Electronic Appointment and Repair Order Solution Streamline Processes
 
CLIFTON PARK, NY (November 01, 2010) – When Craig Toyota in Madison, Indiana converted to Auto/Mate’s AMPS(Automotive Management Productivity Suite) Dealer Management System (DMS), Service Manager Jason Tague decided to do away with paper appointment books and handwritten pre-writes. By implementing the AMPS’ Service module Electronic Appointment (EA) and RO features, his department immediately realized several benefits, including increased productivity and improved customer relations.
 
“The greatest advantage is the ease and control of making and changing appointments, and frankly, the cleanliness of the system,” says Tague. “It’s so much better than a book with a bunch of erased information, filled with grease and coffee stains.”
 
Once a customer’s information is entered into the system, scheduling and changing an appointment, or creating an RO, can be achieved with just a few clicks. The paperless system allows any technician or advisor to pull up appointment information by entering in a name, VIN or phone number. Craig Toyota’s average service transaction has been reduced from several minutes to about 30 seconds.
 
“The whole process is seamless, from customer input to the customer showing up, to the pre-write being printed off, to the customer verifying and signing the information,” said Tague.
 

Increased Productivity

The AMPS paperless system has greatly improved Tague’s ability to keep track of appointments and ROs, resulting in a productivity gain. Tague regularly reviews a week’s or month’s worth of appointments at a time, from which he can determine which days or technicians are busy or not, so he can set priorities. “I can also see how many ROs are open, closed, invoiced, paid and how many carryovers there are,” Tague says. If an RO hasn’t been closed, the system automatically transfers it into the next day’s book of business, instead of someone having to physically go through and write in the carryovers.
 

Improved Customer Relations

As a direct result of the service department’s increased productivity, Tague noticed an increased level of customer satisfaction. “This is most noticeable around 8:00 am, when there are ten drop-offs,” he says. When a customer arrives, an advisor can instantly pull up a pre-write and print it off for review. Customers appreciate the speed of the transaction and the personal touch with their specific information and requests.
 
Tague also credits the paperless system with reducing the amount of mistakes made by service employees. He refers to a time when a customer request, such as using Pennzoil for an oil change, was scribbled on a post-it note or in the margin of an RO. Then during the course of the day, that information was misplaced or lost. “With the electronic system, you just pull up the screen-it takes about five seconds – change the op code to specify the request made, then print it out so there’s no delay.”
 
While accommodating the needs of customers in a hurry, a paperless system also allows advisors to spend more time with customers who appreciate it. “The less time required doing paperwork, the more time can be spent face to face with the customer, and the more satisfied their response is,” says Tague.
 
The Service History, Merchandising & Invoicing System is a module in Auto/Mate’s comprehensive Dealer Management System, AMPS (Automotive Management Productivity Suite). The service module provides a complete merchandising, invoicing and service history system for the service department.

About Auto/Mate

Auto/Mate Dealership Systems is a leading provider of dealership management system (DMS) software to retail automotive dealerships. Its Automotive Management Productivity Suite (AMPS) is a user-friendly, feature-rich dealership management software in use by more than 900 auto dealers nationwide. Auto/Mate offers the best customer service in the industry; the company received top satisfaction rankings in NADA’s most recent DMS provider survey.
 
Auto/Mate’s employees have more than 300 years of combined experience working in auto dealerships – the foundation of its “Designed by Car People, for Car People” slogan. For more information, visit www.automate.com, follow us on Twitter @AutoMateDMS and subscribe to our blog at https://automate.com/blog/.