r/serviceadvisors

I looked through this subReddit to find ideas for how to say thank you to my service advisor for really going out of his way to help me out and I ended up bringing in some homemade pastries….he was so excited about it, I figured people must feed them all the time but I guess not. He said it always means a lot when people actually say thanks because it’s rare

Partially I think he was excited about it because he was worried I was mad the car took longer than promised and was expensive (overall reliable car just a few wearables hit at once), but do people really just not say thank you??

Hey everybody, I start a service advisor position in a week. I have no prior dealership experience but I am extremely good with cars mechanically. I also used to be the owner/operator of a fairly successful detailing business so I have plenty of experience with customer service. Any broad advice you’d give someone just starting out? Thanks in advance!

Howdy all I would like some input from people I do not work with.

How do you/your shop arrive at labor times?

How do you handle techs asking for more diagnostic time?

How do you handle the diagnostic hour when it’s a known issue or the diagnostics shouldn’t take a half hour on simple things?

How do you handle a tech who consistently wants to charge more than book time? How do you handle a tech who needs more diagnostic time than anyone else? ie a tech always needs 3+ hours for a no start tow in, needs 2 hours for water leak testing etc

How do you handle a tech that constantly lies about gravy work being needed ie sells 5mm brakes as being 1mm, somehow always needs to sell spark plugs and a fuel cleaning, sells significantly more of that job alldata clearly over bid the labor.

Do you get to know what tech hours look like? Do your best techs (skill, craftsmanship, knowledge) make the most hours?

Does your service manager/dispatcher ever talk about taking advantage of certain techs?

Any service managers prowling around here I have more direct questions and conversations I would love to have with you

I just started sales a month ago, but the inconsistent hours and waiting/cold calling is killing me. Should I take up this advisor gig?

Does anyone else work for this company? I work for STMP as a service advisor and I NEED to talk to someone else to see what they do in this role. There’s no way I’m paid so little to do so much.

Hey guys! Quick question: Is Magic VA worth it? I have an interview with them tomorrow, but my plate is pretty full of other pending interviews right now. Trying to guard my energy and filter out the platforms that aren't worth the hassle. Any firsthand feedback would be amazing!

training as an express advisor for 2 months now, really feeling the pay cut from my last job but I wanted a change. handling the basic concerns and walk ins. how long did it take you to move into a main advisor role?

They are all “I’m here fore my warranty oil change and rotation and I have a recall for a software update but I can only be here for 30 minutes”. Also “I’m here on vacation with my 11 year old car that I drove 8 hours to get here and the check engine light is on and the car is smoking and I need you to diagnose and fix it so I can drive home on Sunday”.
F my life.

I’ve noticed the last few years that if you set an appointment with a car mechanic they still work on all the cars that they already have before they get to yours. If that is how they operate why do they still let people set appointments? Why isn’t their policy first come first serve?

Applied for a job, they want a phone interview, I'm just wondering if anyone has experience advising for Rivian and what it's like?

Thanks!

Customer drove their Toyota through standing water (or left it parked in it) and the water got to just under halfway up the doors. The first phone call I got from the husband after it was towed in was asking me to make sure the truck was totaled. Once insurance decided to repair it instead, he asked how high the water would’ve had to be for it to be considered a total loss. The crazy part is the engine was completely fine.
Insurance approved drying and cleaning the interior but denied replacing the carpet, and that became a huge battle. The customer says she has a child with health issues who can’t be around mold, so she’s demanding a new carpet even though the carpet itself is spotless. We cleaned and sanitized everything, but now she’s claiming the cleaning residue on the sound deadening is mold. Insurance still won’t approve replacing the carpet, and she refuses to pay for it herself.
Insurance did approve replacing two small support brackets that had surface oxidation, but they’re on third-party backorder with no ETA, so we literally can’t put the truck back together until they arrive.
While it’s been waiting, she’s come back and is now pointing out every bit of surface oxidation on uncoated metal under the carpet and saying we’re causing the truck to rust because it’s apart. The areas she’s pointed out weren’t even in the water. The insurance adjuster looked at them too and agreed it was normal surface oxidation.
I’ve explained that Toyota doesn’t stock every single bracket, especially parts that almost never get replaced, but she keeps telling me, “You’re Toyota, figure it out.” She even told me she has “friends at Toyota” who said the part is available. I explained the parts are already ordered and are on third-party backorder with no ETA. There isn’t another warehouse I can magically pull them from.
She also questions Toyota’s quality because uncoated metal has surface oxidation. She fired me as her advisor, asked for my manager, then wanted to know who was above him. She’s threatened to sue the insurance company and the dealership because she doesn’t like the answers she’s getting.
So now I’m stuck in a situation where she refuses to take the truck back if there’s any surface oxidation, but neither she nor the insurance company will approve or pay to replace those parts.
Has anyone else dealt with something like this? I genuinely don’t know what else I could’ve done differently.
UPDATE:
INSURANCE ADJUSTER CALLED ME TODAY AND LET ME KNOW THAT THEY ARE TOTALLING IT!

Today was my last day as a mechanical claims adjuster at Assurant. Monday I go back to turning wrenches.

Thought it’d be fun to do an AMA. Ask me anything about being a claims adjuster, how the process works, or whatever you’re curious about.

A few things before the questions start:

1. Contrary to popular belief, we don’t get any bonus or benefit for denying claims. We simply follow the terms and conditions of the contract.

