Jim Sabino is the longtime fixed ops director for All American Ford in Paramus and Hackensack in North New Jersey, where there’s little real estate for physical dealership expansion.
That leaves two options for dealers looking to increase their service department capacity: build a satellite location or turn down work.
However, Sabino is leveraging a third option that is growing in popularity: mobile vehicle service.
Driving the news: “This allows you to have mobile bays without that brick and mortar expansion, which is a great benefit,” Sabino told Daily Dealer Live host Sam D’Arc.
Sabino’s crew already put 16 mobile vans on the road, with plans to add two more vehicles in the next two to three months.
The store also intends to add another two in the last half of the year, for a total of 20.
The strategy: Sabino created a separate mobile team with its own identity because ad-hoc mobile service typically fails.
“You can't just take Joe out of the bay and put him in the truck today,” Sabino said. “You need dedicated team members from start to finish."
His dedicated team includes a mobile service coordinator that books appointments, coordinates work and manages repair orders.
He also has dedicated mobile techs with skill levels that match the work.
That means there’s no need to pull an A-level tech from the shop for mobile service, where only certain repairs take place, such as a battery replacement.
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Profitability notes: Mobile service makes most of its money through fleet work, recalls, and regular maintenance.
Fleet work brings in the highest profit margins because there are multiple vehicles at one location which maximizes efficiency and minimizes drive time.
Recalls drive volume, especially Ford, the most-recalled OEM of 2025.
Regular maintenance work may earn less per job, but it drives customer retention and satisfaction.
The catch: The hours spent driving to each appointment are not billable and must be factored into expenses. Sabino’s squad manages that a few different ways.
They use strategic routing to minimize drive time.
Prioritizing fleet work also helps reduce travel time.
Bottom line: Many dealerships that can’t add bays, are adding wheels. Mobile service can add capacity at scale without any real estate risk.
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