Dealers

“You can ask, ‘Where did they get the cash?’” says Bob Pierce of the Used Car Dealers Assn. of Ontario. “But salespeople are not detectives. We have not trained them to be, and nor should we.”

Lithia Motors in March “saw double-digit increases in service, body and parts, driven by a 32% increase in our highest-margin, customer-pay work,” chief operating officer Chris Holzshu says.

The coronavirus pandemic and increased demand for “contactless” dealership pickup and delivery helped inspire the move, says Cathy Orrico, chief client officer for Agero.

With a malfunctioning vehicle, “there is a big difference – as much as $1,000 on a repair bill – between tink-tink-tink and thunk-thunk-thunk,” says Wallis Miller of Alldata.