Dealers everywhere are feeling the pressure on retention. Customers are stretching ownership, independents are targeting out-of-warranty traffic, and the margin story now lives or dies inside fixed ops.
That backdrop is familiar to Ramsey Mazda in Urbandale, Iowa. But what’s different is how Fixed Ops Manager Manny Gonzalez has gone about tightening the store’s daily execution.
The details: During a recent appearance on Daily Dealer Live with hosts Sam D’Arc and Uli de’ Martino, Gonzalez explained that the biggest shift was getting people to operate more consistently.
“One thing that a lot of people or a lot of stores have is procedures [and] processes,” he said. “The biggest thing is developing people to follow the processes.”
To do that, Gonzalez built simple, repeatable rhythms.
Service advisors start each morning reviewing real customer surveys in a short huddle.
They then meet individually with him each week to talk through performance, expectations, and what they’re seeing on the lane.
From there: The focus turns to preparation, especially around loaners, which had long been a bottleneck. The team now plans appointments the day before, using existing systems to eliminate friction before customers arrive.
Here’s how it works:
myKaarma gathers customer info ahead of arrival
CDK generates repair orders
TSD assigns loaners early
And vehicles are staged in the drive with a physical name card
“There’s like a card inside with their name on it…that says reserved and [has] the customer name, and [says] it’s ready to go, it’s cleaned up, [and has] gas.”
With those in place, customers pull in, see their name on the car, and the appointment starts on a great foot.
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Elsewhere: That same consistency carries into how the store keeps customers connected beyond a single visit.
For older vehicles, advisors offer prepaid maintenance directly from the service lane.
“We were able to sign them up for like a five-year oil change plan in the drive,” he said, adding that as customers reacted positively, advisors followed suit.
Worth noting: Video inspections fit naturally into the same operating model. Expectations are set at check-in, and advisors stay physically visible after videos are sent.
“We position our service advisors right in front of the waiting room,” Gonzalez said. “So we can kind of see what we send the videos.”
So far, the combined impact has been measurable:
55% retention on vehicles more than two years old
87% video MPI view rate
Faster loaner handoffs and fewer delays
Bottom line: In a market where retention is increasingly the whole game, Gonzalez’s strategy (like many strategies shared on Daily Dealer Live) brings us back to the fundamentals. Because when customers can depend on the service workflow, they’re going to keep coming back.
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