One thing we hear consistently from dealerships is the pride they take in providing excellent customer service. Through CDK Hailer and Lyft, dealerships like yours can do just that by serving more customers and providing a seamless transportation experience. Lyft partners with thousands of automotive organizations — including car dealerships and auto shops — to provide courtesy transportation at scale. And the best part? Dealerships are seeing great results. Read on to see how CDK Hailer and Lyft helped one luxury dealership increase daily revenue by $2100, save staff 2.5 hours a day and boost customer satisfaction by more than 25 points.
Who
Mercedes-Benz of Hoffman Estates sells and services luxury cars in the greater Chicago area. Dedicated to its customer-first mission, 60+ Service team members repair over 15,000 cars annually.
The Challenge
As a luxury dealership, Mercedes-Benz of Hoffman Estates prides itself on excellent customer service. This includes providing transportation options to clients when their car needs to be serviced or repaired. “Mercedes-Benz franchises are the pinnacle of customer service and customer expectations. If I can't deliver an absolutely perfect, high quality experience, then we fail,” shares Bob Sullivan, service director at Mercedes-Benz Hoffman Estates.
Traditionally, customers were offered a loaner vehicle to drive until their car was ready for pickup. Sullivan looked into expanding the loaner fleet, but the cost and space required was prohibitive. When loaner vehicles were in short supply, some customers opted to take the shuttle van home, but long wait times led to complaints.
The dealership also offered a pick-up and drop-off service for customers, which required multiple porters to leave the dealership to fetch a customer’s car for repair. While it was convenient for the customer, it cost the dealership valuable time and resources.
The Opportunity
The dealership was looking to expand its transportation options in a way that would better serve its mission. “We wanted to do something that was very customer-centric, that would give people choices on how their service experience would unfold,” shares Sullivan.
Sullivan’s team was already using the CDK Dealer Management System (DMS) to book service appointments and manage repair orders, however, transportation to and from the dealership was arranged manually. Sullivan began looking into Hailer, a CDK and Lyft integration that would allow his Service team to book Lyft rides within his existing system.
The Solution
Mercedes-Benz of Hoffman Estates began using Hailer and Lyft in 2020. Before Hailer, Service Advisors arranged transportation using email groups and calendar invites. Now, in just a few clicks, Service Advisors can send a Lyft ride to customers after creating a repair order. They can also send a customer Lyft credit, which lets them book a ride when it’s convenient.
“We're saving 2.5 hours per day in software interaction alone,” shares Sullivan. “This translates into the ability to spend more time with customers and to deliver a better experience.”
By eliminating the shuttle van and reducing the demand for loaner cars with Lyft, Sullivan’s team now services 3-4 more cars a day, increasing daily revenue by $2,100. Average repair orders are up from $850 to over $1,000.
“COVID-19 has really brought a lot of different dynamics this year. One of the obvious ones is that people don't necessarily want to leave their house.” Demand for pick-up and drop-off services is up, explains Sullivan, “Lyft massively helps with that. It brings peace of mind.”
Interested in learning more?
For more information on Lyft’s automotive solutions, visit our website or watch our webinar to learn more about using on-demand rides. To learn more about Hailer, visit our website. If you have additional questions, please reach out to our support team or your DMS partner.
Authored on Mon, 08/30/2021 - 18:30