Your Top 10 from 2021: The Best of Fuel

2021 was a wild ride, so we’re taking a trip down memory lane to remind ourselves there is always light at the end of the tunnel. Despite the turns and challenges this year handed us, the industry is always ready to roll up its sleeves and find new profit opportunities. Automotive retailing truly couldn’t be more alive.

As we look back on this year, we are honored to serve you with continued best practices for increasing utilization and fresh ideas to drive profits. Take a look at what stood out the most to our readers in 2021:

1. Every Day a Vehicle Spends in Reconditioning is Money Down the Drain
   Dealership-Wide

You lose significant profit opportunity every day a vehicle spends in reconditioning, and it turns out that several days’ worth of reconditioning time is totally unnecessary.

2. The 24/7 Drop Box
   Parts and Service

Of the many ways a kiosk can boost the service department, one that can’t be replicated is the convenience and flexibility created by the “24/7 drop box”, round-the-clock customer access that radically redefines a customer-centric operation.

3. How Daytona Toyota is Getting Quality Technicians
   Parts and Service

By 2024, the U.S. is expected to be short 642,000 auto/diesel/collision technicians. Daytona Toyota partnered with a local collage to attract new blood with on-the-job training.

4. 3 Things Missing From Your Service Drive That Are Hurting Customer Experience
   Parts and Service

Gone are the days of a good customer experience only being a clean storefront and smiling, uniformed employees. Yes, those still matter, but you have to evolve and find new ways to stand out.

5. 4 Car Buying Trends You Need to Know
   Sales and F&I

Despite sky-high car prices and minimal inventory in 2021, shoppers are in fact out there. To better position your dealership for capturing and maximizing these opportunities, here’s the current and upcoming car buying trends you need to know.

6. 3 Tips to Eliminate Distractions For Your Advisors
   Parts and Service

Service managers, you know your advisors are busy and their role is critical to your success. In fact, nearly 75% of calls into a dealership are for parts and service. That’s a lot of potential revenue on the other end of the phone!

7. Used Vehicle Sales Key for Dealers COVID-19 Recovery
   Sales and F&I

As Americans are back to work and back on the road, vehicle demand has outpaced supply, especially with ongoing production issues for new vehicles. The used inventory market has surged, even with high prices, showing a major growth opportunity for your dealership.

8. Quiz: Are your sales tools working for you?
   Sales and F&I

Locating sales opportunities that create consistent revenue while navigating the current state – COVID-19 regulations, OEM incentives, and inventory shortages – is challenging. With an increased demand for sales, ask yourself how well your sales tools are (or aren’t) helping your team find new opportunities.

9. The Changing Landscape: How to Surpass Expectations in Service
   Parts and Service

As dealers continue to digitize more and more of their operations, finding the right balance between physical and digital customer interactions has become trickier. But how much digitization is too much, and how much is not enough?

10. Contactless is the Future of Payments
    Business Office

For all the negative disruption COVID-19 has created for automotive retailers, it’s also had one interesting side effect: speeding up the rate of technology adoption. Contactless payments are a perfect example.

What a year! Thank you for being a valued member of the Fuel community. Do you know someone who could benefit from receiving these insightful articles in their inbox monthly? Send them this link to subscribe. We’ll see you in 2022!

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