Backup for warranty

Backup for warranty

Postby texaslp » Mon Jul 09, 2007 11:27 am

Who is your backup for booking repair orders and submitting warranty?
texaslp
 

Backup for warranty

Postby robc » Mon Jul 09, 2007 4:59 pm

For vacation relief, I always recommend that dealerships train a second to at least to the recalls and easy stuff while the WA is away. One store I work with took this to heart by requiring that the advisors spend one week a year with the warranty administrator learning the system. It pays off more than just having back-up, the whole system flows better with everyone having a more complete picture.

It is a good chance for a cashier or other employee to get their feet wet and test their aptitude for the work.
robc
 

Backup for warranty

Postby texaslp » Tue Jul 10, 2007 11:57 am

I understand that we need a backup person. I was curious who most dealerships train as a backup. Service advisor? Cashier?
texaslp
 

Backup for warranty

Postby mgl » Wed Jul 11, 2007 10:20 am

Most places I have worked the service manager has stepped up in a pinch, but usually places are smart to let it go for the week, as unfamiliarity can cause a WA to quit cold when they find out what has been *&^*^ in their absence...it is ALWAYS more difficult to straighten out someone else's mess! I would much rather have the extra load than try to figure out what the sub was trying to do. Since extra loads aren't much fun either, I only take one day off at a time and it works just fine for the cash flow.
Just about everybody can sub for appointments-advisor, receptionist, manager,
WA...even the part time filer has been known to grab a ringing phone here!
mgl
 

Backup for warranty

Postby texaslp » Wed Jul 11, 2007 10:32 am

What about booking customer pay tickets? And what if your service mgr is technologically challenged?
texaslp
 

Backup for warranty

Postby mgl » Wed Jul 11, 2007 3:59 pm

Like I said, let it go for a week, the problems someone else can cause can be horrific to correct. Our advisors cashier anyway, and our receptionist pinch hits as an advisor half the time. Don't get me going about technilogically challenged SM's! Our cash money is handled by our parts department to eliminate mysterious 'shortages'. When in doubt have the advisors get the $$ and reimburse customers later. And aren't we the most wonderful dealership then! If you really MUST have a sub, the logical choice is your lead tech or shop foreman. They know how the vehicles go together best. And if you are lucky enough to have a cashier, usually one of the office people can take over all too easily. And I intend no snub to cashiers. A few I have had the good fortune to work with have held the dealership CSI in the palms of their hands and were worth their weight in emeralds and rubies. Really.

[This message has been edited by mgl (edited 07-11-2007).]

mgl
 

Backup for warranty

Postby Lhansen » Thu Jul 12, 2007 12:48 pm

I always advise dealers to cross train for each position. Usually a cashier or advisor can be trained to back up warranty. If an employee is hesitant to ge thte training, just remind them that they will be a more valuable asset to the dealerships with any additional skills. All too often, I have seen a dealership held hostage, because there was only one person trained for each position. I also encourage cross training in other departments, parts advisors, office staff, etc.

Linda

------------------
Linda Graham Hansen
Auto Dealer Focus
www.autodealerfocus.com
Lhansen
 

Backup for warranty

Postby texaslp » Thu Jul 12, 2007 2:32 pm

We currently have no backup and the svc mgr and dealer both(for some reason) are resistant to training the service advisors. I think they should at least be able to invoice customer pay. I know of at least one store where the sa's book all customer pay.

Warranty could wait and we do have a person at another location who can come over and do warranty.

I'm hesitant to train the cashier because there's potential for fraud.

I've offered to train another office ee, but if the warranty clerk is out, the svc mgr expects my employee to spend the entire day/week 100% in service(he doesn't do well with sharing).


texaslp
 

Backup for warranty

Postby KulaWho » Mon Aug 13, 2007 4:39 pm

I'm the WA here and am fortunate that, at this dealership, the SAs and SM book their CP ROs. I set up the recalls as quick-ops in our computer system (UCS) and they are able to close out most of the recalls, the maint plans and some easy warranty claims. If I'm gone for a week or more, then the SM will enter the recalls and easy claims for me. He tries to do some of the other claims to do payroll, but ultimeately it just waits for me until I return.

I do agree with MGL that sometimes it's more work when I get back trying to figure out how the SM came up with the lops he did, but I also know he does the best he can under the circumstances.

I would love to have someone learn here, if just some of the smaller claims to back me up but I fall under the same problems ... the SAs have so much to do already and the evening cashier can't even file the ROs in number order, let alone do something more complicated such as warranty claims. At my previous dealership, the office manager entered claims when I was gone. Here we have some new office personel and I'm hoping that when they are settled in and they have some 'slow time' that I would be able to have someone willing to learn some easier aspects of claiming and on how to check schedules.
KulaWho
 

Backup for warranty

Postby frontline365 » Wed Aug 29, 2007 1:48 pm

I can tell you one thing for sure, don't ever get caught without a back-up plan. I am the service manager at a chev,pontiac,buick dealership and in february of '07 our warranty administrator passed away very unexpectantly, which left us in quite a bind.of course, being the great "team"player that we all try to be, I listed warranty administrator as another title to carry for a very "short" time,guess what--6 months later, not only am I still managing the service department,but I am still doing warranty administration. When asking the owner when it will change the reply is"your doing a fine job"It has by far affected the service department. Every dealership should have some sort of back-up in case something like this happens--it is very time consuming to do warranty administartion and I have a much deeper appreciation for that position

"trying to get out"
frontline365
 


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