Fixed Ops Friday w/ Ruffolo, Norris, and Stephens | Daily Dealer Live
Car Dealership Guy Podcast
Car Dealership Guy PodcastMay 29, 2026
Fixed Ops Friday w/ Ruffolo, Norris, and Stephens | Daily Dealer Live
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Term
lease pen
This is basically how many people are choosing to lease instead of buy. If more people lease, more leased cars come back later, which can change used-car prices.
A plug-in hybrid is part gas, part electric. You can charge it by plugging it in, and that matters here because lots of these cars were leased and are now showing up for sale.
The Mercedes-Benz EQS is a luxury all-electric Mercedes sedan. They mention it because it’s selling for less than the lease estimate says it should be worth.
The EQE is an all-electric luxury car from Mercedes-Benz. Like other electric cars, it uses a battery for power instead of a gas engine. It’s mentioned in resale-price talk because the current sale price can be lower than expected.
The Ford F-150 is a popular full-size pickup. They’re saying it’s holding value well when it comes off lease—selling for more than the estimate predicted.
The Honda CR-V is a popular SUV. They’re saying CR-Vs are holding their value better than the lease estimates—so they sell for more than expected when they come off lease.
The Honda Civic is a very common compact car. They’re using it as an example of a car that’s coming off lease and still selling for more than expected.
Monthly payments are what you pay each month to keep the car loan going. The host is pointing out that more people are ending up with very high monthly bills.
72 months is a long car loan—about six years. Longer loans can make the monthly payment smaller, but they can also cost more overall and be harder to manage if finances change.
Refinanced volume means how much car loan debt is being “swapped” for a new loan. It often happens when people try to lower their rate or change the payment terms.
This is the portion of new car loans that go to electric cars. The numbers here suggest fewer EVs are being financed compared with hybrids and gas cars.
Affordability management is about whether people can actually afford the payments. Even if the monthly bill looks okay, the risk goes up if borrowers are already stretched.
“Fixed ops” is the service-and-parts part of a car dealership. It’s the side that does repairs and sells parts, and it tends to be steadier than selling cars.
DMS is dealership management system software. It’s the tool the dealership uses to keep track of service work and communicate with customers, including sending inspection results.
A multi-point inspection is a checklist of several things the technician checks on your car. It helps the shop show what’s worn or needs attention, not just one problem area.
The caliper is the part that squeezes the brake pads against the rotor to slow the car down. If the caliper isn’t working evenly, the pads can wear unevenly, such as wearing more on the inside edge.
Term
pen rate
Pen rate here is a tracking number for how many customers actually engage with the video inspection message after it’s sent. Higher pen rate generally means more people are watching the inspection content.
Term
C-P-R-O volume
C-P-R-O volume is basically how many paid service jobs the shop is getting. They’re saying the $50 oil change deal helped bring in more of those jobs.
Term
direct message
A direct message is a targeted note sent to specific people. They’re saying that kind of message helped get more customers to book the $50 oil change.
Term
regular oil
“Regular oil” usually means conventional motor oil (not synthetic). It matters because it changes the cost and what cars the promo is meant for.
The Strait of Hormuz is a major shipping route for oil. If something disrupts it, oil can get more expensive, and that can raise the cost of car services that use oil.
Upsells are extra services you’re offered while you’re already getting something done—like maintenance beyond the basic oil change. The hosts are saying they track what customers add on.
“Gross” here means how much money the dealership is making from service before the bigger costs of running the business. So it can go up even if fewer people are coming in.
“Video MPIs” means the shop does an inspection and records it on video. Instead of just telling you what’s wrong, they show you with footage from different parts of your car.
“Customer experience” is how the customer feels about the whole service process. Here, they’re saying better inspection and communication tools help customers feel like they’re being taken care of.
Open Lane is a company that helps car dealerships with tools and programs—especially for the service side. Here, the host says Open Lane helped support the discussion about improving the customer experience.
A “remote operations director” is a manager who helps run parts of the dealership’s operations without being physically at the dealership all the time. The host is basically asking what that person actually does day to day.
A “mobile team” means the mechanics go to where the customer is, instead of making everyone come into the shop. The goal is to keep the shop from getting constantly interrupted.
“Shop capacity” means how much work the dealership’s service shop can handle. If the shop is full, adding mobile service can take some jobs off the shop’s plate.
“Remote vans” are the vehicles the dealership uses to send service teams out to customers. Instead of doing everything in the shop, the vans help cover a larger area.
“Fleet” means a business that has lots of vehicles and needs maintenance for them. Because those vehicles are spread out, the dealership has to travel farther to service them.
Brand
Bowsard
“Bowsard” is the dealership/company they’re talking about. They’re saying that because Bowsard serves customers over a wide area, their mobile service has to cover more ground.
St. Augustine is a city they mention to show where one of their customers’ operations is located. It’s an example of why they can’t limit service to just one small area.
“Cost per RO” is basically how much money the shop spends for each repair job it writes up. It helps them compare which service approach is cheaper to run.
Term
RO
An RO (repair order) is the paperwork that lists what work the shop is going to do on your car. It’s how the shop tracks the job from start to finish.
Engine problems are issues with the car’s motor that usually take more troubleshooting and work. They’re often bigger repairs than quick convenience services.
Transmission issues are problems with how the car changes gears. Fixing them can be complicated and expensive, so they often represent major service work.
Customer retention here means getting customers to keep coming back to the dealership for service. The idea is that if mobile service is convenient, it can build loyalty and lead to future visits for bigger repairs.
These are school programs that train people to work on cars and diesel engines. The dealership is partnering with those schools to find and grow future mechanics.
Branded bays are service-work areas in a school or training facility that are set up and labeled to match a specific dealership or employer. In this segment, it’s part of a recruiting pipeline—students train in equipment and environments aligned with the dealership’s operations.
“Level one” means an entry-level job tier in the shop. It usually indicates the technician is newer and is working toward higher responsibilities over time.
“Independent shops” are non-franchised repair facilities that aren’t tied to a specific automaker brand’s dealership network. In fixed-ops discussions, they’re a key competitive threat because customers may choose them for repairs and maintenance instead of returning to the dealer.
A third-party warranty is a warranty plan run by a company other than the car brand. When you bring the car in, the shop has to file paperwork to get the repair approved and paid.
Porsche is the car brand mentioned in a listener’s comment. That Porsche Club group gives scholarships to help train future mechanics.
Term
rain camera
They’re saying they use a camera setup when they arrive for mobile service. The point is that they’re not doing a full video inspection like they would in the shop.
They’re talking about a device that uses the car’s connectivity (GPS/telematics) to read information from the vehicle. That lets the service team see what’s going on without guessing.
“Pull codes” means the shop reads error messages stored in the car’s computer. Those codes help the technician figure out what part or system is having a problem.
Concept
proactively
Here, “proactively” means the dealership reaches out first, using information it already has. Instead of waiting for you to call, they try to contact you when service is likely needed.
Connected car technology means your car can communicate with the internet (and sometimes the dealership). It can share information like warning lights or service reminders so you don’t have to notice everything first.
The check engine light is a warning that something is wrong in the engine or emissions system. With connected features, the car can sometimes tell the dealer what the warning is about.
LIVE
We're doing better as a result
of social media presence.
It doesn't do those three things
than it's on the chopping block.
It's in return on investment discussion.
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode
of the Daily Dealer Live.
I'm your host, Sam Dark.
And thanks for choosing to be here with us,
the Cardi worship guy, Daily Dealer Live audience.
This Friday, May the 29th.
It's last Friday of the month before we flip over into June.
