IDS’ Dealership Insights Forum Focuses on RECT Best Practices – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
With dealerships becoming increasingly stressed to find solutions to improve Repair Event Cycle Times (RECT) in their shops, dealer management system provider IDS on Friday, April 26, hosted its first online Dealership Insights Forum to open doors of communication and spread best practices on the topic.
Facilitated by IDS’ Don Miller and Bob Scholl of Rocky Mountain RV, Albuquerque, N.M., dealers hit on topics such as difficulties having the right supplies, obtaining cooperation from OEMs on warranty repairs, coordinating drop-offs with customers and how RECT has improved in some areas but not in others.
Miller, who is a senior data consultant at IDS, led off the meeting by showing information from his company that shows how RECT differs under varying circumstances, including whether the correct parts were on hand.
“We have seen some nice improvement over the years, and if we just look at the first quarter of each year, you’ll seen that continues for 2024,” he said. “But when there’s a combination of a warranty job and out-of-stock parts, it has a negative impact. Across the board, dealerships are doing what they can to improve the situation. Where we’re really seeing the problem is in job days – from the first time you turn a wrench until the job is done – it continues to increase.”
Dealerships have made efforts to get customers on and off lots as quickly as they can, Scholl acknowledged.
But there are inherent delays any time a manufacturer has to be involved in a repair, he said.
Dealers try to get the parts on order, but hope to get the customers to take their coaches home rather than sitting on the lot waiting for a part to come in and he repair to start.
“It becomes a shell game trying to get the customers’ units back at the dealership once the parts are here to get those repairs finalized,” Scholl said. “That is a heavyweight factor in the number of job days we’re experiencing in the industry.”
Scholl, who’s the assistant general manager at Rocky Mountain RV, said his Albuquerque, N.M.-based dealership has attempted to do a better job of diagnosing problems before a customer even comes in for the repair. If successful, this would result in more parts being on hand when needed for the job. Using text messaging and photos can help technicians figure out problems before the coach shows up on the lot, for example.
Scholl added that there is nothing more frustrating that diagnosing a problem, ordering a part and having the wrong part show up or the right part that is damaged and has to be reordered.
One commenter on the forum noted that some suppliers will offer a Top 20 lineup of most common warranty repair parts so that dealers can have the right stock on hand.
“We are definitely paying attention to those most-used parts by the manufacturers,” Scholl said. “And it’s advisable to carry that because it is real.”
Scholl said it’s also important to note that manufacturers at times will pass a warranty issue on to the supplier of a part rather than handling it at the OEM level.
“That will definitely add some time,” he said.
For now, Scholl said he believes the key to reducing RECT is to get a “good quality active drop off.”
By this he means the service or warranty advisor gets good information on what the problem is, gets quality photos that illustrate what is going on with the coach, takes down the customer’s complaints in a manner that a technician is going to be able to diagnose the issue and get the parts ready.
“That alludes to customer satisfaction at every dealership,” he said. “Customer service around the nation is just plummeting. Customers have been frustrated with bad customer service.”
A good receiving process as described earlier can go a long way to reduce reordered parts and speeding up the entire process, he said.
IDS hopes to continue the series and cover other topics of dealer interest.
