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Just a reminder, the latest CDG Dealer Outlook Survey (Q4 2025), exclusively for dealer principals, managing partners, and group executives, is closing soon.
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Welcome to the Fixed Ops Pulse—an inside look at what’s really happening in the dealership service drive and how top operators are adapting in real time.
Automaker parts prices are quietly ticking up again.
And this time, the increases are starting to ripple through every corner of fixed ops.
Between Q1 and Q2, OEM parts climbed 2.1%, per an analysis from PartsTrader and major suppliers like Premium Guard Inc. (PGI) are warning that various car parts are expected to increase by 10% to 30%, including filters, brake components, and steel-heavy parts.
The reality: In fixed ops, price volatility magnifies operational gaps like appointment no-shows, uneven inventories, dispatching… I could go on.
Here are three ways franchise dealers are tightly managing their parts, labor, and scheduling to mitigate the impact of this high-cost environment…
Connecting appointment booking with parts visibility is preventing unnecessary pain points.
The problem: Service departments are still booking “blind” repair orders (ROs)—appointments created before anyone checks whether required parts are actually in the building. This disconnect between scheduling and parts stalls work progress, upsets technicians, messes with capacity planning, and ultimately, lowers Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) scores.
The latest J.D. Power U.S. Customer Service Index Study quantifies “parts delay” as the #1 driver of extended cycle time.
And even one small component can derail an entire RO.
Austin Conroy, fixed ops director at Rohrman Automotive Group has seen that first hand. Once he walked into his shop the morning after a standard tune-up and discovered the car still sitting in the bay because, “[The parts department] only [had] five of the spark plugs in stock,” he told me.
Austin Conroy
Rohrman Automotive Group
One missing plug tied up a bay overnight, pushed subsequent jobs back, and hit the scheduling system as a “no-show”—despite the customer arriving exactly on time.
Multiply this by daily traffic and the false-no-show rate climbs fast, muddying capacity forecasts and forcing advisors to fire-fight rather than sell.
The fix: Make “parts-ready” a mandatory step before any repair appointment is approved.
At high-performing stores, Business Development Centers (BDC) route unusual or diagnosis-heavy appointments to parts before they hit the scheduler. If the part isn’t confirmed, the slot doesn’t open. This simple gate removes blind ROs, stabilizes dispatching, and cuts false no-shows dramatically.
Why it works: When appointments are only booked against verified parts availability, the shop stops getting ambushed by missing components and starts running the day based on real (not theoretical) capacity.
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Inventory health is being determined more by OEM policy than manager skill.
The problem: Dealers like to believe inventory discipline is purely a management function. But the brand’s logistics network and return policy shape outcomes far more than most realize. Even the best-run parts departments struggle if the OEM doesn’t support fast delivery and healthy returns.
No one illustrates this better than Jimmy Berg, Owner/President of Sunrise Toyota, who contrasted Toyota’s model with domestic brands:
“Our parts are here by about two, three in the morning,” he said. We turn our parts… five times a month… and (Toyota has) a great return policy.”
Jimmy Berg
Sunrise Toyota
Because Toyota takes back unsold parts and replenishes stock overnight, Berg’s team doesn’t get bogged down in unsellable items. That keeps obsolescence close to zero and ensures technicians always have high-frequency parts on hand.
But Berg cautions that domestic stores often face the opposite situation—constrained returns, unpredictable deliveries, and obsolescence that quietly eats profit. Without healthy return allowances, dead inventory accumulates and starts crowding out the parts that technicians actually need.
The fix: Use a DMS-driven stocking model—and pair brands with OEM inventory programs that actually work.
Conroy’s team uses Tekion (Tech DMS) to automate min/max stocking by reading true demand. Brands like Toyota, Hyundai, and Kia support this approach with strong return programs that prevent aged parts from clogging shelves.
Why it works: Automated demand modeling and OEM-backed returns stop parts departments from accumulating dead stock and reduce the “micro-gaps” that disrupt RO flow.
Controlling the cost of special-order parts is driving dealers to overhaul how they schedule visits.
The problem: Dealers routinely special-order parts, fail to secure customer return visits, and then get stuck with components the OEM won’t take back. These parts sit in storage until they age out, become worthless, or must be written off.
Every operator has seen the pileup. As Tully Williams, Fixed Ops Director, The Niello Company put it, when stores lose control of this pipeline, “Next thing you know, the dealer has himself two or $300,000 of age inventory that he has to throw in the trash,” he explained.
Tully Williams
The Niello Company
It’s one of the most common (and least discussed) sources of lost profit in fixed ops. And for domestic brands with restrictive return policies, the damage compounds quickly.
Special-order parts also distort scheduling. When customers don’t return, the RO is never completed, labor hours evaporate, and advisors must reshuffle the workflow. Yet most dealers still treat special-order processes as administrative, not operational.
The fix: Prepay special-order parts and schedule the follow-up before the customer leaves the drive.
Top-performing groups take payment upfront, set the return appointment immediately, and track outstanding special-order parts weekly so items never age out unnoticed.
Why it works: Prepaying shifts the psychology—customers show up. The store avoids abandoned repairs. And the parts department stops quietly absorbing thousands in inventory that never converts to revenue.
The dealers who'll weather these price hikes aren't just reacting to higher costs—they're using this moment to eliminate the operational slop that's been hiding in plain sight. Blind ROs, bloated inventory, special-order chaos... these issues cost more than rising parts prices ever will.
That’s why the stores that already verify parts before scheduling, manage returns aggressively, and control special-order flow can handle the shift with minimal disruption, while looser operators will see delays, bottlenecks, and CSI scores drag.
The latest updates to CDG’s Recall Tracker, powered by BizzyCar:
Ford recalls nearly 230,000 Bronco and Bronco Sport SUVs for instrument cluster screen failures