So, of course, we're going to finish it in style.
It's Fixed Ops Friday, everyone.
Big show coming up today.
We've got a lineup of operators who actually run the shops,
actually run the shops.
In fact, we're going to find out
what a remote Fixed Ops director does, what that means.
And we may also tap into a little bit of Tully and Gingrich
with our first guest up today.
We'll get into that more.
First up, Nick Ruffalo from Moreman Auto Group
on what it takes to push a high-performing operation
from great to greater.
Then we've got Matt Norris and Jeremy Stevens
from Bozard Ford Lincoln on advisor training
and service retention.
Two of the strongest service operations
in the country on this one show.
Plus, we're streaming live across all CDG social media platforms.
Drop your comments and we'll bring them into today's show.
This is one of my favorite shows of the entire week.
It's Fixed Ops Friday.
But first, let's dive into today's industry headlines.
First, they used vehicle prices.
What did they do?
They jumped 3.1% in May.
That's an $870 average increase across every vehicle category.
This is according to Carfax and their June used car index.
With new vehicle prices now averaging 49,025 bucks,
according to Cox's viato data,
more buyers are gravitating towards used
and that demand is showing up directly in pricing.
Hybrids and EVs led to gains up 1450 or 4.6%
in a single month with the South region
seeing jumps of more than 2K per unit.
SUVs, meanwhile, rose 3% to an average of almost 25 grand.
Pickups hit 34,941 and luxury cars are up 14.3% year over year.
14% luxury cars.
What this tells us, according to our sources at Carfax,
is that as more shoppers tap used vehicle options,
it's safe to say that extra demand will be reflected in higher prices.
Related to that used price story,
Edmunds is projecting up to a half a million additional vehicles
coming off lease in the near term,
which should provide some relief on inventory.
Help us.
The surge traces back to the leasing recovery that started in 2023
when lease pen climbed from 18% back towards 23%
at its 24 peak before pulling back again to 20% in 2025.
Worth noting, the mix of what's coming back matters.
It's EVs and plug-in hybrids that leased heavily in 23
thanks to the $7500 clean vehicle credit.
And those vehicles are now hitting the market in volume.
And some are selling well below estimated resell values.
The Mercedes-Benz EQE and EQS, as an example,
are coming in $10,000 to $16,000 below estimated resell.
And on the flip side, Honda's CRVs, Civics and F-150s
are all selling above their estimated off lease values.
So sourcing discipline around which models you're acquiring
matters more than ever.
And by the way, estimated lease values,
that's the residual value set by the manufacturer
at time of lease to create a great payment.
So estimated residual value or anticipated residual value
isn't necessarily a market reflection,
but more how the manufacturer pushed that inventory in the day
and in that moment.
In other news, experienced Q1 State of the Automotive
Finance Market reinforces what dealers are feeling on the floor.
Average new loan amounts approached $44,000.
Monthly payments averaged $770 for new and $531 for used.
And nearly 19% of all loan payments are now $1,000 or higher.
Nearly a third of all loans are extending beyond 72 months.
Superprime and Prime borrower shares both declined year over year
while near prime, subprime and deep subprime, they all grew
and refinanced volume more than doubled from Q124 to Q126,
hitting $3.48 billion.
EV share of new financing dropped from 10.93% to 6.23%,
while hybrid share climbed from 12% to nearly 15%,
and ICE rose to 76%.
What's the bottom line here?
Well, experienced analysts said the industry is still functioning
and in some areas growing, but the key dynamic to watch?
It's affordability management.
Longer loan terms aren't inherently a problem
if borrowers are staying current, but the margin for error?
Well, it's narrowing.
And finally up today, one deal to close on.
Props to Eric Johnson of Johnson Automotive Group
who picked up Brookfield Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram
in Benton Harbor, Michigan, closing May 6th
and doubling his group's count to two stores.
I personally know Eric, he worked at the Ziggler Auto Group.
Props to you for that acquisition
and continuing to grow what is becoming a group.
Benton Harbor sits on the west side of the state along Lake Michigan.
As you know, if you're in Michigan, it's about 200 miles from Detroit.
The store name stays and Johnson says
he's looking forward to continuing to grow.
Another Stellanus franchise changing hands, a trend
that's showing no signs of slowing this year.
And as a reminder for more on this Bicell activity
and others, check out our CDG Bicell Tracker
at cdgbicell.com.
Cue the tracker.
There we go.
We love our tracker.
We love our jingle.
And that, folks, is a wrap on today's auto industry headlines
and welcome to Fixedops Friday, everyone.
All right.
We got a lot of comments coming in online.
Thanks again for posting up JJ on the job.
Happy Fixedops Friday.
Thanks for being there.
And then Eager K comes into the chat.
By the way, Eager, DM me.
We want you on the show.
Happy Fixedops Friday.
Eager says Sam and community auction day at Mannheim was crazy.
We just read prices are up.
Repos are up big time.
Fresh barely used repo cars are repoed.
No one is paying on their credit obligations.
Well, no one.
Someone out there is paying somewhere.
And it seems like we're seeing more of those turning up at auctions.
Eager K goes on dealers.
Make sure you collect three payments on shaky credit people
so that far, so that far you don't sell.
So what gets sold and doesn't come back isn't a problem.
Our own Hannah Farmer here at CDG comes into the chat
and also says happy Fixedops Friday, everyone.
Speaking of Fixedops Friday, let's talk Fixedops.
Nick Ruffalo, first up today.
Fixedops director at Rormann Auto Group.
Nick, welcome.
Why are you?
We're excited to have you here.
Now, listen, Jeremy Nolan has been on the show many times.
What are you to Jeremy?
Fixedops director Rormann.
What's Jeremy?
What does Jeremy do?
Jeremy does a lot.
I mean, Jeremy crushes it.
He's big into implementations when it comes down
to our software technology and tool utilization and training.
Collaborates with me as well when it comes down to my aspect
of the stuff that we have in house two for our tools
and so forth.
So great piece to our group.
Jeremy heads off to me does a phenomenal job.
Those of you guys are watching it now.
You're all over LinkedIn and so forth.
You see Jeremy out there.
So all over.
Yeah.
That's the Jeremy to me.
I recently was able to attend an event with him.
Great guy.
What it reminds me of both of you are on the show.
Dennis Gingrich from Neal Auto Group and Tolly.
They've both been on the show.
And the great question we always have,
but it's got to be with both of you on.
We can't ask it behind Jeremy's back.
So if Jeremy's in the text post up at Rormann,
which department returns best in 2026?
Is it variable or fixed, Nick?
Did Jeremy chime in yet?
I'm going to fix, man.
I'm going to fix it.
All right.
No silos.
But yeah, fix the variable on the other.
Let's go.
No silos.
You know, it's interesting.
I had a dinner with one of our teams across Ziggler last night.
We had all the leaders for one store.
So GM, new car, used car, service manager,
parts manager, office.
And we all sat around the table just talking about what
the challenges of the day look like.
And I'm telling you, Nick, we kept coming back to fixed ops,
not as a weakness, but as a strength for the store.
I think in 2026, fixed ops is the glue that keeps everything
together and keeps fueling the growth of the auto,
the store and ultimately the auto group.
Fair.
I agree with you.
I mean, I've been in the business a long time and we all know
that fixed operations always known as the heart of the department.
Yeah.
All the crazy different things that took place in the last few
years.
Fix is coming back on a vengeance in the importance of when I,
in my, in my opinion, our group opinion as well,
it's going to be the leading edge of our operations.
Absolutely.
All right.
I'm curious from your perspective, not at Roman,
but why did we take our eye off the ball fixed ops and fixed
ops and automotive?
