Service Advisors as Cashiers ?

[Old Irish]

Our dealer and GM are pushing to have advisors (and parts countermen) do their own cashiering. Frankly, I am against it.

They have enough to do already as far as I'm concerned....especially during the crunch hours.

If you were to listen to our GM you'd swear that we are the ONLY dealer in the 11 western states that still has cashiers for parts and service. How many of y'all still have serice and parts cashiers ?

Am I just being old and stubborn ?

I would be grateful for other opinions and any "been there, done that" stories.

Cheers
DD

[Darrell Langford]

The idea sounds good to me to run in a lube center lane and only if you have a service advisor that takes care of a "quick lube shop only". It would be more like Pep boys and goodyear. Yes we still have a cashier in parts.

[LIFESENTENCE]

We still have a service/parts cashier. Then again, we're still working out of a converted barn!

I'd try to keep the cashier. The less hands in the drawer the fewer chances for error and the fewer people to question if there is a problem.

[dcpdave]

we have a service/parts cashier. being a smaller dealer, she is also the main receptionist, title clerk, file clerk, etc.

i agree, the fewer hands in the register, the better.

the cashier does call the advisor to the cashier office to consult with customers when they come to pick up their vehicle, but the cashier takes the money.

[scotstrong]

Has your dealer and GM not heard of the auditing/accounting basic concept called "seperation of duties"? If the same person handles every step of the transaction up to and including cashiering, you are leaving yourself wide open for theft and fraud. If their CPA firm ever got wind that they were doing that they would probably have a fit. I, for one, whether I was an advisor or counterperson, would not even want to handle the money part of it so if there was a problem I would not be drug into it.

Scot Strong

[Fixedopsmgr]

I attended a 20 group meeting a couple of years ago and did hear of this. We had a dealer in our group that had his advisors do all of the cashier duties for their own customers. I thought it was nuts. However, we did vist the dealer and I did talk to the advisors and to my surprise they actually liked it. The thought process was that they were able to take care of their customer all the way through the process.

p.s. I never did do it

[robc]

To be on the otherside, I've seen dozens of stores that handle cashier duties just fine. The vast majority of transactions are credit card or check, so the actual handling of cash is very minimal. I investigate instances of fraud for part of my living here at DealersEdge and I am 110% for having the advisors cashier.

As for the extra duty, if you're already doing an active delivery then the adding of the transaction is miminal. If your idea of an active delivery is the advisors pointing to the cashier's window, then you're right extra time needs to be taken.

The disconnect that comes from service advisor to cashier can be resolved in other ways besides abolishing the position, but this makes sure that customers are served.

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

[Joe]

For logistical reasons our Parts Dept has been their own cashier for years.We have a cash register where each Parts Invoice is cashiered with the amount and date which is imprinted on the accounting copy of the invoice. Prior to the start of business each day the cash drawer is balanced out. We also have a credit card terminal which has to be closed out every other day and a check authorization terminal.

[fburrows]

Think about all the businesses that you are face to face with a person during your away from the dealership life. The person who helps you always takes your credit card or money. I think it is more of a customer satisfaction issue that your advisor gets face to face with the customer. If there is a question then the advisor is right there to answer it. In the dealerships I see that use the advisor for a cashier, I always ask the advisor how they like it and the answers I get are always positive.

The audit trail with computer generated Repair orders is a lot more secure than the old paper ones. I think this is a great idea and I would be curious if any dealerships implemented this and then gave it up.


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Frank Burrows
fburrows@absdata.com

[homesleym]

Old Irish

We have a cashier for svc/parts. Is your DP doing this strictly as a cost reduction?

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