ONE STEP AHEAD: YOUR PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE PROGRAM

Motor, Feb 2004 by Seyfert, Karl

Emphasizing preventive maintenance (PM) in your shop assures reliable transportation for your customers while providing you with reliable profits.

Most folks don't enjoy the unexpected. Unless it's a pleasant surprise, like the delivery of a dozen roses followed by a special dinner, the majority of us would prefer to know what's going to happen, at least a minute or two before it actually happens. Knowing what is probably going to happen (or not happen) next allows us to plan ahead and gives us the reassuring feeling that we may actually maintain a measure of control over the course of our lives.

From an automotive service customers standpoint, the purpose of any preventive maintenance (PM) program should always be to maintain the stability and predictability of everyday life we all seek. Keeping a vehicle on such a program gives its owner the assurance that he'll always be at least one step ahead of unexpected breakdowns and emergency vehicle repairs. When he asks his vehicle to do a specific job or deliver him to a certain location at a precise time, he can be confident that it will be up to the task. No unexpected sin-prises will await him along an unfamiliar stretch of road on a dark and rainy night.

Preventive maintenance offers some predictability and stability benefits for the shop owner, as well. Getting your customers' vehicles on a schedule of preventive maintenance keeps your shop from going through unpredictable upswings and downturns in workflow and gross profits. Rather than waiting for disabled vehicles to arrive seemingly at random, a shop that emphasizes PM work has the luxury of knowing the nature and complexity of the work they'll be doing, each morning when the shop doors are opened. This makes scheduling work that much easier and greatly improves the efficiency of the shop.

Additional feature articles in this issue by Bob O'Connor and Tom Nash deal with the business and marketing aspects of preventive maintenance, respectively. This article will concentrate on the technical side of things, and explore some vehicle maintenance areas you may not have considered.

What Is Preventive Maintenance?

New-car buyers are led to believe that todays vehicles are relatively free from the normal effects of wear. Television and print advertisements promise "worry-free" driving, because it "needs no tuneup for 100,000 miles." In fact, these vehicles are just as much in need of preventive maintenance as cars and trucks of a decade or two ago. Its your job to make your customers aware of this.

All vehicle manufacturers specify a PM schedule for each of their vehicles. These schedules prescribe the inspections, services and replacements that must be performed at scheduled intervals to keep the vehicle in safe and efficient operating condition. When the vehicle is new, these services also must be performed to assure that the vehicle remains covered by the manufacturers warranty. Dealership service departments stress preventive maintenance to their customers, and sell a large percentage of their customer-pay service work based on 7500-, 15,000- and 30,000-mile inspections. Independent repair shops should give thanks for this early PM indoctrination. While many vehicle owners learn these lessons at the dealership, they take what they've learned into the aftermarket service sector, either before or after their newcar warranties have expired.

It's important to remember that all PM work on the manufacturer's maintenance schedule can be performed by any qualified auto service business. The manufacturer can't require the vehicle owner to return to the franchised dealer for maintenance. As long as a customer adheres to a carmakers maintenance schedule, the vehicle warranty will remain in force. For repair shops, this means new opportunities to service their customers' in-warranty vehicles.

Know Your Customers

Unless all of your customers have already been trained, they probably run the gamut when it comes to PM work. Some will bring their cars to you religiously at the prescribed intervals, and will require little prompting from you. I happened to be visiting a shop recently when a customer arrived to discuss her vehicles maintenance needs. The vehicle had 93,000 miles on the odometer and the owner was very concerned because she had already driven 3000 miles past the recommended 90,000-mile service interval. She proceeded to tell the shop owner what was included in a 90,000-mile service, and told him that she wanted all of the work done as soon as he could fit her into his schedule. "As long as you can get everything done for less than $1000, I'll be happy," she said as she walked out the door.

It makes you wish all your customers thought like that, doesn't it? The reality is, many will need to be reminded of their maintenance obligations and others will need to be "educated" regarding the benefits of preventive maintenance. Build a customer database that lists each customer's vehicle and includes a vehicle service history and other pertinent data. This database should include a mailing system that can be used to notify customers of recommended services. Many shop management software programs will also print out the next service interval for the vehicle on service receipts.