Benzel-Busch Mercedes-Benz is riding a winning wave in its service department—with transactions up, increased profits, and high traffic.
A significant portion of the surge in the New Jersey-based dealership’s fixed operations business is attributed to the luxury brand’s connected vehicle capabilities.
Driving the news: “Mercedes-Benz, they're really good at giving us connected car leads, so we're doing a lot of outbound,” Benzel-Busch’s service director, David Cerqueira, told Daily Dealer Live hosts, Sam D’Arc and Uli De’ Martino.
How it works: Mercedes sends the dealership daily Excel sheets with customer service intervals for owners who require A/B service and even brake work—based on real-time vehicle data in the cloud. Cerqueira’s BDC team then contacts those customers via text, email, and phone—offering same-day appointments.
"We're seeing conversions upwards of 20% within the first 30 days,” said the service director.
Between the lines: The success of the connected lead system lies in the fact that it’s predictive rather than reactive.
Unlike blind campaigns that hinge on the hope someone might need service, Benzel-Busch’s BDC team knows exactly which customers to target and when.
The connected lead system has helped to grow the dealership’s express service operation from basic oil changes to recalls, brakes, and transmission services.
"We've expanded our capabilities," Cerqueira explained. "Anything that we can get done within an hour and a half, two hours max, we've got customers that are willing to wait for it."
The service center averages about 2,100 repair orders a month, with 250 to 300 of those orders going through the express service, representing 22% of total business.
Zooming out: The dealership’s 150+ loaner fleet allows for immediate scheduling—enabling Benzel-Busch Mercedes-Benz to address same-day or next-day service requests on the spot.
The dealership also gives customers a $75 to $125 discount for waiting for service versus taking a loaner vehicle, which helps to drive repeat business and higher per-visit revenue.
Cerqueira also leans heavily into video multipoint inspections (MPI)—achieving 75% video adoption.
“Let's say a customer…(doesn't)…understand how to use a certain function…, we'll create a quick video and say, ‘look, let's not create a repair order that we don't really need’,” said Cerqueira
The MPI videos are sent directly from techs to customers for full transparency, which improves CSI—evident by the video requests the dealership often receives from customers if they aren’t sent a video initially. Benzel-Busch also leverages videos to ensure that the service department operates efficiently overall—be it for parts approval or assessing customer issues early on.
Bottom line: As vehicles age and customers invest more in repairs, this data-driven approach to fixed operations becomes a competitive necessity, not just an advantage.
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