Closing RO's

[Jaybee]

Our office manager has come up with a plan that we should close out all RO's at the end of each day. She does not not want us to pay techs based on flagged time on open orders. Honda tells us to leave warranty RO's open until the car is fixed.So that is one problem. Then,there are two other bad things I can see happening. First our "dollars per RO" will suffer greatly because you will need 2 RO's to fix any car that you need parts for. Also a customer could be contacted twice for the same repair due to a closed RO triggering a questionaire or phone follow up. Any ideas out there? Thank You in advance.....John

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[robc]

Hmmm ... several issues. First, let's make a distinction here between two different situations.

Case #1 is customer comes in with two or more complaints and we can fix some but not the others. For instance, line one glove box is loose; line two door molding is loose. We adjust the glove box in line one and order a molding for line two. In this case, I don't know of any reason under the sun why you wouldn't close the ticket. Get paid for glove box today and for the molding when the part comes in on another R.O.

Case #2 is when we are continuing a repair/ diagnosis. Customers complains of window in op - we diag a switch and relay - we have the switch but not the relay. In this case, I might, *might*, see a reason to keep the RO open. But I'd rather, set the switch aside in SO parts until the relay comes in, close it N/C and make a copy to remind us to flag for any previous diag when the job is complete.

The only way either option would impact your numbers is if you submit for the diag twice when you separate the repairs.

If Honda tells you to leave ROs open I would like that clearly spelled out in writing to show to my manager. We have a former big-wig Honda auditor on staff I can ask his opinion as well. Generally leaving an RO open demostrates a vehicle out of service and opens up a potential lemon law more than a N/C ticket. Again, the only thing I can think of is that they would not want you to submit for diag today and the repair tomorrow. A claim generally should never be submitted until the repair is complete.

A N/C ticket shouldn't generate a CSI or follow-up phone call. And dollars per RO would actually go down if you're opening more than one ticket. It depends on Honda's evaluation criteria to know how it would imapct you.

With a few exceptions, my thoughts are if I can't walk out an physically put my thumb on the car on our lot, then a ticket shouldn't be open. Open ROs are primarily for vehicles at the store waiting to be fixed.

But hey, that's just one person's opinion. I could be wrong



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** Rob, Editor WD&S **
Help is only a message post away!
robc@dealersedge.com

[scotstrong]

John:

Sounds like this office manager needs a good cage rattling to get her back in the real world. Sounds like she has forgotten (or never knew) that the office supports the departments that generate revenue; not the other way around. Sounds like she is trying to make her job easier and to hell with the consequences for anyone else.

Many states' lemon laws have an "attempted repair incidents" trigger. Two repair orders for the same repair is going to be viewed by a good attorney as two repair attemtpts.

From a cost standpoint, she is going to be driving up costs for paper, toners, click charges, etc. You would also be using up far more hard drive space than necessary on your in-house system to retain info. Eventually that could become a problem.

I can only foresee a host of problems between parts and service with this method.

I really struggle to find any benefits to this plan other than making one person's job easier. The potential pitfalls and problems created for everyone else far, far outweight any possible benefits.

Here's hoping that your dealer principal does not allow this to happen.

Rob: I took John's post to mean that she wanted even RO's for carryovers closed too.
A four-day engine rebuild would result in four RO's? John?

Scot Strong

[This message has been edited by scotstrong (edited 04-16-2003).]

[This message has been edited by scotstrong (edited 04-16-2003).]

[Jaybee]

Only when the car leaves and we want to pay the tech would we close the RO,not normal carry-over ....John

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[scotstrong]

John:

I assume that is the way you are currently doing it. My question was whether or not the office mgr thought carryovers should be closed every night and new RO's opened daily?

Scot Strong

[robc]

Ok, just to be clear vehicles remaining at the shop are ok to have open ROs - back to my "thumb on the car, RO is open" (which actaully works both ways - as in if I can put my thumb on a car there better be an open RO) rule. So no problem with carry-overs.

We are only talking about when I vehicle leaves our shop. I think the rub, and there isn't anything necessarily wrong with this thinking, is you want to pay the tech as they complete a task but not necessarily the job. So again, flag for diag today and then flag for the repair when it is completed. I was a flat rater many moons ago too, so I understand that helps even out the pay checks - but that just goes against the way the major DMS systems are designed.

I know it is tough to shift a shop into the "we get paid when job is completed mode" but that is where most shops are at. You flag the tech for the whole when you can close and bill their time. For the majority of cases, that is what is going to happen. Unless the diag was significantly excessive, like the tech spend 16 hours over two days to get to a part order - I have to believe that most stores are closing the tickets.



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** Rob, Editor WD&S **
Help is only a message post away!
robc@dealersedge.com

[Jaybee]

Rob and Scott: Thanks for the feedback! What we do now is leave the order open until all repairs are completed. We do flag time and pay the techs on these open RO's. Closing everything sooner may be the way to go. Thanks...John