I overheard an interesting conversation about a dash light the other day. A shop owner had a customer with a dash light on. The customer had come in for something else, brake noise, I believe, and as the customer was picking up the car and paying his bill, he asked the shop owner, “Hey, did you guys notice that light on my dash?”
“Yes,” said the shop owner. “We saw it. We ran the code, and it came up a camshaft sensor. I wouldn’t worry about it.”
The customer, relieved, paid for his brake service and left. This left me wondering though. Was this a good deed from this shop owner? Was it a generous act, or was it something else, maybe a missed opportunity or even a mistake?
The more I mulled it over, the more curious it became. On one hand, the shop owner clearly had no intention of selling that customer anything he didn’t feel was necessary. In the shop owner’s opinion, and based upon his experience, that sensor was a minor issue, at least in the specific case of this customer and vehicle.
On the other hand, I thought, it seemed like that could be a minor but reckless business move. If the purpose of an automotive repair facility is to keep cars and trucks running like they did when they were new, then this was a lost opportunity.
Now I admit, I do not have the authority (or the desire) to dictate or define what “the purpose” of an auto repair facility is, at least not in any kind of big-picture way. And I do know that it ultimately comes down to individuals and personalities—my twenty-five years in this industry has proven that to be the case. However, in this instance, this example with the cam sensor, couldn’t it be said that he would have been perfectly honest in recommending that repair be done?
The shop owner could have said, “Well, sir, that light is because of your camshaft sensor. Your vehicle appears to be running properly, but a problem could be beginning, or the sensor itself may be malfunctioning.” From there he could have quoted a more detailed diagnostic, the price of replacement, or whatever course is best (I am not a technician, so I won’t try to guess). But my point is, I couldn’t help but wonder why he didn’t recommend it, even though I know he did what he believed was right.
So what is right? Is there even such a thing as “right” in that instance? Certainly, recommending a service you don’t feel the customer needs is wrong. But isn’t there some value in giving the customer the option to have his vehicle working exactly as it was when it was new? When the man bought it brand-new, there were no dash lights on, so to suggest fixing the problem that triggered the light could not be considered wrong or aggressive sales, could it?
I don’t have the answer. I do know that we work with lots of shops who do battle with competition on every corner. For some shops, letting any single dollar of revenue escape can mean the difference between paying themselves that month or not. For some of them, perhaps for people like the owner of this particular shop, the difference between “over-selling” and providing good service is simply a matter of attitude. But then, where do you draw the line. Where do YOU draw the line? How do you know? What advice would you give?
The reason I ask is simple. One of the services we provide is the ability to send reminders to customers who had additional work they could have had done during a particular visit but didn’t get done at the time (technician recommended services), so clearly this relates. So, what do you think about the choice to let that go?
Want more ideas to market your shop? Get new ideas every month with the Shop Marketing Manual.
You might also like:
I HAVE NEVER BLOGGED SO IM NOT SURE HOW. I JUST READ YOUR ARTICLE IN PRINT I GOT YESTERDAY FROM THE 1ST PAGE OF JAN 2012. NOT BEING AWARE OF ALL THE CIRCUMSTANCES BETWEEN THE CUSTOMER AND SHOP I WOULD SAY HE PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE MADE AN ATTEMPT TO SELL THE DIAGNOSIS OR PARTS & LABOR NOW, BECAUSE THAT SENSOR DOES AFFECT THE CAR AND LEFT ON REPAIRED WILL CAUSE PROBLEMS AND THATS BAD. SO HE SHOULD TRY TO SELL IT NOW FOR SURE. THATS THE RIGHT THING TO DO FOR EVERYONE INVOLVED. THATS MY OPPINION. THANKS.
Hi Mark. Thanks for reading and for logging on and commenting. The fact you begin your comment with the caveat of “not being aware of all the circumstances between the customer and the shop” speaks highly of your approach to the question, and makes your very interesting comment even better. Thanks for responding.
I’ll leave my feelings about making or losing money on selling the customer on diagnosis out of this, but I feel this shop owner is doing his customer a disservice by NOT recommending he have it further diagnosed or repaired. While that part may not be causing an immediate driveability issue or breakdown, it’s very likely that it will in the future, or that another problem may arise that the customer will not be made aware of. If the CEL is illuminated for the cam sensor, and the customer ignores it, that’s fine… but what if something else fails, say an oxygen sensor or something that has a more dramatic effect on fuel economy and overall driveability, the customer has no way of knowing that something else has failed. The light is only on or off, it doesn’t come on brighter or have any other message if a second trouble code sets. I personally would have handled the situation in that shop differently, recommending that it be diagnosed and remedied, and explained exactly what I did above, that while this immediate code may not be causing a problem, you will have no way of knowning if something else comes up that IS causing a problem.
Great point John! A similar situation happened to me recently in that I ignored my shop’s advice and drove around with my check engine light on for something that I decided was unimportant. The result? I ended up on the side of the freeway due to a completely unrelated problem that I was unaware of because my check engine light had been on for a month. John D is on vacation this week but I wanted to thank you for taking the time to join the conversation.
The shop owner in this case definitely did a disservice to both his customer, his employees and his business. As automotive repair facilities, we are to serve as consultants to our customers for their automotive needs. It is up to the customer to decide whether they are going to have the vehicle repaired only after they have been informed of their options, costs and consequences. What if the customer never mentioned it at all? Would it have even been mentioned by the shop? Both Johns and Mark above are correct. It will lead to other problems in the future and at that time you could lose confidence of the customer that you are looking out for their car. Poorly run repair facilities give black eyes to the industry, and those of us that operate properly run facilities have an uphill battle from the minute a new customer walks in the door or calls on the phone. They almost expect to be taken advantage of. The good news is that once you do show a customer who has been taken advantage of, what a good shop is like, you’ve earned their business for life!
Hi Jason. Thanks for taking the time to read and respond. I know from personal experience that what you say is true when it comes to keeping a good shop for life. Or a good doctor or even good pool cleaning service, hair care, gardener, pest control all kinds of services etc. When you find someone who takes care of you, does a good job and makes you feel confident, it takes stress off of you. It’s like you can just know that “that’ part of your life is in good hands.
Great topic. Just before Christmas a good customer stopped in with his check engine light on and asked if it was safe to drive over the the holiday. I scanned for codes and came up with a small evap leak. I advised the customer he would be safe to drive so I scheduled an apointment for the next week. When my tech found out it was a small evap leak code he questioned me on why I didn’t clear the code and tell the customer if it comes on again to come back and then we will diagnose the problem (I do know of some shops that practice that type of “diagnostics”).
After smoking the system it turned out that the fuel filler neck had small cracks in it and was leaking gas vapors.
I feel if I had done what my tech suggested I would be doing myself and my customer, who Trusts our knowledge, a great injustice— not to mention the lost sale. My thought is as was mentioned above, the light was not on when the car was new. So lets find the problem and fix it!
Sam, it sounds like your customer is lucky to have you keeping an eye on things for him. Your tech too, frankly, helping him improve his skills. Everyone is better off for that recommendation. Seems like a fuel vapor leak could get ugly left unattended.