Why is it?
I mean, I know fixed.
I learned this in my NADA dealer Academy.
So props to everybody from dealer Academy.
They're like, Hey, do you know why fixed ops is called fixed
ops?
And I said, why?
And they said, because it is straight line.
It is solid.
You can cash that check month after month and it's always going
to produce.
But, but, but the opportunity in fixed has been overlooked for
years and it's finally now being realized.
Why the delay, Nick?
Well, I mean, you know, the news is out there.
We know that the independence and then in the aftermarket,
they grew north of 20%.
Our cars are going longer when it comes down to maintenance
needs and so forth.
And just retaining that customer back into service just to have
a maintain their vehicle with your store increases that the
percentage of them purchasing another vehicle from you.
And also we were within that brand.
I think our high, my opinion, I think, you know, maybe our eyes
came across, it came off of it just a little too quick when the
used car market was at all.
There was no new cars.
And it was, it was good.
Let's get these used cars in and we got to keep turning them.
And, you know,
it was a wild west for a hot.
It was over.
Yeah.
If you're a Game of Thrones fans, you know, winter is coming.
So, all right,
Roman is a big operation.
You've got total Lexus Honda Acura Infinity, among others.
You've got all the brands.
You talked to me in the green room a little bit about one focus
that you have across Roman and that is customer experience and fixed
ops.
When you think about creating that great customer experience,
we do the same at our group.
Where is your focus today in 2026 and what,
what part of that focus is yielding the biggest return on time?
Communication is big.
Communication is key.
You know,
staying in focus, staying in touch with the customer throughout their
service visit.
We can't miss that.
We really need to separate ourselves from that 22% growth in the
independence and, you know,
the dealers that are down the road for us and in our eyes,
it's more or less, you know,
the customer is going to have to service that vehicle somewhere and
when, right?
So the magical question is when and where the winds we could pretty
much come across, right?
But the where is the important part.
So, you know,
having the customers want to do business with us and it's,
it's ultimately key.
So I want to,
I want to ask one communication tool that you're using to level up
your game, but Jeremy Nolan did come into the text.
He's not taking the bait, Nick.
He's not taking the bait.
Jeremy, come on.
He says, he says, Nick is an amazing fix director.
Yeah, but that's not the question.
Jeremy is a fixed ops.
It's the old, it's the old beer commercial.
Great taste, less filling fixed ops, variable ops.
Who's winning?
We'll give Jeremy a second to come in.
But Nick, what's one tool in 2026 you're getting outsized use of
that helps increase that communication speed of and and
effectiveness of with your consumer to retain them to your group
and your fixed operations in 20.
Using our, using our DMS.
Sam, that's a great question.
Using our DMS and the tools that are built within the DMS when it
comes down to technician video and the platform of text messaging
is, is, is a game changer.
And there's no faster response and form of communications.
We all know it is when it goes down to a text message.
So just making sure not only we're texting the customer,
but the message that we're sending is,
is the right message as well.
How do you test, how do you solve for the message you send being
the right message?
As far as the communication tools,
we do have templates written out for our BDC department.
We have a centralized BDC as well.
That message is there and then monitoring the response that's coming
back, you know, tech video where we monitor that heavily from the
performance of our technicians.
We have a solid process, step by step process,
wearing everything from using a finger pointer and in the video
to even putting black gloves on.
Wow.
Stay consistent across the board.
You know, I mean, here at the end of the day,
I'm picky with my stuff.
The last thing I want is a tech video that shows greasy Paul
hands all over, you know, in the background.
I know what I'm looking for.
I pick up my car.
So, you know, it's, attention to detail in your communication
is key, you know.
All right.
What's your delivery system on the video MPI?
As, as far as the, the tool that we use or as far as percentage
of delivery.
The tool and the percent actually will take both.
Okay.
Cool.
I got a bull.
So, we use tech, you know, as our DMS and within the tech, you
know, portal, they do have the ability to communicate through
the consumer portal, through that portal.
We also can send the technician video, the multi point
inspections, pictures and video is exactly what may be needed
as far as the break job goes, why the pads are worn on the
inside.
Is that a caliper issue, but we can put all that in there.
We, we, in, in, in our stores here, we're about 85% pen rate on
tech video.
Our goal set is, you know, obviously we'd be at 100%.
No, no, things ever perfect, but at 85% tech video utilization.
Now, the next big push is watching our open rate.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Yes.
So, you can see the send from the technician to the advisor and then
the advisor to the consumer, the cool metrics, the two next
cool metrics I like looking at is not only the open rate, but
the share rate from the consumer to somebody else.
That's just taking your level of transparency in my eyes, Sam,
if you were a neighbor of mine, it's a tech, right?
And I got like your service and I say, Sam, you're sending
this video that this tech just sent me over at the Toyota
store.
What do you think?
Now you're looking at it.
So, there's, there's a lot of wins now, you know, within
today's technology, and I know Jeremy could totally highlight
he loves getting granular.
I mean, we get way into the weeds.
Yeah.
You could pinpoint this now, you know, with the technology
that's out there.
So, embracing technology, you got to really lean into it.
So, so the send rate from the tech to the service advisor and
then the service advisor to the consumer, do you see a drop off
from the tech to the advisor?
And what's that drop off?
And what do you see as a valid reason for that drop off?
And then what's the percent to consumer?
Before you see the drop off, Sam, you'll tend to see a percentage
drop in the actual technician video actually performed.
And talking with tech, I'm always at a store, you know, I got
to know what's going on out there and it could be a little
discouraging if there's guys that are out there practicing tech
videos and utilizing it.
There's nothing more discouraging in a technician's eyes from
what I've been told is I'm doing these tech videos, right?
Yeah.
Techie.
I'll be watching them.
Well, better yet, Techie, there's an icon that shows whether
it was open and sent and the technician can see it.
So, it's a little disarming of this alarm.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
When I get the video, I know you're not sending it.
So, it's getting the advisors, the technicians all aligned
and understanding the importance of it outside of the transparency
level that we want to provide to our consumers, but also the money
that could be produced as well.
Yeah.
So, but what's a legit reason that an advisor wouldn't send a
tech video?
Because I agree with you.
Like, if I go to the work of making it and then it doesn't get
sent, I'm going to have a problem with that if I can't control
it.
But why would an advisor refuse to send it?
Well, maybe the advisor didn't, you know, treat the cooling
and understand the importance of it.
Got it.
So, a good message to deliver down from the management.
You know, could have got a little overwhelmed.
The customer is getting ready to go or they are on their way in and
now we're sending a tech video.
So, making promise times that we can't fulfill at the time of
write-up, you know what I'm saying?
So, now it's like, you know, and now you're causing a backlog.
We did notice that about an average of $390 averaged more for
a repeater for parts of the range.
390.
Strong.
That is a lot.
So, you mentioned being able to track customers forwarding the
video.
I haven't seen that yet.
I haven't seen the technology able.
The tools that I've used and are available to me, I haven't seen
that.
What is the share rate look like?
And then are you able to correlate that behavior back to an
increase in RO or some other?
I haven't gone that far into it yet, but it's something that I
started looking into.
And unfortunately, the numbers, I would love to tell you right
now, it's at 60% or some, you know, ridiculous like that, but
it's single digit numbers, you know?
Yeah.
And again, it's just doing a better job when I come back to the
same one we talked about before was when it goes into
communication.
So, at the time of write-up, explain to the customer what
they're going to get, you know, and that you have the ability to
review it and share it and save it and get the customer engaged
into it.
So, you talk about the training, the gloves and the pointer and
the other things you're doing.
