If you’re looking to set up your own service department, here’s a basic look at how the process works. Exact procedures vary from dealership to dealership, but they tend to be similar.
When a customer first pulls into a dealership’s service drive, they are greeted either by a service consultant or a porter who will direct them to an available service consultant.
The service consultant asks what the customer needs help with, writes up a repair order describing the work to be performed. The customer signs the repair order–which often has an estimate of the repair costs on it–and heads to the waiting area or gets a ride home or a loaner vehicle, if the car will be in the shop for a while.
Once the repair order, or R.O., is complete, the service advisor will either hand it to a dispatcher, who will assign the work to a technician, or if the dealership does not use a dispatcher, the advisor will assign the work directly.
Learn more about the process!