PDI's....

[MovingForward]

Couldn't agree more with Richard.

PDI's are a service department operation period. That is it, that simple.

Is your GSM going to purchase the special service tools required to complete the PDI (i.e. battery tester)?

How about when there is a part missing or damaged on delivery. Or transport damage?

Your GSM must really be a tool. Can't believe he would even want to approach this.

[cville1987]

More and more dealers are being overrun by empty suits and corporate fat cats. All they see are $ signs and they think we are all dumb, uneducated rednecks and they think we are the greedy ones, especially those of us in parts. Despite the fact our department has the lowest gross, lowest paid commissioned employees and lowest paid manager. The way things are going, this level of stupidity is only going to increase. I do not plan to retire in this business. Some way i will find my way out.

[partking]

If the GSM thinks it will be about reducing expense, it probably won’t work out. Balancing the cost of a full time tech plus benefits, payroll tax, training, rent factor and supplies against the PDI reimbursements will likely be big time in the red. And what the hell does a GSM know about managing techs?

It may not be about empire building at all – it may be about priorities. How many times has your shop been totally booked up and suddenly sales wants to make a spot delivery? Accommodate them and now you have angry customers at the end of the day.

What works better is this: Schedule a PDI as soon as possible when the car comes off the transporter. If the car is later dealer traded, the buying dealer pays for the PDI with the car and gets reimbursed from the factory when they trip the car. Then sales (new and used together) hire their own detailer (and materials). Service typically charge sales for details so the GSM saves this cost by using their own person. Detailers are cheaper to hire than techs and need no expensive training or certifications. It probably still represents an expense, but a more manageable one. The cars have already had the PDI and only need a clean up and the sales managers have complete control over the priorities with this detail work.