Who's doing the training and where are you ideating the best
practices from?
It's an awesome question.
I do the training and we'll do multiple sessions over my 10
rooftops.
I tend to pick two locations, essentially located for the
South Stores and another one for the North Stores.
The Roman Group, we do another training event that we also
host now.
We've got the technicians coming in as well, but we also have
the Roman Recharge that we do three times out of the year and
there's training opportunities as well.
We rent out a college campus locally here and we bring the
staff to the college campus, get them out of the stores, get
their unavided attention and go back to that equation that the
Romans and that we're practicing now is, you know, greater
people plus a consistent process equals an awesome store and
that's going to give a great experience back to the customer.
So, Nick, I was recently on a conversation.
I'm just having a conversation with RockEd, right?
It's a cool platform.
They push education out.
They've been featured several times on this show.
Different organizations use that type of training.
And there's another group that we featured here that does
training and fixed ops using modules there.
They actually created the modules.
We've done such a great job in sales and variable ops of
doing training for salespeople and even finance with videos
and training and engagements.
We've just never done that great in service with the same.
Have you created videos or do you do your training in person?
How do you set that standard and then hold everyone in your
large group to that standard so everybody's moving in that
same direction, Nick?
Sam, with the focus that's on fixed operations, I'll rewind
just a few years back.
We have a team over at Banyan, which is our coaching and
development team, too, that we have within our organization.
And we came up with an awesome advisor academy, which
required the advisors to come out once a week.
And we ran it like this for months up until they got to the
level where we're at with our minimal standards.
So that took place in person.
And we also have our own LMS that we have the videos as well.
So part of your onboarding experience as an advisor, you'll
be living...
You train on that.
Yeah.
So you got your techie on LMS, you know, tire training,
so on and so forth for your advisors as well.
Yeah.
All right, Jeremy Nolan comes back in.
Here's his answer, Nick.
Fixed is a great mix to overall long-term...
Is a great mix to overall long-term success.
But he says, you know, we are rocking in the front of the
house.
So he's giving it to you, but he's not...
I know.
He's being nice about it, Sam.
And then he is serving up a softball.
And one of these days we need to have you both on, because I
think great fixed-op directors, great variable-op directors,
you've got to work well together.
But you also have got to advocate for your department.
And then in that competition and collaboration, everybody gets
better.
But Jeremy Nolan serves you a softball up here.
He says, Nick can share the wins of the $50 oil change,
which by the way, we broke here on Daily Deal Alive,
your Toyota store in Indiana, $50.
Talk to us about that and customer experience.
What's been the impact of having that, Nick?
So we've seen an average of just north of 17% increase in
C-P-R-O volume.
Wow.
Just with a simple message and the direct message,
if you would, on the $50 oil change, it is using regular
oil.
It's not recycled oil or anything like that.
It's a flat, straight price.
We're being transparent.
And at the same token, we're monitoring the dollars that are
being generated off of the $50 oil change as well.
So a tremendous amount of success to our repair order growth.
And it's just another win just to the consumer.
We're looking for coupons.
I'm not getting a phone call.
My service manager is not getting phone calls two weeks after
they're in for service.
I just received a special on an oil change.
Can I get a discount or a replacement?
So yes, we have stepped up.
And in our area here, I'm well-known.
And I know a lot of the directors and managers of other large
auto groups, I'm getting phone calls on.
You really starting to stir the pot, Nick.
You do a wrench in that one.
Now, what do you want me to do?
It's like, get off your wallet, guys.
You know what I'm saying?
I mean, it's an oil change.
There's customers into the drive.
It's an oil change.
And it does bring that customer in.
But there is trouble on the horizon in oil change land, right?
We've reported that some OEMs have actually changed the type of
oil they're putting into vehicles today because of the issue
in the Strait of Hormuz.
Oil prices are crazy through the roof.
You know, it used to be the $19 oil change at Jiffy Lube.
It's $50 is a screaming deal right now.
Is it viable if oil prices continue to rise?
And how do you look at the return on that investment in retention?
That's another great question.
And that's one of the wins that Jeremy was also saying.
Not only did we have an average of a north of 17% increase in
customer payroll volume, but we do track every vehicle that comes
in that redeems their $50 oil change.
And we break it down by how many came in with just a $50 oil
change and then what the upsells were.
I could be more happy to share screens and numbers and like that.
But I can tell you this, it's working.
That's cool.
Yeah, I actually have a theory.
It pulls on it, but it's definitely working.
And it's something that we see.
It's a long term play now.
I have a theory, Nick.
Tell me if this is true.
So we've reported here that there is a perception in the public
that it costs more to get a vehicle serviced at a dealership
than at an independent repair facility.
We've talked about here, Cox, Otto's data from last month
where they said gross is increasing in franchise dealerships,
but the RO count is down.
We're losing customers to independent repair facilities.
That $50 oil change brings them back and reintroduces them
to an environment where we're incredibly competitive, aren't
we, as compared to these independence?
Sam, we are.
I'm big on watching what the pricing is over those 10 stores.
I mean, luckily enough, the three,
I will call them like my three regions within the 10 stores.
So they're amongst each other.
But the average full synthetic oil change price, for instance,
on a Nissan is $109.
Knowing where your competition is yet,
not that the Nissan dealer down the street,
we're all against the independent.
And knowing where that's at.
But we are very, very, very competitive.
And yes, the perception is the dealership is more money.
And you're changing that perception.
Change that perception.
But you've got to remember one thing.
Money isn't all of it, though, because you can never
put a dollar amount on somebody's time.
And Sam, I know it's been around a long time.
Time is important.
Customers, hey, you're going to tell them
it's going to be 45 minutes.
They should be either within or less than 45 minutes.
If you're going to take that $50 oil change in the Roman group
and take two hours, a lot of customers
are not going to be coming back to spend two hours to save $40
and $3,000 oil change.
So that's my next question, Nick.
That's a tough thing.
You probably got a higher volume of ROs in LOF with the $50.
You do have to deliver on time.
Otherwise, you lose trust with the consumer.
How have you upped your game to deliver in a timely fashion
on that promise across multiple stores?
Having a centralized BDC helps out a lot
because they have skins in the game,
and their skin that's in the game is to fill a calendar
and fill up a scheduler each slot, right?
An advisor could be the first one potentially to slow you down
if they're a little overwhelmed when the phone call comes in.
Oh, hey, we're a little busy, maybe tomorrow.
So having the right setups in your scheduler,
assuring that when the customer comes in,
you're not trying to get too many to come in at one time
and you can't handle it.
So knowing your shop, knowing the capacity,
more important, you got to know where your technician schedules
are at, making sure you're not scheduling
when you're short of staff, especially now it's summer months.
People are going to be taking patience.
So you just got to operate tight.
You go further and further in details.
I'll let this call go until tomorrow when you talk it,
but you got to run tonight.
But it's also a cautionary tale for anyone listening saying,
hey, $50, I could throw that out to the public.
You do it without a plan, without understanding
all the different implications and the unintentional consequences.
You could create a train wreck behind it as well.
You have to be prepared for it.
Yes.
Yeah.
One of another solid when we had was at Schomburgia.
We opened up our new store.
Beautiful facility, by the way.
It's right up from ours.
Yeah, I love it.
It's gorgeous.
And the general manager couldn't wait to get the people in
and meet myself too.
But we weren't ready until we were ready.
So we brought in a couple extra advisors.
We brought in the tax.
We got it trained up and with the next few weeks after we opened.
Yeah.
And they're on a massive increase right now
and they're doing very well.
So one of these days, I'd love to come by and see the store.
