Joshua Gute English 1102 Source Annotations

Phillip Reed, "How consumers are often overcharged for repairs," Confessions from the Dealership Service department, http://www.edmunds.com/car-care/confessionsfrom-the-dealership-service-department.html (accessed October 1, 2013). The main point Phillip Reed is trying get across to the readers of this article is that Car dealerships in the past were known for there credibility and loyalty to their customer base. Honesty has become a thing of the past in the service industry. The main objective of a service department is to boost revenue with sales of unneeded maintenance and early replacement of components that do not coincide with manufacturers recommendations or Processes. Flat Rate is a type of payment plan for the technicians in a dealership. The technician has an established base salary, Technicians are then paid by the number of hours produced on each work order following a standard times guide by the manufacturer. The same is true for most other jobs in the dealership, the parts department and service advisors are also paid based on a percentage of sales.

Steve Finlay, "Top Dealership Service Departments Shine," http://wardsauto.com/news-amp-analysis/top-dealership-service-departments-shine (accessed October 1, 2013). The article above is about the perception a auto dealer portraits to the customer. If you have the best looking facility, best equipment and highly qualified employees your dealership will succeed. This includes using technology to alert customers of times they are due for maintenance and estimated waiting times when car is being serviced. In the last few years new car sales have gone down and dealerships have relied on service operations to step up. This allows me to research what changes can be made by service professionals to increase there absorption rate. The absorption rate refers to the revenue for fixed service operations compared to the total cost of dealership overhead between all departments. Conlon, Edward, Sarv Devaraj, and Khalil F. Matta. The Relationship Between Initial Quality Perceptions and Maintenance Behavior: The Case of The Automotive Industry. Master\. University Of Notre Dame, 2001. JSTOR http://www.jstor.org/stable/822557 The topic of interest with this academic article explains how over the years the auto manufacturers have increasingly become more aware to customer concerns of longevity with their vehicles. The manufacture has found when it provides a higher quality product the customer is more receptive to bringing the car to the dealer for the recommended services. This has resulted in the OEM to build better relationships with its franchised dealerships. Although this has still not been established in many dealerships the increase in involvement positively impacts customers. With increased technical training of staff customers cars are fixed right the first the time, reassuring them they made the right decision to choose your business. Understanding the dealership revolution

Joshua Gute English 1102 Source Annotations

will give me the knowledge to research what changes in the service sector can ultimately grow your customer base. I Department of Motor Vehicles, "Laws Governing Motor Vehicle Businesses." Accessed October 3, 2013. http://www.dmv.org/nc-north-carolina/buy-sell/car-dealers/dealerrelated-information.php The main topic of interest is the Department of motor vehicles article on laws governing motor vehicle business. These are the codes of conduct and rules enforced by the state of North Carolina. These rules are put in place by the state to regulate businesses from taking advantage of customers and also be held responsible for neglect or unsafe practice.

Simmons, Brad. "Winning Back Consumer Trust In The Service Department." autodealer monthly, April 2011. http://www.autodealermonthly.com/channel/dpsoffice/article/story/2011/04/winning-back-consumer-trust-in-the-service-department.aspx (accessed October 3, 2013). In this article Brad Simmons writes about the importance of dealerships regaining back their customers who have been lost to independent and light duty automotive shops. The dealerships need to make their service writers more knowledgeable of the vehicle systems and what repairs may be taking place. To accomplish this the dealership must have more emphasis on technical training. The service advisor is just a salesman at most of todays dealerships using Upsells to boost there inflated commission check. Upsells are additional repairs written up based on inspection of the vehicles common wear of components. This article can further help me with my research by giving me some proposed solutions to common dealership problems. This mostly reflects training of the service advisor, giving them strong communication and technical skills to effectively give the customer accurate information. Senter Jr, Richard, and Michael S Flynn. Organizational Consolidation In The Service Sector: The Case of Automotive Retailing. master\. Central Michigan University, Doshisha University, 2010. JSTOR (40969152) http://www.jstor.org.librarylink.uncc.edu/stable/40969152 The article written tells about the consolidation that is occurring nation wide with car dealerships. The smaller independently owned dealerships are closing all over. The smaller operations are just not able to offer the level of service and resources as the larger corporate owned Mega Dealerships. This can include luxury waiting rooms, valet services. The larger dealerships also have a much better relationship with the manufacturer in most cases. The larger dealerships make logistics easier for the OEM, therefore reducing cost. This article has given me further ideas of research on this topic. I was to

Joshua Gute English 1102 Source Annotations

Gute, Joshua. University of North Carolina Charlotte, "Observation Notes for Car Dealership Figured world" Last modified September 21, 2013. Accessed October 3, 2013. https://moodle2.uncc.edu/mod/assignment/view.php?id=127442.

This is an onsite observation of my work place, a local car dealership in Charlotte NC. I have written over three different periods of time to get a view of what goes on in a independently owned car dealer. The main topic of interest in this piece is to understand the relationships between employees and what the rules and expectations are of the employees. After writing this observation I think it would be beneficial to observe another dealership on the opposite end of the spectrum. This would give me knowledge of what things may be done at the independent dealership level, to keep us competing with the corporate level car dealerships. Rossen, Jeff. "Are Car Dealers Charging For Unnecessary Car Repairs?" Recorded October 18 2011. NBC Today Show. Web, http://www.today.com/video/today/44942689 Above is a hidden camera investigation by the NBC Today show. They bug a car with a bad Air Conditioning relay causing the car to not cool. The car is taken to multiple car dealerships with a hidden camera rolling to capture the sale of the service advisor and the diagnosis of the problem. The results were shocking as in most cases they were just told they needed to replace components from the system to correct the problem. This shows firsthand how without more Manufacturer involvement in the dealership, they get away with conducting business this way. These are the stories that hurt dealership reputations everywhere. I want to further research what is being done to stop this behavior in car dealership service departments. Johnson, Randy. "Rethinking Rewards Program For Automotive Dealership Service" Recorded February 3 2010. Car People Marketing. Web, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WePyGKcdSs. A fixed operations manager created the video above to explain the approach of his dealership operations. The idea of a rewards program to dealership service is discussed with consumers. The video reinforces the idea as customers are interviewed about there opinions of dealerships, and how rewards programs often keep them coming back. This a important part of the restructuring of the automotive service sector. Customers want to feel they are getting a good deal, not just being taken advantage of causing them to not take there vehicle in for regular service.