Service Departments Don’t Stay Good on Their Own
After being in a number of dealerships recently, this has become impossible to ignore: service departments don’t stay good on their own.
There’s a belief in our industry that once a service department is performing well, it will naturally keep going. The processes are in place, the team knows what to do, the numbers look acceptable — so attention moves elsewhere.
That’s usually when the slide starts.
Holding Performance Takes Work
In fixed operations, maintaining performance takes real focus and energy. Growing performance on top of that takes even more.
Service departments are under constant pressure:
Staff turnover and training gaps
Advisors drifting back to comfortable habits
Processes being skipped to save time
Leaders stuck firefighting instead of leading
None of this shows up all at once. It happens gradually. Quietly. And by the time the numbers clearly reflect it, the damage is already done.
Doing Nothing Isn’t Neutral
If a service department isn’t being actively led, coached, and reinforced, it will move backwards.
Not because people don’t care — but because the environment is demanding. The days are full. Customer expectations keep rising. OEM requirements change. Technology evolves.
Without constant leadership attention, teams fall into survival mode. The goal becomes getting through the day instead of executing the process properly.
Where Dealer Groups Lose Ground
This is where I see a growing divide.
Dealer groups without strong fixed operations support — or leaders with real fixed ops experience — struggle to maintain consistency across their stores. Each location ends up operating differently, with different standards and expectations.
That leads to:
Inconsistent advisor performance
Missed revenue opportunities
A customer experience that depends on who the customer happens to deal with
Reactive leadership instead of proactive improvement
Fixed operations isn’t something you can set and forget. It requires the same level of leadership and discipline as variable operations.
Fixed Ops Experience Matters
Service departments are complex. They combine people leadership, process discipline, customer communication, workflow management, and financial performance.
When fixed operations knowledge is weak or missing, problems don’t get solved — they get worked around. Numbers are reviewed, but behaviours don’t change.
Over time, that erosion shows up in hours per RO, efficiency, retention, CSI, and profit.
Staying Good Is a Daily Decision
The best service departments I see aren’t perfect — but they are intentional.
Someone is paying attention.
Someone is coaching.
Someone is protecting standards.
Going backwards is easy. Staying good takes work. Growing takes even more.
The dealers and dealer groups that will win long-term are the ones that recognize this and commit to constant focus on fixed operations — even when things appear to be going well.
Because in service, if you’re not actively leading it, you’re almost always losing ground.