But you just can't have a target on my back if I walk into Schomburgia.
We're off the road from several of our Ziggler stores,
but we're all friendly.
We're all good.
It's fine.
So hey, as we wrap up today, Nick,
you're at a high performing fixed operations operation.
What's one thing you're thinking about for the rest of 2026
that you're working on trying to improve on?
And what's one thing you think that's overrated in 2026 in fixed
stops people are thinking about doesn't really matter?
That's a great question.
The first half, that's great.
The goal, I want to continue grabbing more cars into the drive.
So getting the cars into the drive,
it gets that that miracle round going again.
We could get them retained, start buying the next vehicle
and keep that process consistent,
set the next service appointments and so forth.
So retention is big.
The last question you said, maybe, I don't know.
I would say, we all know that our road growth is down.
You mentioned it.
Gross is our road.
It masks it.
Studies, news out there says independence grew roughly around 22%.
So if someone's out there saying, I don't know about growth
and bringing more customers in, you're wrong.
Challenge accepted, you can't.
So I think with the right marketing angles from social media
and understanding where your customers and what message
delivers and what works and tracking that method,
I hope you see sustained in your growth.
You're not tracking what you're doing and what's winning
and what's losing.
It's going to be kind of rough with a 2026 for you.
Yeah.
And by the way, props to you for how easily you're
able to quote the numbers.
You know the data.
You're looking at the numbers, but you're also focused
on the people as you do it.
So Nick Ruffalo, fixed obstrector at Rormann Auto Group.
We're going to bring you back into the round table
at the very end, time allowing, but we appreciate your perspectives
on all things fixed ops today.
And you know, Jeremy gave it to you.
Fixed ops, rocks, and Rormann.
So thanks for being here.
We rock.
We do well.
Yep.
Great segment.
Great conversation.
We'll have him very back.
So we've got a lot of great comments coming in.
Igor Kay says consistency, consistency, consistency.
And Invo Invest portfolio.
Wow.
Great conversation.
Paul Salisman.
I think the only reason someone would not go to the dealer
over a quick loop place is the time friction,
considering the dollars are virtually the same.
And you get way more service with the dealer.
And I agree, Nick brought that up.
If we have too much friction in that entire experience,
we'll drive them away because they don't have time for it.
So you've got to be able to make the promise.
Then you've got to deliver on it in a frictionless way.
And then Igor Kay, I value loyalty over dollars value.
My customer who gets cheap oil changes,
but they spend money on other services and come back
to buy cars again.
And again, you ultimately win.
All right.
Let's talk Open Lane.
Today's episode is brought to you by Open Lane.
Today once again voted the most preferred digital wholesale
marketplace by dealers.
Learn how you can earn up to 2,500 bucks in buy and sell fee
credits right now at openlane.com forward slash CDG
props to Open Lane for supporting today's comment,
including that fascinating conversation
with Nick about all things customer experience
and fixed ops in 2026.
I love what they're doing with the tech on system
with video MPIs, which we talk a ton about on this show.
But because the industry is not to 100,
we got to keep talking about it because that drives
a great customer experience.
But then also what they're doing to bring customers in,
which is this $50 oil change across all brands, all classes,
and it's allowing them to show that customer a great experience
and then retain them longer, which I love that.
So props to Open Lane for supporting that content today.
Next up, let's go straight to a three box today,
which three box means three guests.
Matt Norris, fixed operations director at Bozard Ford
and Jeremy Stevens, remote operations director
at Bozard Ford.
Both of you welcome to the show.
Thank you for having us.
All right.
I got to ask Matt, and maybe you can set me up
for this with Jeremy.
I know fixed operations director.
We talk about that all the time on fixed ops Friday.
What the heck is a remote operations director
at Bozard Ford?
Well, think of it as I'm the house cat,
and he's the feral cat.
He stays outdoors, he stays indoors.
Who threw him out of the dealership, and why?
Why is he asked to be remote?
Why is he not allowed on site?
So Jeremy, we grew our remote operations significantly
a couple of years ago.
We went from around 10 mobile units to now 47 mobile units,
and we realized that we really needed somebody
that could wrap their arms around the whole process,
help get us dialed in.
And I mean, you're talking about a whole new vertical
with that many vans and that kind of a business model.
And we brought Jeremy in, and he's done a fantastic job
over the course of a little over two years now,
and he's my little brother, as you can tell.
46 vans at a store.
Tell us what your unit sales look like in the front
and then what your gross looks like in the back.
That's a big operation in remote.
So we're doing 300 new, about 200 views to government.
We've had some significant months where we've done 900 all in.
And then from all that, Jeremy covered the mobile gross with you.
Yeah, Jeremy.
Yeah, so on the mobile side, yeah.
So, you know, last month we did about 2,300 ROs
just on the mobile team of it.
So it definitely, and here's the thing that Matt and I talk about.
It's like, we're really just trying to figure this thing out
and get some legs on it,
especially my main goal was to relieve our shop capacity
because a lot of times everybody says like what Nick was saying,
they don't have any more capacity to do in their shop.
And it's like, well, the best thing we did is let's just open mobile up
and let's take that stuff that always interfered your technicians
where to having to stop and go, stop and go.
And now we've taken that totally away
and created another vertical for the store.
So you're approaching 50 remote vans and you're in Florida.
Are you limited to a geography?
Do you send them far from the store?
What is your strategy look for your service area on that?
We usually like to stay within at least 45 minutes to an hour to store,
but with Bowsard, we sell cars all over the place
and we have customers and fleet that has operations.
One may have operation here in St. Augustine, but have other locations.
So we spread out pretty far.
Yeah, yeah.
So as you've scaled to nearly 50 units,
what's a couple lessons other dealerships looking to get into this business
could learn from you as they seek to do similar?
You're at a massive scale.
A lot of it is everybody thinks it's very complicated and it's different.
The challenges are different than it is a regular shop,
but it really boils down into just fundamental stuff.
We're still doing the same thing.
It's just in a different area and you're against travel time and stuff like that.
But when you break it down to the fundamentals,
day-to-day operations is very similar to your main shop,
except your guys like Matt was saying, we're Wildcats.
So we're all over the place.
We're not inside.
We're outside.
So you have to kind of get used to that piece of it.
Is there a day where the remote operations could out punt in terms of revenue generated,
the brick and mortar?
We're working on it.
We're working on it.
We're not there yet, but we certainly have a lot of opportunity to Jeremy's point.
One of the biggest reasons was the capacity constraints that we ran into.
He kind of touched on that.
A year ago, this time last year, we were four to six weeks out on an appointment in main service.
When we sell a car, when we sell a consumer a car here,
we're given a commitment that we're going to be able to take care of it.
You call us up and six weeks out, people are going to defect.
They're not going to wait that long.
That's where Jeremy and the team have really come in and really helped out with those capacity constraints tremendously.
So in terms of servicing a customer, cost per RO, your expense side in the brick and mortar versus the remote,
would you rather them come into the store and do it in the store or utilize your remote service?
Or are you agnostic?
Are you neutral wherever they want to?
I'm agnostic.
We've really tried to promote mobile. Jeremy and I are a thinker on the same sheet of music.
We both believe that this is going to be the future in this business.
Customers want convenience and I can tell you, I have not heard a customer yet that's had mobile service that didn't like it.
All of them have told us time and time again, unless they have to come into the store, they want mobile.
It's just a convenience thing.
You know, Nick said it best. It's a time thing. People value their time more than anything now.
And if we can go to their house or their place of business and just grab their keys and go do it without wasting their time coming into the dealership,
then that's what we need to focus on.
