PARTS COUNTERPEOPLE BODY COUNT

WM · Post by WM » Fri Jan 24, 2003 4:05 pm

WE ARE A BMW DEALER LOCATED IN THE CHICAGO AREA WE HAVE 26 TECHS AND A GROWING WHOLESALE BUSINESS. A SIX DAY WORK WEEK FROM 630AM -630PM M-F AND 7-6 ON SAT
ANY IDEAS ON HOW MANY PARTS COUNTERPERSONS WE SHOULD HAVE?
OF COURSE THERE ARE DIFFERENT PRODUCTIVITY GUIDELIMES FROM MNI AND NADA
BUT THEY REALLY DONT TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION TOTAL DEPARTMENT HOURS TECH COUNT ETC
HELP IS APPRECIATED!

chrisjpat · Post by **chrisjpat** » Wed Feb 05, 2003 9:36 am

hey there wm--thought i'd reply, 'cause nobody replied to my post on performance standards, right under you.
NADA got me current info
sales per person should be 27,000 mthly for domestic so youre probably at 32,000 a mth.
gross bench mark is 9,000 per emp per mth on domestic. imports might be 11k.
NADA in mclean va. may have more info.
Bottom line-to be open that many hours you should have strong business throughout. Otherwise your people are stretched very thin. If your sales justify the head count you're ok-if not the service dept may have to subsidize some extra help to keep the dept manned. Unfortunatly hours of operation should not dictate personnel count but they do, when extended hours come into play.
just my opinion.
chrisjpat

TheSaint · Post by **TheSaint** » Thu Feb 06, 2003 3:21 pm

I have in the past worked at a large multi-line dealership with approx same number of techs. We were considered at full strength with five back counter men. It sounds like alot but take in to account vacations and saturdays and its just right. You can do it with less, which we did most of the time, but we always filled in with hourly help to pull orders and handle sops.

Rotnjonny@aol.com · Post by **Rotnjonny@aol.com** » Thu Feb 06, 2003 4:39 pm

I, like you have fallen into that same trap. On one hand you are held accountable to maintaining bottom line profitability, while trying to maintain sufficient staff with the hours of operation. You can look at the standards as posted by MNI and NADA. Unfortunately, it won't take into consideration your 'non-standard' operation. I would be looking at a 4-day work week. I would staff 5 counterman for the service department plus one floater. The five on the service counter work a four day week (12 hours per day). Every day one of them is off. The floater fills in for who is off that day. He works a five day work week. Saturdays would be on a rotation based upon how many techs work on Saturdays. Then I would balance my staff with sufficient retail counter staff. You don't say in your posting if your wholesale and retail are totally seperate. Also, is your service counter and retail counters seperate? I've been down this road. If I can help, give me a call. 205-335-5613.

BILL NYHAN · Post by **BILL NYHAN** » Mon Feb 10, 2003 1:10 pm

THANX GUYS FOR YOUR RESPONSES!
BILL

Mike Cummings · Post by **Mike Cummings** » Tue Mar 04, 2003 10:02 am

What about the wholesale and retail requirements? If you have 26 techs, chances are you're doing a good w/s and retail business also. How many people dedicated to that side? Is retail also open 6:30 to 6:30? or are they open 8:00 to 8:00? or something like that? What's the total headcount to be open those hours including Mgrs. counterpeople,w/s and retail, wharehouse people,drivers and parts pickers?