Saturday Service

[spoothed]

Our dealership has Saturday Service, but we have very limited hours. We have one Service Consultant and two technicians with one to two apprentices each for each franchise (we do Chevrolet and Jeep). Currently, we do not stagger appointments and even though we open our doors 30 minutes earlier than our posted time on a regular basis, it still seems like absolute chaos on Saturday mornings. Most customers are waiting for their vehicles, and even though it is approximately 75% easy maintenance work vs. 25% repair work, it is very difficult for us to balance our schedule so that we have enough work to last the whole day or so that we don't overload the shop. The dispatching manager and the technicians are chomping at the bit for work, and in rushing to get the work out to the technicians I have found myself making careless mistakes in the writeup process. The technicians arrive prior to opening time. The easy solution, it would seem, would be to change the technician arrival time to 30 minutes or so after we open, and to stagger our appointments. However, I am interested in hearing how other people run their Saturday schedules and would like to hear some suggestions on how we can improve our process.

We are open from 8:00-2:00 on Saturdays.

Thank you all so much for your input.

[Murf]

Saturdays always seem to be hectic no matter what you do to correct the situation. You will still run into overlaps and busy times. We schedule appointments leaving time in between for the customers that just show up but need assistance that day without an appointment.

[Mike Vogel]

First thing would be to consider Saturday's as a full productive day which it should be and be open 8-5 or 7-4. Second is you need to staff a little stonger since traditionally in most metro areas saturday's is usually one of your best days. Third would be stagger appointments in 10-15 minute intervals to allow time for drive in non appts. I agree with Murf about Saturdays being chaotic but with proper staffing and processes in place it should at the very least be controlled chaos.

[scotstrong]

Some additional input:

Parts not in stock are not as readily available as weekdays. Can you afford to
tie up a lift for parts availability on a Saturday any more than you can on a weekday? Scheduling of EMPLOYEES is often a nightmare to accomodate additional extended hours. Do you ask people to work more hours or do you hire additional help? One of the biggest attractants to a prospective qualified technician when you want to hire is "NO SATURDAYS". How do you change that culture if you have already created it? There is nothing more frustrating as a manager than to drive up your personnel expense and leave yourself somewhat short-handed during proven busy times (weekdays) to have coverage for non-busy times (Saturdays).

Also, bear in mind that if service is open, then parts needs to mirror those hours. Again, nothing more frustrating for a parts manager who is tasked with keeping his department profitable than again to drive up your personnel expense and all other expenses to maybe sell a few oil filters.

Also, if you need to contact the manufacturer on a Saturday for a parts problem, a service technical problem, or a customer relations issue it is not likely to happen.

Bottom line: Do not expect Saturday service to be profitable. If it is, then you are the exception to the rule. If you make up your mind that you are doing it as a convenience to your customers, that is fine. It will rarely survive a cost vs. benefit analysis without coming out in the negative.

Scot Strong

[coyotekid]

I would have to agree with Scot...
For way too many years that I've been doing this, I've heard time and again from outside consultants and even from Dealer Pricipals how Saturdays can and are profitable... Even to the point of moving some of the techs from a day during the week to cover the Saturday business.. and besides, if the corner lube place can be busy, why not the dealer.. ??
Let's get real about this thing... The corner lube place does not have the overhead, the years of training, or the equipment to maintain. Also, the expectation of the customer is MUCH higher at the dealership. The customer EXPECTS us to be able to fix anything that comes in as long as we are open. The techs that work at the dealerships have more training, have normally been at their jobs longer, and are career professionals and not just "lube jockeys". If we do hire "lube jockeys" to work the Saturday hours, how do we combat the "fix anything" mentality and what do we do with them the rest of the week?
I've tried everything over the last 20+ years. Rotating techs, hiring part time techs, working longer hours - less days, etc. Saturday service clinics, etc... The bottom line has always been the same.. We break even on a good day. Even if you count the upsells that come back in on the normal work week, it still has not been profitable. About the only thing it has done is given me more gray hair!! I have a dedicated service advisor working Tues thru Sat and dedicated techs that work that day.. Believe me, the clientel is totally different on Saturdays versus other days... I have also worked this in a small rural area, and not in a larger city.. same result. Before I got here, the previous service manager had quit opening Saturdays because it wasn't profitable.
Go figure..

[SAM]

In reply to Sat service, We are open all day Saturday and cover all areas of repair. We split our entire staff in half, half work Mon-Fri, other half work Tues to Sat. We are a multi line GM dealership in a rural area and our customers appreciate the Sat hours.
Saturdays are just as profitable as any other day when comparing tech hours. If (a big if) we run out of customer work, we fill in with used units or pre-deliveries. As far as parts dept goes, they quiet often will sell more parts over the front counter on a Sat then another day through the week. They also used Sat to relocate or update stock locations.
Opening Saturdays also helps the sales dept with being able to repair or dress up a unit that they just sold.
In our situation, open on Saturday is a must!

[This message has been edited by SAM (edited 06-04-2004).]

[tomv]

saturdays 8-12. crew is split in half. teams of advisors and techs work every other saturday.
we do our best to schedule light maintenance and non-involved repair work. it is almost exclusively waiting customers. upsells can turn a saturday morning into a nightmare and/or a big dollar day depending on the shop load. we reschedule as necessary and generally make it as convenient as possible for our customers.
we have been doing it long enough that our customers are well aware it is an appointment only day. new customers are schooled in this fact. emergencies are not promised any more than "we will do our best" which in most cases gets a vehicle back to them the same day. the rest are worked into mondays schedule. if we werent open on saturday they wouldnt have much of a choice. customers are asked to trust the process and educated on the difficulty of scheduling in a business where there are so many variables. saturdays are booked about 2-3 weeks out as a rule and most people will take what they get. no matter what you will never please everyone but in the long run "big picture" it is a very helpful service that promotes customer retention and satisfaction. that in itself makes saturdays profitable and worthwhile.
we supplement saturdays with evening hours tuesday and thursday til 7 pm. the last appointment is taken at 6 pm. this gives customers an opportunity to stop in after work for quick maintenance and doesnt interfere with their weekend. the crew again is split with half working each night. on a saturday week a tech works 46 hours. non-saturday weeks 42 hours. not a large number of hours by any means. advisors work evenings on the weeks they dont work saturday. everyone in the facility must realize that in a customer service business there have to be some compromises to retain the customer base and sustain the business.
thats something to look for in new hires. a technician who isnt willing to participate in the success of the business isnt an asset.