Auto Dealers Winning Back Customers Through Mobile Service Efforts

A service tech from a dealership performs maintenance work at a customer's driveway.

Auto dealers who are adding mobile service to their offerings are regaining more than 90% of their customers back to their service departments, according to a report from Curbee, a company that assists dealers implementing mobile services.

“Mobile service represents a significant opportunity for dealers to modernize operations and deepen customer relationships,” Curbee CEO Amit Chandarana said in a statement.

“By prioritizing convenience and meeting customers on their terms – at their home or at the office – the industry can tackle one of its most pressing challenges: bringing lapsed customers back into the fold,” he said.

Automotive service is an important source of revenue for dealers. Once a consumer purchases a vehicle, they bring in their car or truck for routine service.

Traditionally, vehicle owners took their cars and trucks to dealerships, garages and other providers of service for such things as oil changes, tire rotation, battery replacement, and work related to recalls. The time needed for such services can vary. Vehicle owners either waited while tasks were performed, or arranged to have rides until such work was completed.

This year has seen Curbee extend its technology with mobile service. Those kinds of tasks are performed by someone who comes to the customer’s driveway.

Curbee says 92% of customers who hadn’t visited their dealers for service in over 18 months, accepted a mobile service appointment when the dealer offered it.

For vehicles seven years old, 100% of required services were routine maintenance, such as oil changes, tire rotations, and battery checks.

Appointments averaged 55 minutes, according to Curbee.

“By delivering maintenance directly to customers’ homes or workplaces, dealerships can re-engage with a key customer base while differentiating themselves in an increasingly competitive market,” Curbee said.

Curbee was founded and backed by DVx Ventures in 2020. Curbee says its mobile service tech platform is designed to integrate into existing dealer management software.