And then that allows our main service department to focus on the bigger media repairs like engine problems, transmission issues,
and those things are the big, big growth generator, business generators.
And so that's where we try to model it.
So I had this dinner with our team with one of our stores last night and we had all the leaders around a big table
and we just talked about how key that experience we deliver in services to retaining that customer.
I mean, we just all recommitted to that.
And it occurs to me with that big of remote operation, Jeremy,
what do you do in terms of an experience to kind of level up that experience for the consumer that is getting that remote service
but then also tie them back to buying a car or trading in that vehicle or coming in for that large repair?
How do you think about retention on the mobile side and how are you supporting those initiatives within the brick-and-mortar side, Jeremy?
Oh, it's pretty cool on the experience side.
So now here's the flip side that we have to challenge our challenges now is customers are calling in wanting Nate to come back to their house
and change their role.
So what's happened is now the customers know our technicians by name.
They built this relationship and our promise to our guests is we're going to be the best house guests you've ever seen.
Even though we're an automotive dealership, when we pull in that yard, we're going to look the part.
We're going to talk the part and we're going to build that relationship with the customers.
Even if it's pulling their trash back up to their yard after we see a trash can dump just a little stuff
and just taking that extra five minutes before they leave, say, hey, Sam, is there anything else I can show you on your car before I leave?
Because I know there's something that you have a question about what this button does or why does my phone do this?
And what it does is just build this cool relationship.
And then when I'm in the neighborhood, all the neighbors approach and it's like, hey, I have a Chevrolet.
I have this.
Can you come?
Do I have to buy a Ford?
Oh.
I don't have service done.
So our, our tanks have business cards like that.
Not at all scan this QR code and you send an appointment and we'll be out here, you know, next time.
And that ties in and we could go on with fleet fleet is just, I mean, that's a whole nother channel of it.
But who else would they buy a car from if, if a customer does not have to leave their home and we get, you know, Matt said it earlier.
It's like the feedback that we get the, the last email we got was, hey, nothing's better than me sipping coffee in my bed while they're changing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
It is phenomenal.
On your remote service, how does it break down between retail and fleet service?
What's the percent?
In the beginning we focused on retail.
So it was 70% retail and 30% fleet.
But this year because of opportunity, we really focusing on fleet.
So now it's a 50-50 mix now.
Okay.
And we've, and we've working like I moved my offices upstairs with the fleet salespeople.
So now we share contacts.
We have outside representatives that salespeople ride along with.
So we're, so service and sales is joined at the hip on it.
So we're, we're teeing up customers just like, Hey, we had a mobile service on this one.
Can you do a follow up, you know, just introduce sales as a follow up with that customer.
So it's been pretty cool to work with sales in that capacity.
Are you able to quantify a number on average each month of sales that come from the remote customers that say, Hey, there, I want to buy a car from you.
Or even they trade that vehicle.
And is, is that, do you have any data on that?
No, not yet.
So, so we do have a little bit, but we haven't tracked it accurately on the sales side.
We just talked about this last week.
I was like, you know, we should track that.
Because when you go visit a fleet customer, necessarily they're not looking for a vehicle.
But everybody's a buyer at some point, right?
Personally or wherever else.
And you've got this walking billboard.
The sample of mobile service and it's like, Hey, I love it.
Who's your sales person?
Who do I need to contact with?
And then we have our process that connects them with sales.
Yeah.
So one of the reasons I think you, you wanted to come on today was talk a little bit about recruiting and some of the things you're doing in the recruitment area.
So I got a little distracted on the, on the remote service piece, but actually that goes into it.
Hiring a, a, a remote service technician that is driving a vehicle around.
That's a very different hire than a technician sitting in a bay in brick and mortar.
How do you think about those two differences as far as hiring and recruiting for those positions and what are best practices for the differences?
We'll start with you, Jeremy.
Yeah, Matt, let's start with you on brick and mortar than Jeremy bring in on the mobile.
That's a great question, Sam.
We are very involved.
We've got two local schools here and one in Jacksonville and then one literally right down the street from the dealership.
Both of them offer automotive and diesel programs and we've been very heavily involved in those schools.
Before I got here, I've been here almost eight years now and this dealership has been heavily involved in, in, in, in joining at the hip with those, with those schools to the point where we have our own branded bays in the schools.
We've come and we put lifts in the bays for them.
We've done the whole nine yards and we go to, we go to all of their mock interview events.
We support the schools very heavily.
We're there during the career fairs and we've, you know, if I went through the shop, Sam, we walked through the shop together.
You'd be shocked at how many students I can pick out that are now, you know, either quick lane entry level or their, you know, level three, level two, level one team lead shop warmings, etc.
And it's been really cool to be able to watch that as these young men progressed through their careers and I've seen them.
Like I've been on here before with you and I told you it's, it's, it's amazing to see them get married, have their kids by their first house.
And the super cool thing for me is just watching them start out from being, you know, a 19 or 20 year old and then now we're 27 years later and you look at where they were at then.
And now where they're at and how their careers progressed and how productive and just how grown up.
It's just super cool to see that.
Yeah.
Are you looking for that same type of experience level?
Jeremy, when you think about the remote side or do you need a different type of a technician to drive a remote vehicle around and service customers at their homes and businesses?
Yeah, it is a different type of technician.
And a lot of dealerships already had that technician in the bay now as the ones that's probably chatting up everybody that's distracting everybody.
Yeah, they like to be customer facing, right?
They do that.
They like that they're easy to talk to.
And when you meet our guys, it's not awkward when they meet a stranger.
It's not weird or anything.
They just have a good conversation with them and they can explain what they're doing to the car in a fairly easy way too.
And what's cool about Bozart is like Matt says, when we get them from the school or wherever they start in our quick lane.
So we kind of, we can kind of already see the ones because Anthony a quick lane, he can identify the personalities and stuff like that.
And what's also cool is we have a Bozart technical institute that works at night.
So we have we have seasoned master technicians that actually holds a class about two o'clock and they're in class and by the time their classrooms over the main shops are gone.
So now we have a not only second shift, but we have students that are being trained in house.
And that's where I get a lot of my mobile technicians because they went through quick lane.
They know that process.
They can do recalls and then they match with our trainers and now they can do a little bit more than it.
And that's where we start seeing the customer interaction skills.
And yeah, those are we grow our own technicians.
So is there a trend line in the personality type or are there any characteristics in a future technician, young man, young woman wanting to get into the business or having success from the school age?
You know, is there any common trader characteristic that you're seeing there, Matt?
You know, I look for people that have a pretty, pretty open personality.
They're, you know, they're outgoing.
They're a little bit of an extrovert.
Those are the type of individuals that are going to be able to hold a conversation with the consumer.
You know, when you look at a mobile tech, as we all know, they're the tech, the advisor, they, you know, they're a salesperson too at times.
Right.
They've got to, they've got to be able to stand in front of that consumer and hold a conversation and be confident in what they're doing.
And so those, like Jeremy said, it's, you know, it's funny, but it's true.
Like you're looking for the people that are not afraid to have a conversation with people in our introverts.
But fortunately for us, we've got a lot of really good people here.
Yeah, that's interesting.
I appreciate you sharing this as a best practice, aligning that way.
What a great pipeline to bring fresh talent and new talent into the organization, kind of make them a part of the culture and then have them go out and spread the experience.
So when you think about, before we go to our roundtable here, because I do want to leave some time for that, I think we'll have a great conversation with Nick.
What, as you think about the rest of this year, six months, seven months left in 2026,
what are the big obstacles or challenges you're looking to overcome through the rest of this year to be successful?
