Xtime research reveals No. 1 customer concern for service appointments

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (August 2, 2016) — Recent Xtime data has revealed that transparent cost estimates are the most critical concern for today’s automotive customers when setting service appointments. In a 2016 study of 668 respondents, more than 70 percent considered cost estimates “extremely important” or “very important” when setting appointments.¹ This outranked all other factors surveyed, including the ability to choose the time or day of the appointment, the availability of transportation options and the option of choosing among different service advisors.

By aligning their service strategy with this research, dealers can position themselves to win more business and retain more customers in the service department. Today, only 30 percent of service visits take place in dealerships,² partly because customers believe dealership service departments are more expensive than independent repair shops. The reality is that the average cost of routine maintenance at a dealership is comparable to third-party providers.³ Therefore, by providing cost estimates during the scheduling process, dealers can alleviate the misconception of having higher costs, create a transparent and trustworthy ownership experience for customers, and increase their odds of winning more service appointments.

“This research shows price transparency is a big way for dealers to deliver a high-quality ownership experience that keeps customers coming back to the service drive,” said Jim Roche, senior vice president of marketing and managed services at Xtime. “Spectrum, Xtime’s cloud-based service experience platform, already allows dealers to act on these new findings. Since 94 percent of dealers state that the ownership experience is more important than the service itself,⁴ dealers must look to technology in order to deliver that superior experience. With Spectrum, customers can conveniently schedule their appointments online — and know how much they’ll pay before they arrive. This improves convenience and trust, enhances the ownership experience, and increases service retention by an average of 7.5 percent.”⁵

To learn more about how Xtime’s solutions help dealers deliver a higher-quality ownership experience, visit Xtime.com.

About Xtime

Xtime delivers retention solutions for the automotive retail industry. Xtime, headquartered in Silicon Valley, is the exclusive or preferred provider for 24 major global automotive manufacturers in the United States, Canada and Australia, as well as leading dealership groups, and services 7,000 dealerships. Xtime is a Cox Automotive™ brand. For more information, visit Xtime.com.

About Cox Automotive

Cox Automotive Inc. is transforming the way the world buys, sells and owns cars with industry-leading digital marketing, software, financial, wholesale and e-commerce solutions for consumers, dealers, manufacturers and the overall automotive ecosystem worldwide. Committed to open choice and dedicated to strong partnerships, the Cox Automotive family includes Autotrader^®, Dealer.com^®, Dealertrack^®, Kelley Blue Book^®, Manheim^®, NextGear Capital^®, vAuto^®, Xtime^® and a host of other brands. The global company has 33,000 team members in more than 200 locations and is partner to more than 40,000 auto dealers, as well as most major automobile manufacturers, while engaging U.S. consumer car buyers with the most recognized media brands in the industry. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., an Atlanta-based company with revenues of $18 billion and approximately 55,000 employees. Cox Enterprises’ other major operating subsidiaries include Cox Communications and Cox Media Group. For more information about Cox Automotive, visit www.coxautoinc.com.

1. Xtime Market Research: 2016
2. Cox Automotive Maintenance & Repair Study: March 2016
3. Ibid.
4. Xtime Market Research: February 2016
5. Xtime Market Research: 2016