Eliminate the cashier in service

[texaslp]

Best practice would suggest 6 cash drawers for personal responsibility. Some places work out of one, and whether it works would depend on your people/turnover etc. To determine that answer ask yourself, "what will I do if the drawer comes up short?"

You could probably get away with one credit card machine if you have an easily accessible location for one. With 6 advisors, at least two would probably be advisable or you could have a logjam.

[sp7128]

we have 6 advisors with 3 cc machines and each advisor has a locking cash bag of there own....somedays the advisor never opens his cash bag.

[Lhansen]

sp7128

You might be shocked at what is acutally left lying out in the open at a lot of dealerships. All too often the controls to secure documents are not properly followed. This happens in service, parts, sales...not confined to one department. Be thankful that you are with a dealership that takes privacy issues seriously.

Linda

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Linda Graham Hansen
Auto Dealer Focus
www.autodealerfocus.com

[cantfind12]

I am in a different dealership at least every other week and I can say this is a highly discussed issue. It is also very dependent on procedure and logistics as discussed on this forum. I recently visited a dealer where the cashier was moved onto the showroom floor. There are valid arguements to both sides, however, I believe allowing the customer a private area to review and discuss (and perhaps offer critical opinions) of service is as imperative as allowing for a secure platform for cashiering payment. The ultimate goal, as pointed out, is to allow for a transition for the advisor to have time to explain and smooth the transition to the cashiers window, however, keeping irate customers away from other client traffic and maintaining comfort in payment security in this day and age seems to be higher priority. I believe this proves out in the "layout" of most recently built
dealerships you visit these days.

[djs]

Great discussion. I am torn since I see both sides of the story. The cashier function still costs $30k+ a year. It takes alot of service to make up that expense. One of the challenges is that there is only so much other work a cashier can do when they are answering the phone and are in a very public place. My person answers phone, cashiers and files some service folders. Am I missing any other opportunities? Thanks for all the great comments!

[cantfind12]

One other observation which is an "offshoot" of the ideaology in which I was taught. Look at other venues. What does your Doctors office do? I find that dynamic strangely but understanbly close to the personal way in which people treat their vehicles. Many studies have pointed to same tranference of the qualities of animate and inanimate character to personal feeling. If you think that is crazy find out how many people give names to their cars.

[texaslp]

Hm, at my doctors office I have to pay upfront.

[caddy gal]

We have not had a cashier since Nov 2008. Our Csi went up by 15% we run in the 90's now. The writers take more time with the customer before and after the repairs. We also have the customers car in front of the dealership when customer arrives because the writer has to also porter. (they do the QC at this time) My elr is almost 80.00 and we are selling over 2.5 avg cp per ro. You do the math. This can be done.

[lostgopher]

This dealership has the parts department do the cashiering. It takes me away from doing the rest of my job. I can be looking up parts for a tech or be on the phone either helping someone who needs parts, or looking for parts that we need. Then you get some impatient person wanting to pay their bill. I cannot blame them for wanting to get going, but we have other work to get done as well. We don not have the time to explain each bill to the customer because we are constantly multi-tasking. Then the topper is when we have to take the ticket back to service to have them refigure it because they did not present a coupon when they first came in. I can understand the CSI business that every one is trying to obtain, but if you are short staffed, or extra busy. You can multi-task yourself into a problem. Big box places will open up another line if people are waiting to check out. Just my 2 cents, but I would love to ditch this part of my job.

[texaslp]

The actual "cashiering" part is quick and easy. The problem's you are dealing with are because the advisor has not reviewed the charges with the customer before they get to you to pay. I feel your pain. My brother is a sa and where he works they are required to walk the customer to the cashier window after reviewing their ticket. The cashier's job should be no more than taking the money.