You’ve likely experienced this scenario: your service customer listens attentively to your vehicle service and inspection overview, but fails to approve a recommended repair item. Customers often postpone repairs due to budget constraints, lack of understanding, or even a relational disconnect with the dealership, leaving your service department with dozens of declined vehicle repairs.
Every declined vehicle service offers your store a recoverable opportunity. By leveraging the right customer follow-up, upselling strategies, and technology, you can win back customers and keep your service drive profitable.
Key Strategies to Recapture Declined Vehicle Repairs
Why Customers Decline Vehicle Service Recommendations
To unlock the possibilities within declined vehicle services, it’s important to dive into the reasons behind the “no.” Some of the main customer concerns include:
Cost. This is often the biggest culprit. Repairs can be expensive, and some customers might find them unexpected or unaffordable, especially if they haven’t budgeted for car maintenance.
Lack of Trust and Transparency. Customers might doubt the necessity of the repair or feel the dealership is recommending unnecessary services. Poor communication or a lack of clear explanations can lead to suspicion.
Time Constraints. Busy schedules can make it difficult for customers to carve out time for repairs, leading them to put vehicle service off until absolutely necessary.
Misunderstanding the Issue. Customers might not fully understand the problem with their vehicle or its potential consequences if left unaddressed. This can lead them to question the repair’s importance.
Lack of Alternative Transportation. If a repair requires keeping the car at your service department, customers might decline due to the inconvenience of finding alternative transportation.
How to Follow Up on Declined Vehicle Repairs
Offer Financing and Payment Options
Many customers decline repairs due to cost. As you follow up with these customers, be sure to highlight the financing options you offer for vehicle services or present them with tiered service packages that break down larger repairs into smaller, more manageable costs. In your marketing communications to customers who have declined repairs, it’s also smart to promote service offers that could make the repair(s) more affordable.
Establish Transparency with Visual Proof
Some customers may not understand the issue or its severity. During the service appointment, ensure their vehicle inspection report includes pictures or videos the technician captured of the problem area(s) alongside the repair recommendations. And use clear, concise explanations of the vehicle repair and its potential consequences to add urgency.
Revisit Declined Services at Their Next Visit
Don’t be afraid to remind customers about declined repairs during routine maintenance or check-ups. Just keep it helpful and professional: mention the previous recommendation and see if their situation regarding the repair has changed. And without using scare tactics, reiterate the importance of the vehicle service for safety and performance.
Conduct an Interactive Walkaround
If you still use physical vehicle check-in sheets, you can add transparency for customers and efficiency for staff by switching to a digital vehicle inspection tool. This will offer customers the opportunity to see the recommended vehicle repair(s) firsthand. Your service advisors can then take your customers on a walkaround of their vehicle and physically show them the problem(s), explaining the repair process in a clear and engaging way while addressing any questions or concerns.
Use a Multi-Channel Approach to Follow Up
Don’t rely on just one method of communication. Depending on your customers’ preferences, use multi-channel customer follow-up communications that combine phone calls, emails, and text messages. Tailor the customer follow-up message to each channel, keeping phone calls concise while making emails and texts more informative. Include the visual elements of the service report in the customer emails, and send communications at specific intervals to drive engagement without bombarding.
Declined Vehicle Services Stalling Your Service Profits?
Each declined vehicle repair could become a lost chance to generate revenue and develop relationships, but the right customer follow-up and in-lane upselling strategies can help recapture those opportunities.
Contacting your customers with informative and transparent marketing communications—at the ideal intervals—can help reengage these customers and prompt action. Affinitiv Essentials is your answer to automated trigger communications to help drive customer retention and service revenue.
In your service lane, further add to your customer experience with Affinitiv SmartLane and Affinitiv Tech Video, our easy-to-use service lane check-in and video inspection overview tools.
To learn more about how you can reengage service customers to recover declined vehicle repair revenue, contact us today.
