According to a recent article in Automotive News, investors and car dealers have shifted their focus to the used-car space because dealers have more pricing and profit controls; something the digital retailing space is forced to focus on.…

Customers don’t necessarily arrive at your dealership expecting a great experience. When it comes to service, many dread a higher-than-normal repair bill. They expect to hear additional maintenance is needed, but don’t want to spend a lot of time at the dealership and can get annoyed if made to wait longer than anticipated.

Whether this…

When it comes to sales and service transactions in the retail automotive industry, a main strategy in acquiring new customers or repeat business has always…

Today one of five vehicles on the road are under recall. This year alone there have been 46 million vehicle owners notified of a recall; seven million of which are not related to the Takata airbag issue.

Recalls represent a significant revenue opportunity for dealership service departments. Whenever a customer comes in for a recall repair, there’s an…

If you’re a movie fan, at some point, you will almost certainly have witnessed a scene where a villain sabotages a vehicle. The unsuspecting character gets into their car, fires up the engine and it explodes, dramatically. Or, perhaps the villain messes with the brakes, causing the main character to have a horrible crash. While these are familiar scenes out of a movie, the…

Life at a dealership is hectic. There are so many pieces moving simultaneously that it can seem as if you’re living in a real-life version of the classic video game “Frogger,” continuously ducking, dodging and weaving your way through the dealership -- just as everyone else is. Combine sales, service and customer activity, and that brings the risk to personal safety to a…

Manufacturers hold dealerships accountable for customer satisfaction and the overall experience in both sales and…

Recall Masters’ Christopher Miller warns auto dealers they could be easy targets for aggressive plaintiffs’ lawyers; offers advice to keep them safe

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Vehicles can easily change hands multiple times over their lifetime. When a recall occurs, it then becomes increasingly difficult for manufacturers and dealerships to notify the current owners, which compounds the problem of low recall compliance. For many vehicle owners, it’s not that they don’t want the recall fixed, it’s simply that they don’t even know about the recall…

With the massive onslaught of vehicle recalls it is pretty much guaranteed that all parties involved are paying attention. Today that ranges from consumers to OEMs to dealers to insurance companies; and tomorrow that will soon include rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft.

One of the biggest, and perhaps most well-known recalls, is unrepaired Takata airbags…

Consumers have plenty of choices when it comes time to buy a used car – private sellers, independent used car lots and, of course, franchise dealerships. Each have their pros and cons, ranging from price, to quality, to reliability and safety. The one edge franchise dealerships may have over all other options is that consumers, in general, believe that a used vehicle at a…

In my last blog, I shared some reasons why dealers need to prepare for a constant flow of recall repair work for a long time to come. In this second part, I’d like to lend some further insight as to why savvy and responsible auto dealerships need to develop a strategy for recall repairs. I could not fit them into…

Recalls have reached epidemic levels and stretch the resources of everyone involved – dealers, manufacturers and parts suppliers – as well as the patience of consumers faced with a recall, or who contemplate the purchase of a new or pre-owned vehicle. While it may be tempting to imagine a world where recalls aren’t such a burden to dealers and customers, the fact is, recalls…

One dealer in Florida is taking a stand to ensure that pre-owned vehicles with open recalls never hit the streets. When the Takata airbag crisis first reared its ugly head, Earl Stewart of Earl Stewart Toyota, started informing customers of in-stock vehicles with open recalls by clearly marking them with signs, while still continuing to sell them.

In June of…

Think about the value propositions most dealerships present to consumers. Free car washes, fast transactions, oil changes, low prices, etc. They’re all so similar that, in reality, they cease to differentiate one dealer from another. The simple fact that they aren’t unique just about negates the offer for consumers when they consider who to buy from.

Nobody…

In Part 1 of this series, I detailed the existing dealership viewpoint when it comes to consumers and the obstacles dealers are facing as related to the massive influx of recall business. In this blog, I’ll share the…