Pre-Owned Inspection Process Who Is Responsible?

[bsilcox]

Ladies and Gentlemen I need some HELP!
And I know that these forums can get me the answers I need to improve my Operations! The Questions I have are:
Re: Pre-Owned Service Inspection Process: This is our current process please see If any of you can see any HOLES in the process; PLEASE....And I will tell you THANK You for any and all imput into this issue......
1: Vehicle gets traded into the Sales Dept. the vehicle gets stocked in, tagged with a stock tag and parked in a holding area.
2: Daily the Owner, Sales Mgrs, Interested Sales Persons and the Service Recon Person walk the Trade Ins. The Pre-Owned Manager with the imput of the owner and the other Sales Manager mark the Vehicle as an A B C D vehicle and write on the window what they want done at that point and a Pre-Authorized Dollar Amount normally $300.00 to $700.00. Sometimes up to $1300.00. When it is in the HIGH range it normally includes Pre-owned Inspection we charge 1.0 @ $125.00, LOF Gas $42.06 Diesel $88.79, Detail $135.00, Windshield $199.99, Tires! Tires are priced at $20.00 over cost and $95.00 mount and balance for 4 tires.........
3: The vehicle goes into the shop immediately after the approval from the Sales Dept. we are OK to do any and all repairs up to the approved dollar amount. During the inspection if we find anything on the Inspection we are to go to the Pre-Owned Sales Mgr. and/or other Sales Mgr. for approval of the other work! If the Sales Dept. decides that they are going to FIX and/or Repair the vehicle to Service Standards they approve the additional work and Service gets it done. We only have 72 hours from the time they approve the vehicle to get it serviced, detailed and on the front line...............
4: All is OK at this time. Anything that does not get approved the Service Dept. based on the Service Managers request are to document the Service, Repairs or Maintenance as an RND recommended not done. The RND Op Code is to be used on the repair order so everyone can see that there was work recommended by the Servicing Techncians that was not approved. Still everything is OK at this time. Here is where the concern comes into play. The Sales Mgrs. Do not want to see the RND code on the repair order because they may show the repair order to the customer, this is their statement in the effect of the RND code. So here is the real issue?
5: If Service does not document the RND the Sales Mgrs. Expects the Service Dept. to pay for all repairs that the customer may want done. If we do document the RND they will pay for the repairs the customers wants done. The next issue is If we do document the RND and the Service Department Techncians misses something or the Recon Person misses something the Sales Mgrs. Wants the Service Dept. to pay for the Recon cost with NO respect for the cost of the repairs because the Service Dept. is paying.........

1: Whats policies do you use?
2: Who pays for what?
3: Why; if the Service Dept. is paying why there is a difference of attitude what gets FIXED?????
4: Here is my real QUESTION as Managers are we not totally responsible to the DEALERS Money? Should we not all respect the FACT that we are spending the Dealers Money?

Again; I am Thanking you in advance for any feedback on this issue!!

Bob Silcox 970-566-1038 bsilcox2004@msn.com for feed back if you dont want to do it in the forum


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Fixed Ops Rhino

[tjsmith]

We do the inspections(with a checksheet) & we list all the things that needs attention, & if something is shot down or approved, I always document who authorized that decision.

But we are in agreement with our sales team...if we inspect it, & we miss something, then the Serv Dept eats it, so therefore everything will be documented PERIOD. And I think if you come to that agreement with Sales Mgr, I think he would understand & comply.

Plus our sales dept explains to the customers, that our cars are inspected, but they do not show them the RO's.

And I don't know if your uv's are sold with warranties, like some sorta UV Certified Car/Truck Program, but you have to inspect, fill out the proper paper work, & document everything to be compliant with the warranty companies too, & usually their inspections forms are a generic style/form of checksheet that is or can be given to the customer.

[This message has been edited by tjsmith (edited 03-19-2008).]

[Lhansen]

Have you ever thought of doing a "safety inspection" prior to the rest of the team "walking the line" and determining what they want to do? You could be spending a lot of $$ on a vehicle that is unworthy of the effort. I think that the shop getting the vehicle after "they" determine what they want to spend is a backwards approach to the issue.
They could be overlooking a vehicle that could reap a good price, or spending big bucks on a visually appealing car that turns out to be not quite the bargain they anticipated.
Just make sure you document, document, document your findings and suggestions.
Hope things work out and I'll be watching for other suggestions.

All the best,

Linda

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Linda Graham Hansen
Auto Dealer Focus
www.autodealerfocus.com


[This message has been edited by Lhansen (edited 03-20-2008).]

[This message has been edited by Lhansen (edited 03-20-2008).]