2. The survey at the end of the call has no effect our pay and doesn’t hurt us in any way.

3. Since I’m sure it’ll be asked: the pay is generally around $25-$30 per hour depending on experience.

Hey folks, I'm starting as a service advisor for Freightliner a week from this coming Monday. Been stuck in dead end warehouse jobs the last 4 years and looking forward to the best opportunity I've had in a while.

This all kinda fell into my lap thanks to the beauty and power of connections, brother-in-law is a tech and his wife is the assistant service manager.

I have a ton of customer service experience, over ten years. I'm not the most knowledgeable when it comes to anything automotive, much less trucks. But I'm told that I'll learn everything I need to know on the job. I'm excellent with most software, so I'm certain I'll get the hang of that part of the job. And customers typically love me. I'm friendly, I'm charming, quite frankly, I'm a delight.

So basically I'm just looking for any tips or pointers to help as I transition to a new potential career. My original career plans were in communications/marketing/PR, but that didn't pan out like I'd hoped.

Looking forward to hearing from you all!

I talked to a Rep at my CU and she gave me some pretty bad limitations from 66. A car I was looking at 2013 Altima with 143k, in good condition was a car I was looking at.

The available plan was; First Street

First Street Plan;

• 5k max payout
• also, max of purchase price
• also, max of JD power value at the time of service
• limited coverage vs. their Main street plan

SO, iow, its only good for NEWER, low-mileage cars.

Am I missing something?

Thanks for your help!

My 2016 BMW 340i xdrive with 54k miles has been sitting at a BMW specialty shop for a little over 2 weeks while CarShield reviews my claim for a bad transfer case. I honestly had no idea when I bought the car that it already had the issue. I drove it for about a week before the chassis stabilization light came on permanently, before it’d come on occasionally when activating launch control. I got it from a dealership and didn’t realize anything was wrong until after I owned it. My CarShield policy had been active for months before I filed the claim.
So far they’ve had the shop send photos, and now they’re asking for a video before making a decision. The repair is around $3-6,000 if they deny it, so the waiting has been brutal.
Has anyone else had CarShield ask for a video? Did your claim end up getting approved, or is this something they do before denying people too? Just looking to hear what others have experienced. I’d like some advice so I know whether or not to keep staying positive, or start looking at new cars ( I still owe on my current loan) , I just find it hard to believe that a t case would go bad at 50k miles. The 340 is one of my attainable dream cars ( I’m an enthusiast) , so id be heartbroken to say goodbye to it

Edit: I’ve heard nothing but bad news about car shield, and these replies don’t make me feel any better 😂

My car is 3 years old and I want peace of mind, so I wanted your advice based on all you service advisors' experience, because you deal with these companies every day.

Who in your opinion provides the best warranty based purely on their overall coverage and ease to work with. When I have an issue I want to know it will be dealt with no issues and quickly for both me and the garage who repairs it.

"My technician took a look at your machine.....let me get you with our sales department."

I’m a service writer at my shop, my manager takes a role in creating ROs’. I’m scheduled at 8:30, but we open at 7:30 and that is when the manager takes in customers who are dropping off for the day.

I will schedule a drop off appointment at 7:30 - 8:00
However, I am not there to create and greet the customer personally. So my manager has to do it.
He will create the ticket in his name, take over speaking with the customer about the repair and bill it out all under him.

We are not a big shop. We average 8 cars a day. Doing big repair orders our average RO tends to be $500 or a bit more.
Company wants us to sell 15,000 a week each. I find I would be able to do that, if I was getting all the work I had scheduled. Is this normal for all shops in how they run. Or am I being a wuss and not standing up for myself?

I know this type of question has been asked a lot, and I’ve read through a ton of Reddit posts already. I’m still asking because I’d really appreciate honest opinions based on my specific situation. I’m based in San Antonio, Texas, so I’d also love to know if there are any local opportunities, dealerships worth talking to, or even people I could connect with for advice.

My Background:

I started as a service advisor, moved into shop management, and I’m currently the General Manager for two independent European repair shops. I make about $120,000/year and have a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, but I’m honestly burnt out from the service side: managing techs, workflow, staffing, comebacks, upset customers, and the constant pressure that comes with running shops. The hard part is that I care a lot. I care about the employees, the clients, and the cars we work on. That has helped me succeed, but it also makes the stress hard to turn off. After years of trying to change my mindset, I’m starting to wonder if I’m just in a role that doesn’t really align with me long-term.

I did very well as a service advisor and have a strong automotive background, so car sales feels like a possible next move. I know sales is not easy, but I’m wondering if it could be a better fit than staying in service management.

I’m also open to changing industries completely, but I’ve had no luck. Even with my Business Administration degree and tailoring my resume for operations, project management, and business-related roles, I haven’t been able to land interviews outside of automotive. At this point, auto sales feels like one of the only realistic options that could use my background and still give me a shot at making good money.

Main questions:

What realistic income to expect in car sales and/or car sales manager?

Is the stress better, worse, or just different than service?

Do brands matter for income and work environment?

Would luxury/European brands make sense with my background, or is high-volume better?

For anyone who moved from service to sales, was it worth it?

If changing industries is the better answer, what roles would actually make sense for someone with my background, and how do I break in if I’m not getting interviews?

I’m not afraid of hard work. I just don’t want to leave a $120k job, take a major financial step backward, and end up in another stressful role I regret.

Thank you to all for any advice and for taking the time to read this post. Any help means the world to me!