...Service does not usually charge parts for mailouts (they use up the co op money) shuttles(they are reimbursed by warranty)..If parts costs them gross we will accept our mistake..but what about our obsolete parts from service who ordered the trim panel that they really did not need and we cant return it...service is the biggest part of parts obsolesence which hurts the dealers gross in the long run. 0

[CMG]

DRCROMER
I only say that if they are asking for money , Pay them. They dont ask often and I believe creates goodwill rather than closes the door.
I know in most cases we would look after a good wholesale account if he asked for the same. Why not treat service like your best wholesale account?
as for Shuttle bus and mail outs , don't believe this is covered by warranty by all manufacturers.
Lastly regarding the trim panel , I strongly believe that service personnel do not order parts.....we do. We need Bullet proof policies in place to prevent door panel problems.
Again, ,my view is a little slanted as I work both sides of the Dealership. I might add we have an excellent working relationship in the store.

[Old Irish]

I advise everyone listen to CMG.

I've worked "both sides" myself. There's no point in getting into "tit-for-tat" battles over every mistake. Face it, both departments make mistakes that cause problems or extra expense for the other.

I suggest letting the little stuff go by and reserve "charging back" to either department for the more serious instances....and then after a discussion between both managers. In other words....pick your battles.

If any service or parts manager REALLY wants to make some in-roads, then next time your department makes a mistake walk up to the other manager and say "This is our baby. We blew it. I expect you to charge me for that." Its called "taking the high road" or "putting your best foot forward". Whatever you call it, it'll go a long way to mending relationships. Soon enough, your "adversary", be he parts, service, or b/shop manager, will feel like he has no choice but to put HIS best foot forward, too. After all, HE doesn't wanna be the one looking like a sh*t heel, right ?

Over a period of time....if everybody can conjur up the you-know-whats to step up to the plate and take it on the chin once in awhile without being asked to do so, then an atmosphere of trust and sense of fair play will develop. For example, our body shop and parts managers, along with myself (service) have all agreed that we can charge off up to $100 (per incident) to either of the other two departments based on nothing more than our own good judgement.

You know what? We hardly ever do it. Why? over a period of time you realize that things tend to even-out in the long run....so why bother ???

Anyhow, guys, that's my little schpeel for the day.

For the record the warranty reimbursement for shuttle rides might cover 2% of the actual expense.......

Cheers
DD

[Gran Sasso]

Make sure your counter people are getting the right parts, have them verify with the tech. And on non-warranty SOR's prebill them.

Just like SOR's over the counter, the customer has to pay for it before we order.

ADP added the PCSO option to RO's in a recent update, we have hardly anything in our SOR bins thats more than maybe two weeks old.

Some customers are unhappy about it, but overall I don't think it has hurt us.

We also run daily sheets for the service advisors that show all recieted special orders with their advisor number attached, and the date they were recieved, as well as if the order is full or if we are still waiting on items.

This helps tremendously.

[Old Irish]

If counterman are fairly experienced they'll surely sense when something doesn't seem right about an order ......

I've told the parts manager and all the countermen to see me before ordering anything weird that they have a funny feeling about. I then double check with the tech and/or advisor to make sure we're all on the same page and not making an expensive mistake. I've had to put the kabosh on some orders where procedure wasn't followed.

As checks-and-balances go, it doesn't get any easier than this.

Cheers
DD

[homesleym]

We do it Old Irishs' way. The guys get to know when it's not "right"

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