I'll take that.
My big thing is, you know, we're really focused on appointment count per day.
That's probably one of the biggest things that we're tracking here at the dealership is appointment count and driving that number and utilizing all those tools and resources that we have, you know, from the manufacturer.
And then, of course, you know, our own dataset.
Retention is a big thing for me and focusing on communication, not just inside, but, you know, obviously more importantly with our guests.
I preach to our team here, we've got to focus on guest experience and look at it through a guest lens and that's what we've got to focus on.
That is 100% of what we need to do.
So this Cox Auto data that I shared, and I've shared the past several shows that shows grosses up, which kind of masks the problem of dwindling our account to independence.
Have you seen that as a trend?
And is there something specific?
I mean, obviously the mobile service is one strategy and is winning.
Is there anything specific you're doing to like get that customer back from the independent shops and retaining them for life?
Again, so our CPRO count is up, our CP gross is up to be fair.
You're doing it.
But I think a lot of that stems from, we have an amazing staff downstairs in our advisor team, our mobile quick lane advisor team.
Those guys really operate very well together.
I've worked with a couple other dealers in the past and I've never seen the environment that we have here as far as everybody really gelling and working together and focusing on helping each other out.
It's really interesting when you go into the service lane and you look over at one of the advisors and they're doing a call in to a third party warranty because the other advisor doesn't like doing it.
But then they're doing things for that one that the other, it's, they just, they work so well together and they're so focused on doing the best that they can to provide our guests with the best experience possible.
And they do a fantastic job.
Do we make some mistakes sometimes?
Yes, but we also empower our team to make good decisions to take care of the customer at the same time.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Well, we appreciate you both joining us today.
We're going to have you back as part of the round table.
Jeremy Stevens, that's the tale of two cats today, right?
Jeremy Stevens, Matt Norris, fixed ops director and Matt fixed ops director and Jeremy Stevens, remote operations director at Bozard Ford.
Thank you so much for sharing your perspectives on hiring, recruiting, retention and the mobile operation that you've got that's just blown through the roof over the past recent period.
So thank you both for being on the show.
We'll have you back here just a moment.
Thank you.
Lots of great comments coming in online.
Paul Salisman says, my local Porsche Club chapter gives out scholarships for future technicians.
Seems a dealer partnering with a strong car club would be in alignment with each other.
I agree.
I think that would be a cool strategy as well.
Up till lamb said, hey, will the automotive industry turn automated?
I actually think it depends what you mean by automated, but I think it's happening, right?
Like tech, AI, other things are being implemented right now to help deliver an incredible experience to customers.
And how does live rooms and showrooms work?
Do you still use those methods remotely for sales agents?
So all right, let's go to our round table to wrap up today's fixed ops Friday back joining Nick Ruffalo fixed ops director at Warman and then Matt Norris and Jeremy Stevens, both from Bozard.
Welcome to the show, everybody.
All right, first question up for Matt and Jeremy, $50 oil change and mobile service.
Yeah, I guess our customers love our technicians and they know my name.
So it's like, you know, I am interested that I would like to get some feedback on that because that is an interesting model.
It's an interesting model, but to me, like, and obviously the risk or the reward outweighs the risk, but with oil being so volatile right now.
I mean, that's a challenge, Nick.
Props to you guys for making that work.
Do you guys at Warman, Nick, do you run a mobile operation?
If so, we're in trouble, but do you run a mobile operation to run the $50 out of that as well?
Or is it brick and mortar only?
We have a Ford store as well, and we'll offer that also with a mobile visit as well.
So again, I was sitting at the Volkswagen store two weeks ago, and a guest saw one of our commercials.
I think it was the one I did.
50 buck, buck type deal, and pulled in with her Bentley.
Oh, no!
Hey, so.
Hey, but you don't want to know something?
We still changed our oil.
We did it for North of $450 and she still saved 300 bucks.
and
the
area for the kids, kids room, the whole nine yards.
And I played myself in three different people.
I was the golfer, caddie,
and I was a guy putty.
So I'm talking to myself,
and I had to like change my shirts and stuff.
I can't tell at all because I mean,
people are watching this.
You can't know the magic behind the camera.
So it was just me talking to me
about how Lexus of Arlington,
golfer Nick saw that I could get my Lexus oil chains
for $50.
And then putting golf or putting Nick was like,
how much, 50 bucks, yeah, it's 50 bucks.
So it was just, it's a sticky message.
You know what I mean?
I came home and the kids,
you know, they're in their older teens and early 20s.
And I just walked in and they're like,
50 bucks, bucks.
That's all they kept saying.
I'm like, you saw it.
They're like, all right, we saw it.
So, all right, let's talk training a little bit.
Everybody on this call talked about training
as an important lover in 2026,
advisor training, communication prep.
If you had to name the single most overrated training tactic
the industry keeps buying and using in fixed ops 2026,
what would that be in your opinion?
Training's important,
but what's the overrated side of it?
I think the virtual stuff.
I think the hands-on stuff
where you actually have the interaction role play.
I think that's probably the best.
I think the virtual stuff,
although it may play from a fundamental standpoint,
I think you can garner some information there.
But I think you really get people on board really,
really quickly when you're involved with them.
You're coming up alongside them.
You're doing the role play.
You coach them through the difficult times.
You show them examples of how to do those difficult phone
calls, et cetera.
That's what I think it's all about.
Nick, what's your take on that?
You do both.
You do virtual and you do live and in person.
Which is most effective in your mind?
I feel that in person is.
Virtual is great.
I haven't done it really so much
where it's like a team's call we're doing training,
but we do offer LMS and so on and so forth.
And that's all trackable by them logging in
and what's has to get done.
But I feel that our LMS is almost like a prerequisite
before you get to your instructor or in person led
because we're going right back over the same stuff.
You're really gonna know who is engaged on LMS training.
We start going into it.
So pull them outside of the stores
and really engaging with them.
I think more of it in a small setting, if you would.
And that's how our breakout sessions look like
when we do our training at the college campuses
and so forth for our staff, you get more engagement.
And there's more questions being asked
than hands being left down, you know,
because they're amongst their peers.
And some individuals may feel, I don't know,
can I, should I ask that question?
I mean, I might the only one that doesn't know this answer.
When you get smaller sessions,
you get a lot more interaction.
Yeah, because they can ask, they're open to it.
So next question up, there's a tension in fixed ops
between speed and trust.
So customers want fast in 2026,
but the relationship is built on not being sold.
So where's the line for your advisors?
How do you coach speed but maintaining trust
without killing throughput in 2026?
You guys want to go first?
Yeah, Matt, Matt.
Easy question, come on.
One of the two, yeah, two guys answered.
I think, you know, transparency is the most important thing,
is just being open and honest.
I do think that the video inspection,
the video MPI tool has helped out significantly with that.
There's a way more power in showing me versus telling me.
So I think, you know, the video MPI coupled with the phone
call or the text message,
whichever the consumer's preference of communication is,
I think those two combined,
you know, I don't think that there's a lot of,
I don't think that consumers can say a lot about trust
at that point, because they can see
what's going on with the car, the text done is job.
They're also building relationship with consumers now too.
So it's not just an advisor anymore.
You're going to start seeing customers coming in going,
hey, I want John in the shop to work on my car now.
I like that, yeah.
That's great for retention that connects them back.
And then that's how you own that customer for life.
That's the long-term play in the relationship.
So mobile service, I was curious about this.
Do you do video MPIs on mobile service?
No, we show up on rain camera.
So we just go to the door now.
Yeah, here's your car.
Here's what you got.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, so we don't do video MPIs.
