In many dealerships, the front-end of the business gets all the attention.
New car sales, advertising campaigns, closing rates, these are the visible battlegrounds.
But anyone who’s been in the game a while knows: if your fixed operations aren’t right, the rest doesn’t matter.
Service and parts are your profit stability engine.
They’re less volatile, more consistent, and, when managed properly, can not only smooth the bumps in any market they can be the greatest source of repeat business you have.
But here’s what we’ve noticed working with dealerships across the country – fixed operations too often become the “quiet corner” of the business.
If there aren’t customer complaints, leaders assume things are fine. But dig a little deeper and you’ll often find
Let’s be honest, it’s easy to overlook fixed ops.
It’s complex.
It’s operational.
And if you haven’t worked in a workshop or parts department, it can feel like a world of its own.
But the best dealerships don’t avoid that complexity, they embrace it.
They put capable leaders in place who understand process and performance.
They monitor recovery rates, stock health, technician productivity and gross contribution.
And they don’t let service or parts get swamped under admin or siloed from the rest of the business.
More importantly, they invest in their fixed ops team. Because when you get that part of the business humming, consistent bookings, happy customers, smooth Work In Progress, the whole dealership feels the lift (and the extra profit doesn’t hurt either!).
At Fusion, we help leaders decode what’s really happening in their fixed ops performance. And we do it with respect, not judgement. We’ve worked the floors. We know the pressure. If you’re not getting what you need from service or parts, it’s worth digging deeper.
Sometimes, the biggest wins come from the quietest corners.
#FixedOps #ServiceDepartment #PartsProfitability #DealershipPerformance
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#AutoRetailAU #LeadershipThatListens #RealWorldSupport
