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Continued from page 26, "Service Gets a Lift"
For one, the dealership was still washing cars by hand, so management made sure one addition to the new service shop was a car wash. In addition to providing time savings, the dealership can now offer complimentary car washes to sales and service customers.
Another vast improvement in the new department was heating and air-conditioning. Through the winter, the mantra used to be, "Don't open the doors unless you absolutely have to," said Jay Basney, new car sales manager at Basney Honda. "The days of sweating in the summer and freezing in the winter are over … the techs are loving it."
A couple of express service lanes and bays were also part of the rebuild, and since the new facilities opened about a year ago, walk-in traffic has increased. "We service about 110 to 120 walk-in customers' cars every week on top of our normal appointments. The quick service is a pretty big deal for customer conven- ience," said Barclay. He added that service business on the whole has increased by more than 30 percent, which is in part attributable to the fact that the new facility has more bays, allowing for more work to be taken on.
When rebuilding, manage- ment was thinking "green." The service department features water hydraulic lifts instead of oil, a heating system powered by recycled oil, and motion sensors on doors and lights to help with climate control.
In addition to thinking green, management at Basney Honda thought local. All bids put in by vendors wanting to be a part of the rebuild were reviewed by management, and special consideration was given to local companies that had done business with the dealership in the past, said Basney.
This was possible since Honda didn't mandate which companies the dealership could work with. "Honda wanted things done a certain way," said Basney, "but we got full reign on who we wanted to use. Honda sent a couple of guys from California for the drawing of the plans, but that was really about it. They recommended things, but we did get final say-so." He said things related to branding, like the required Honda blue and corporate labels, were in the initial approved plans. "All the
service techs got new tool boxes that were Honda blue and built-in to all match. That was a $100,000 add, but it looks really nice."
In total, the new dealership cost $4.5 million. While Honda didn't provide any direct financial support to help pay for the rebuild, the dealership got an additional 234 new Hondas for the year and could take 20 to 30 a month until the agreement was satisfied. Of the new service facilities, Basney said, "We've come a long way … It's about as good is it gets."
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