We do take pictures and stuff like that,
but majority of the time our customers are curious.
So they're already watching our guys anyway.
So either through a window or through the rain camera.
But when our guys do their walk around
and they do their MPI, they sit what it does.
And it actually alerts the customer that says,
hey, they noticed something on that.
And nine times out of 10, they come out the door and say,
hey, you said they need something
and technician can show it to them right there.
And the occasions that they're not,
they can still see the pictures and stuff like that.
But most of the time our customers are out there with them.
Sometimes with the long chair,
watching them and sometimes just sitting in the house.
So as we wrap up today, one last topic,
and it's kind of a big one.
We may end up doing a separate show on this,
but I did an industry pod that'll release in several weeks.
There's a tool out there.
It's a GPS tool that will actually connect into a car
and it'll pull codes from the car and mileage.
And it will let you in a service department
have full visibility.
Like a lot of the OEMs do, it's not unique.
And the idea behind it is, is you can take that data
and you can reach out to the customer proactively
before they ever call you.
Long go to it, I once said on our show,
hey, the time a customer reaches out, it's too late.
We've already failed them, right?
We need to be where they want to be
before they ever get there.
What are you seeing in your world's
in connected car technology?
And how are you using that data to better serve customers,
reduce friction, increase transparency and all that.
Connected cars, I'm a fan of connected cars.
There was a text or a message that came through the chat
and it says, is it gonna be automated?
Yes, yes.
I mean, if you haven't clicked it, it's already,
it's there, it's not going there, it is there.
The car is now telling the dealer,
hey, I'm due for service.
Ford, we have the ability to log into your car.
I could tell you why your check engine lights down
with a code.
I mean, what's going on with your vehicles?
So connected vehicles are there.
What I see is a break, a steep bump if you would, right?
The technology that we have with the connected car
to the technology, we don't have integrated
to communicate back to the customer in a timely fashion
because like Longgold told you what it says,
it's already what you want.
Again, so where our centralized BDC,
there's manufacturers that are out there that are integrated
with your Blink AI or with a Bali DMS and so forth,
but not everybody is.
So you're still like a Hyundai.
I have to still go in there, download the report,
send it to the BDC, create the campaign
and still get after the customer.
I'm looking at is who out there right now
has the ability to get a connected car message
and within call it less than a minute,
the customer receives a text message saying,
hey, this is, you know, Bozark Ford or, you know,
Schomburg Ford, Roman Ford, your vehicle,
I don't say you do for no change.
What day would you like to bring it in?
And the calendar's there.
It's just happy with my prescription guys
when I was sitting here because I was at the doctor's
morning, they asked what time I want to come pick up
and gave me the dates and the times that they have available
for me to the consumer to a pharmacy
and not wait in line, you know.
The speed to execution is the disconnect right now.
We don't have all that data easily available.
Matt, Jeremy agree?
Yeah.
We have a pretty sizable service BDC center at the dealership
and we've got a team of people in that realm.
All they're doing is working, you know,
the vehicle care portal.
And it's shocking when you go in there
and you see somebody's oil change light's been on
for three months and you give them a call
and you're like, you're skeptical.
I wonder if somebody just didn't reset it.
No, they really do need an oil change.
So we've got a whole team of people
that are working that list and we're gonna continue,
you know, pumping time and resources into that
because, you know, if you're down on CP work
and you're concerned about it,
the manufacturers give you the tools
to go out there and get it.
It's our job as dealerships to go out there and get it.
We should not rely on the manufacturer for us.
Well, plus the manufacturers want some back to the OEM.
We want them back to the store.
We want them back to the group.
But I do agree.
There's a disconnect right now between the data
and then being able to execute on that data
and time kills deals.
And the older that data is by the time I get it loaded in
and I start calling on it,
the BDC has less confidence in that call
they're making to your point.
Hey, I don't think this is right,
but I show you still have your oil change light on.
They're like, yeah, it's right,
but I wish you would have called three months ago, right?
Well, so I think there's a lot of accuracy
in what you just said, Sam,
but a lot of that really boils down to,
nope, I shouldn't say nobody.
A lot of people haven't taken advantage of that BCP
in our world, in the Ford side.
People are just now starting to get into it.
But as we move forward and we have people
that are on top of it, that won't happen.
And that speed will start just organically happening
because you've got people working those lists
on a daily basis.
And why do you say some aren't taking advantage
of the BCP data?
You'd be shocked, Sam, some of the conversations
that I have with some of the other people
that I know that are in the industry,
either they don't have the manpower to do it
or they're just learning about it, et cetera.
There's a myriad of reasons, right?
Yeah, but that will be a good challenge.
Well, I almost got stuck in the old way of doing things.
You know what I'm saying?
I mean, I can raise my hands and say,
but in the car business is 97.
Things have been completely different since then.
I mean, we're writing tickets with pen and paper,
and right now, parking is at so far.
Customers were smoking cigarettes with me at a service desk.
There was an angst right there.
It's changed.
If it's an issue of adapting to change,
much to what we're talking about now,
I feel one of the aspects, too, like, oh, I'm
not going to download this.
Well, it's worth going, you know?
Yeah, yeah.
Well, on that connected car convo as we wrap up,
thank you, all three of you, so much for being on today.
Nick Ruffalo, fixed ops director at Warman,
and then the cats.
Mac Norris, fixed ops director, Bozard Ford.
That is going to stick, by the way.
Jeremy Stevens, remote operations director,
Bozard Ford Lincoln.
Thank you all for being on this roundtable as we wrap up.
Fixed stops Friday.
Thank you for having us.
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
It was a great time.
Any time again, man.
I enjoyed it.
Love to have you all back.
Hey, you guys over at Bozard, man.
You guys are good.
Thank you.
You guys are awesome.
Man, a $50 Bentley oil change.
Oh, my goodness.
That is not made this show worthwhile.
I can just see that Bentley driving into a service bay,
and where was Ryan in that moment?
Jeremy, we need to get Ryan on and see
what his reaction was when he saw that thing going.
But props to them for delivering on it.
And we'll continue to track this story and all the others.
So to you, our daily dealer listening audience,
thanks for watching Daily Deal Live
where we break down the biggest moves in the car business
as they happen.
Don't forget, we're here live every Monday, Wednesday,
Friday, 1 PM Eastern, which means we're back Monday.
So if this is your world hit like and subscribe,
turn on those notifications so you never, ever, ever miss a beat.
Thanks for being here.
We'll see you next episode, everybody.
About this episode
Fixed Ops Friday on Daily Dealer Live brings Ruffolo, Norris, and Stephens into a wide-ranging roundtable on service and parts strategy, from why “fixed ops is the glue that keeps everything” to how video MPIs and DMS/portal workflows improve transparency. They also connect fixed-ops growth to customer retention, appointment timing, and even connected-car outreach. Along the way, they share concrete promos and metrics like “just north of 17% increase in C-P-R-O volume,” plus remote/mobile service scaling from “around 10 mobile units to now 47 mobile units.”
Today's show features:
- Nick Ruffolo, Fixed Operations Director at Rohrman
- Matt Norris, Fixed Operations Director at Bozard Ford Lincoln
- Jeremy Stephens, Remote Operations Director at Bozard Ford Lincoln
This episode is brought to you by:
OPENLANE – OPENLANE brings easy, intelligent digital wholesale to dealers across the country, and was once again voted the most preferred digital wholesale marketplace by dealers.
If you’ve never used OPENLANE before, or it’s been a while since you have, you’re eligible to earn up to $2,500 in buy or sale fee credits. Learn more at https://openlane.com/cdg.
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