Does Geermain Honda Offer A Free Concierge Service

An auto parts wall installation at Intersect by Lexus in Manhattan is in an experience center that features fine dining with rotating chefs. [Daniel Krieger/The New York Times]

The waiting rooms attached to auto service departments tend to be dismal places, with stale coffee, patched seats, cable news on a flickering TV and final week's copy of Sports Illustrated, if you're lucky.

At some dealerships, that no longer passes muster. Today, you can get blackened chicken or grilled salmon on the dejeuner menu at Honda of Fort Worth in Texas, or a gratis conditioning at the fitness center attached to the Lincoln-Mercury/Land Rover-Jaguar shop in Merritt Island, Florida — assuming you lot wouldn't rather play puddle or watch a picture show.

This amenity-laden shift can be traced straight to dealers' bottom lines. At the cease of 2018, half a typical dealer'south gross profits came from the service department (including parts and the body shop), according to Patrick Manzi, senior economist at the National Automobile Dealers Clan.

"Service and parts are very important to dealerships correct now," Manzi said. "Cars are selling on the net, and there's more contest and more than access to vehicle prices than ever before. Margins from selling new cars have been consistently on the refuse, so dealers are focusing on service. They've realized they can help grow customer loyalty by standing out in the amenities."

Lexus might exist the pacesetter in this cushy new world.

"In one of our stores in San Antonio, Texas, we have a free java bar with snacks, a manicurist and a masseuse," said Kimberly Sherron, the dealer facilities director and pattern leader at Lexus. "In Wichita, Kansas, y'all can drop your vehicle off at the service section, go taken to the airport then picked up when you come back. In the Tampa area, we take a store that features a manned barista bar, with free macchiatos, croissants and sandwiches."

"They become above and beyond," Sherron added.

That might exist an understatement, but this new twist on the waiting room is not just for luxury brands like Lexus. A range of dealerships accept been adding amenities.

A Toyota dealer in Chesapeake, Virginia, has a play area for children, a movie theater, a hair salon and a shoeshine area. On Wednesdays, it provides free manicures.

In cardinal Ohio, Germain Lexus at Easton at present offers gratis bicycles that customers tin use on the Alum Creek Trail while waiting for their cars to be serviced. It likewise has a massage chair.

"You can get an oil alter at a lot of different places, merely we want our customers to feel something different," said Paul Germain, the dealership'southward sales managing director.

At the Ricart Mega Mall in Groveport, customers can hang out in a game room while waiting for their vehicles or go to areas for internet access or a repose place to work or read, said Rick Ricart, president of Ricart Automotive Group. A pond with a picnic area and a Subway restaurant are on the dealership property. If you'd prefer, the dealership will order food to be delivered to y'all.

Ricart too has introduced limited service that allows customers to get oil changes and routine maintenance more than quickly. For $20, the dealership will come to a customer's domicile, drop off a loaner motorcar, take the customer's car back to Ricart for service and and then return it.

"Everything is about retention and loyalty," Ricart said.

"We desire to requite our guests a positive experience. ... Then guests will exist more loyal to the company," he said.

It doesn't stop there. Automakers are besides supporting their brands with "feel centers" that are even more than over the top.

At Intersect by Lexus in Manhattan, which opened this by fall later similar centers in Dubai and Tokyo, in that location'due south an motorcar parts wall installation, fine dining with rotating chefs (currently, one cooking advanced tapas from Chile), a round bar featuring the same leather used on Lexus auto seats and a tertiary-floor exhibition space.

"It's an homage to the cars," said Kirk Edmondson, the general manager. "We reference the brand's legacy of hospitality, design and craftsmanship — but we don't scream about information technology."

The brands and the dealers have most likely been spurred to act thanks to declining customer traffic, as well as intense competition from used-machine vendors like Carvana and Shift, which let shoppers test bulldoze and buy without heading to a dealership.

Shift had $135 million in revenue from used-car sales in 2018 (but is not still profitable overall). "It's highly likely more and more than dealerships will offer alternative models for the sales and service experience," said George Arison, Shift's CEO. "It'southward going to evolve and change dramatically."

The 2018 Cox Automotive Service Industry Written report reported that dealers were making less profit per vehicle on car sales and view servicing as a growing profit center. Simply, the written report as well said, customers become frustrated when servicing takes longer than expected, they're forced to wait in line fifty-fifty though they had an date, and no loaner vehicle is provided.

About of that displeasure goes away when dealers option up the auto for servicing (at abode or work), get out a loaner, then deliver the auto back. It'due south a huge time-saver for busy people, and it's an amenity available nationally to owners of 2017 or later Lincolns every bit part of their warranty coverage.

Anika Salceda-Wycoco, Lincoln's communications managing director, said the concierge service, which includes an app to cheque on the car'southward progress, was intended to ready the brand autonomously and "give our customers some time back." The service has provided more 250,000 rides since its introduction in 2016.

Stores that want to farm out that service volition find entrepreneurs ready to help. RedCap Technologies in Florida, in partnership with Lyft, offers concierge services to dealers, and claims an average increment of more xxx% in client retention for service when pickup and drib-off is offered.

David Zwick, director of RedCap, said his company provided services to Lincoln and to Hyundai'due south Genesis brand. He expects that at to the lowest degree ii more than car manufacturers will soon add pickup and commitment to their offerings and predicted that most luxury brands would have to follow suit. "The least likely scenario will become bringing the car in yourself," he said.

Dispatch reporter Mark Williams contributed to this story.