With new sales flat in July and used sales seeing modest gains, Jeff Pister is quick to point out the success in fixed ops during the month, where repair orders are up 8.5%, and the gross is up around $160,000 from 2025.
The executive manager of Honda Marysville in Ohio explained to Sam D’Arc on Daily Dealer Live the efforts that paved the way for the month.
Driving the news: Pister noted increased warranty work from Honda recalls in July, but credits added flexibility and availability as primary drivers of the growth in customer pay throughout the month.
In the past year, he said the shop shifted its hours to open by 6 a.m. and remain open until 9 p.m.
Appointment capacity moved from 160 per day to around 250.
They have also been “steady” with direct mail to consumers in the past nine months.
“We’re working hard right now to kind of expand that [capacity], so we can nose up into the 300s,” Pister said. “Some of that’s additional technician need, hours of operation and moving things… We still have a tremendous amount of PDI and used-car [work]; we separate that currently from the shop. We’re looking to put some of that work in non-peak hours now to allow more customers to come in.”
Four-day work week: While expanding the hours of operation, the store went to a four-day work week for its technicians.
Pister said the move was made to target a “niche with technicians.”
He noted it’s boosted their recruitment efforts.
There have been some challenges with the workload outpacing the availability of employees, but he reiterated they will not be returning to a five-day work week.
The store offers financial incentives for employees working the fifth day, and is working toward adding evening shifts in the fourth quarter.
“It’s already hard enough to recruit,” Pister said. “The young folks that come in don’t really want to work the way we have in our entire life in the career. So, we’re trying to get way more creative with flexibility that allows people to give us consideration.”
In addition to schedule flexibility, Pister said they pay at the top of the market and create an “environment to be a win for them and a win for us.”
Adding on: The Honda store has 52 bays, and at the rented facility a mile away, there are another 14 lifts.
A new Acura store is under construction to add another 24 bays.
“We’re working way toward that 100 number here sooner or later,” Pister said.
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Better service, more acquisitions: The service numbers have led to the store pulling more than 100 vehicles a month out of the service lane for trades.
Running the efforts is a used-car manager who understands the value of the cars and customer retention and operates without handcuffs on the appraisal process.
Two additional employees are being trained as consultants as the dealership pushes toward a goal of pulling 200 vehicles from the service lane.
As far as technology, the store uses an equity tool, but the main payoff is from a familiar face talking to every customer.
“We don’t pick and choose who gets the appraisal and who doesn’t,” Pister said. “I think having some people that have been in our company for some period of time, a familiar face to the service department, it doesn’t feel like a sales transaction. It feels like a friend.”
Bottom line: By valuing its customers’ experience with the expanded hours in the morning and evening for dropoffs and pickups and being flexible with its employees to help with recruitment and retention, Honda Marysville has built its fixed ops into a financial producer for the dealership with more repair orders and by fueling the used-car lot with inventory.
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