AUBURN HILLS, MI – Max Muncey of the LaFontaine Automotive Group calls it “innovation and collaboration coming together in the auto-retailing industry.”
He’s referring to a joint effort – involving his Michigan dealer group, Volkswagen Group of America and technology provider Reynolds and Reynolds – that combines kiosk technology with the LaFontaine VW dealerships' mobile service.
“It’s an amazing day,” says Muncey, LaFontaine’s communications director, as he stands beside one of Reynolds’ newly installed GoMoto service kiosks in the cafeteria area of VW's operations complex here in metro Detroit.
Outside, a parking lot is packed with employees’ vehicles, most of them (not surprisingly) VWs. They are candidates for using LaFontaine VW's come-to-you mobile service that operates in conjunction with the GoMoto kiosk.
Here’s how it works:
Employees at the VW complex can have their cars serviced in the parking lot during the workday by using the kiosk for scheduling, paying online, and dropping their keys in a secure slot, then picking them up when the service work is complete.
That means employees don’t need to go to the dealership for maintenance and minor services, including some recall work.
It provides them with the convenience of having their vehicle serviced while they are at work.
“We’re trying to kick off mobile service in a grand way,” says David Durant, Reynolds’ senior vice president-aftermarket sales. “Before long, this will be second nature.”
GoMoto kiosks are already located at 46 dealerships to expedite the on-site service process. The VW kiosk is the first to be installed at an office complex.
At a gathering to highlight that premiere, Durant says GoMoto kiosks, at dealerships or elsewhere, “open up whole new opportunities.”
Customers want more convenience options, says Shannon Brown, Reynolds and Reynolds, vice president-OEM partnerships, adding, “VW has set the bar.”
She foresees the kiosks installed at other places of employment, such as hospitals, malls and corporate offices.
Moreover, “several other OEMs are interested in this,” she tells WardsAuto. In metro Detroit, there are numerous automaker facilities that employ thousands of people. “It’s been great,” Eric Burgess, service manager of LaFontaine VW in Dearborn, MI, says of the VW setup. “Customers like it. Technicians like it.”
Isn’t it tricky to do service work on a car in a packed parking lot?
“Believe it or not, you don’t need a lot of space,” he tells WardsAuto.
“The mobile service truck has ramps so techs (can more easily) do oil changes. It carries $3,000 in tools. It remotely ties into our computer system if the technician needs access to that.”
The LaFontaine-Reynolds-VW joint effort took “a lot of love and labor to bring to fruition,” says Leigh Yates, who spearheaded the project as VW's team leader for mobile service and efficiency.
VW is looking to extend this collaboration to other corporate facilities in the next year.
Among initial users in Auburn Hills, Yates cites 100% customer satisfaction. “The feedback has been phenomenal,” she tells WardsAuto. “People love that they can go to work and, while there, have their car serviced in the employee parking lot.”
Then there’s this employer benefit: Workers who do that aren’t taking time off work to go to a dealership.
Muncey says LaFontaine’s CEO Ryan LaFontaine” is constantly challenging us to be what dealerships should be.”
LaFontaine says that by combining technology with mobile service,
“We're making vehicle ownership easier and more efficient; meeting customers where they are and delivering the personalized care they deserve.”
His mother and father started the business as a used-car operation in Dearborn in 1980. The LaFontaine Automotive Group, Michigan’s largest family-owned dealership collection based in Highland, now includes 54 retail franchises, 41 retail locations and eight collision centers.
