With technician shortages and fully booked service schedules, anything that can make a dealership’s service department run more smoothly is becoming a necessity. Customer satisfaction is directly related to dealership efficiency, so busy service departments are in need of a one-stop solution to streamline processes and build customer trust.
BMW of El Cajon in El Cajon, California, is a mid-size dealership with around 30 technicians and 10 service advisors. Not long ago, the busy service center faced challenges with internal and external communication.
"We had a text messaging platform that was separate from a traditional email split, which was apart from the parts department. We had so many different platforms to work on and it was just hard to be able to keep track,” says Enzo Giron, service director at BMW of El Cajon.
Seeking a solution to reduce their and their customers’ frustrations, the team began looking for a solution. They found it in Dealerlogix’s Service Suite Pro. The platform’s all-in-one solution is helping to streamline dealership service lanes, encompassing appointment scheduling, reporting tools, digital multipoint inspections, mobile pay, and more into a comprehensive resource for service advisors.
BMW of El Cajon is using Service Suite Pro to not only enhance the service department’s operations but also improve relationships with its customers. It’s making Giron’s and his employees’ jobs easier by streamlining processes while also adding clarity to customer interactions when talking about their vehicles.
STREAMLINING PROCESSES
Giron says one of his biggest challenges used to be keeping track of the copious amounts of data coming in from multiple
platforms.
Now, with Dealerlogix, the Southern California dealership has been able to keep track of every important metric through Service Suite Pro. “It really simplifies everything from the parts department to the technicians, the service advisors, and, ultimately, the guest and the guest experience,” says Giron.
“The data that Dealerlogix is able to supply is fantastic,” says Giron. “The software itself and the platform truly make it a onestop shop.”
One streamlined process that Giron is particularly fond of with the Dealerlogix platform is vehicle tracking. Service Suite Pro is able to attach a loaner vehicle to a specific work order that is already in the platform to know what customer has what loaner vehicle.
Where this becomes important is tracking loaner vehicle damage. Giron claims his dealership used to average around $10,000 per month in lot damages. Since tracking vehicles in the Dealerlogix platform, that average has experienced a drastic improvement to approximately $7,000 per year.
This comes from streamlining the process of video walk around and pictures of vehicles in Service Suite Pro. Technicians at BMW of El Cajon can manage those assets in the platform, making the assessment of damages easy and holding drivers responsible for damages accountable.
“Vehicle damages were very difficult to disprove or prove, and [Dealerlogix] has helped with that dramatically,” says Giron.
TRANSPARENCY FOR ALL
Dealerlogix Service Suite Pro is not just for internal use at the dealership. It also has a hand in keeping customers informed
At BMW of El Cajon, the platform keeps customers aware of their vehicle’s service status, helping to ease the anxiety of long wait times by keeping them in the loop. Customers can see what state of the service process their vehicle is in, giving them an idea of how much longer the appointment may take.
Giron also points out that every customer wants their vehicle looked at as soon as possible. Dealerlogix has also allowed for BMW of El Cajon’s service department to get more service and repairs done in a day, further reducing customer stress with the knowledge that their vehicle will have its work done in a timely manner.
Giron adds, “We have a notion of when it’s going to get looked at, and we can set a better timeline for the guest.
The increased efficiency and transparency in the BMW of El Cajon service department allows for more happy customers when they leave the dealership. The platform tracks this through the customer service index (CSI) score. Giron says the department’s CSI scores have seen a positive change.
“A lot of the comments will say … [customers] love the fact that they can see a video and a picture,” Giron says.
The videos and pictures that the technicians upload to the Dealerlogix platform even provide transparency for other employees. Giron says the dealership’s used car manager can view the videos and pictures on his phone to check the work that’s being done to recon cars, allowing him to effortlessly approve a vehicle for use.
“He doesn’t have to get up and look at every vehicle before he approves work,” Giron explains. “It makes his life easy.”
New features are regularly being added to the platform. One that BMW of El Cajon is using to further grow the business and enhance customer satisfaction involves customer follow up.
When services have been declined, for example, the service department can reach back out to a customer, include the video or photo in which the technician found an issue, and check in to make sure they get the problem addressed and, if not, offer to schedule a follow-up appointment. Giron says it helps to build a stronger relationship between the service department and its customers.
RESULTING EFFICIENCY
The real bonus of using Dealerlogix Service Suite Pro at BMW of El Cajon is the efficiency, Giron says. In a way, it acts as the bridge between streamlining and transparency for the service department.
By putting everything into one place for Giron and his team, the platform allows them to be more efficient with their work, performing more service appointments in a day. In turn, this allows the team to put more focus on transparency within the dealership and with its customers.
For dealerships looking at solutions like Dealerlogix Service Suite Pro for their service departments, Giron suggests looking into every step the platform addresses. He believes it is a tool that every service director wants.
“They don’t want to use multiple applications,” he claims. “The fact that [Dealerlogix] works well … to create a seamless process is huge.”
Giron goes on to say that the efficiency of the Dealerlogix platform has helped staff morale at BMW of El Cajon, reducing employee frustration. He uses the example of the dealership’s team lead system through Service Suite Pro to highlight this chain effect.
“There’s a lot of accountability there from every role, from the service advisor to the technician seeing when it was dispatched, when they got it, what’s going on, what’s taking so long,” he explains. “The fact that everybody can see the communication amongst everybody … the conversation within … it allows us all to be on the same page. So, that has really tied everything in together and was able to speed up the workflow.”
As BMW of El Cajon presses on into the future, Giron wants to keep streamlining processes and providing transparency to his customers and employees. With a buildable platform like Service Suite Pro from Dealerlogix, the dealership is on a path to even more success.
Article originally published in Auto Success Magazine March 2025.
