Service Drives Are The Future - by Daniel Billingsley

There is a saying I have loved throughout my 21 years as a franchise owner: I offer three things– speed, value, and quality. The customer can pick two.

For most of my career I did exactly as I was taught: find a used car manager and offer him speedy repairs at a value based price. Move lots of cars by quickly hiding damage and your money comes in bulk of those micro transactions.

As we approached the mess that was 2008 and then Cash for Clunkers, the lines and lines of used cars needing repair began to shrink. By then, I’d established relationships across my dealerships and realized that if I added quality to the mix, I could add New and Customer cars to my service offerings. As I committed to becoming better at my craft, I brought on a helper to provide the speed and value that the used car managers wanted while I focused on offering speed and quality that paid far better, and the expectations of a service drive customer forced me to become a far better painter than the used department had required. 

During those years, one dealership in particular started using me often enough that I gave them a set day just for service drive customers. Every Thursday I had a nice stack of keys waiting for me, and most service advisors were happy to bring the cars to the back of the lot for me. I’d earned enough trust that they reserved a space for me and provided a permanent power source. Life was good.

Then, from one week to the next, CHANGE. I walked up to the sales tower not recognizing half the faces there. The man who reached for my used car list briefly scanned it with open disgust and informed me that the dealership would no longer be using Colors on Parade. They considered our services to be too expensive and would be replacing us with someone cheaper.

I walked out of the best account I’d ever had in a daze and sat in my truck feeling disheartened and scared. I had bills, I had a helper, I had a PDR tech; I needed a solution. I dug around in my truck for some business cards and within an hour, I had enough interest from another dealership to almost feel okay. And then something neat happened. The service drive manager from the dealership that had fired me earlier that day called me and asked me to come back. 

I walked into the building I’d left only a few hours before and was told to head to the big conference room where the service manager, several advisors, the general manager, and the used car manager who had just fired me were waiting. They were all sitting there with a piece of paper in front of them. The GM began by pointing out that, for some time, the service department had been marking up my work by a 30% margin, and the money they were making nearly offset what the used department was paying me. Then, music to my ears: “Colors on Parade is this dealership’s only paint vendor.” That afternoon, I got 100% approval on my used car list from a now sheepish used car manager. We still work that account today. My primary takeaway from that experience became my new mantra for growth: partnering with the service drive can make you unfireable. 

Now, we find ourselves in yet another “economic downturn.” Used cars are more scarce and “one price programs” are hitting us hard, even in smaller areas. While used car managers ask us weekly to “do me a favor on this one,” I can’t help but think back to what made me unfireable all those years ago. Ryan, the creator of Bodyshop Booster, taught me that the service drive bears the brunt of operations costs at a dealership– 70% or more– and they are always actively looking for more revenue that doesn’t tie up a service bay in their shop. 

With this in mind, armed with the corporate suggested premium products and a renewed focus on quality over quantity, I intend to walk into dealerships with no concern for what is happening in the used department. If the competition wants to offer bumpers for $100, let them. I’ll be in the service department, using ATX clear coats and getting paid enough to spend the time to be proud of the work I’ve done each and every day.

A three- to four-bay service drive sees around 100 cars per day, and 90% of those vehicles need our attention. When leveraged properly, service advisors become our hype men, letting customers know who we are and what we do. Paired with the incredible tool we have in our partnership with Bodyshop Booster, and access to the quality line of products from Sherwin-Williams, I believe Colors on Parade is well positioned to fill the massive gap between the long lead times associated with body shops and the lower-quality technicians not-so-lovingly referred to by dealerships as “lot lizards.”  

I no longer want to let my customer choose between speed, value, and quality.

Service drives need quality. Service drives need speed. But it’s going to cost them.

Thankfully, they’ll make money too.

For those of us willing to step up our game, the future is service. The future is service advisors operating as our six-day-a-week salesmen.

If the used car game is making you feel like you are a necessary evil to them, switch gears. Let Jarred, Kimberly, and Bodyshop Booster do the heavy lifting. Let’s get paid real money for what we’ve been giving away for far too many years. 

Premium EcoSmart repairs for customers willing to pay a premium– that’s service drives. That’s the evolution of Colors on Parade.