If you’re going to measure one metric to drive your auto repair shop’s success, choose your average repair order (ARO). It serves as the key indicator of your business’s financial health and potential profitability.
So, how do you make it grow?
Ideally, you upsell more services. To do this, you must first win over customer trust with transparency. With Autoflow’s digital vehicle inspection software, you get an innovative tool to optimize ARO by streamlining processes and improving customer communication.
Assess the Power of ARO
What if every customer’s visit to your shop puts a few more dollars in your pocket? Just two years ago, the typical shop’s average repair order stood at $473.36. Yet, today’s profitable shops report AROs of $665 and higher. How do you compare?
When you capture the potential revenue in every customer, you spend less time or money looking for more business. You simply make the most of what comes to you.
Even small changes can result in significant revenue growth over time. For example, you could offer to top up fluids or replace dirty air filters. Once you see which ones generate the most new revenue, you can pitch them every time.
ID Factors Affecting Average Repair Order
As your service advisor puts together the estimates, they choose to include, omit or delay vehicle repair costs. So, if they leave money on the table, it lowers your ARO.
However, if customers see the value in fair and transparent pricing for parts and labor, they willingly approve additional repairs. So, why not leave them in and let them decide if it’s worth the cost?
Of course, your technicians also help by identifying upselling opportunities during inspections. When they make a case for a much-needed repair, customers respond with higher approval rates, which results in customer loyalty.
Run an Efficient Repair Facility
Shop efficiency plays a key role in boosting your average repair order. This plays out in three ways:
Streamline processes – A well-organized and efficient workflow leads to faster repairs and another job into the bay – thus earning more revenue.
Reduce expensive downtime – Modern diagnostic equipment stops repeating everyday tasks by setting up templates. Once a customer gets an estimate and approves it, your technician goes right to work.
Better customer satisfaction – The more professional you look and operate, the more you wow your customers. Offering a comfortable waiting area and a clean, organized shop makes an impression.
Add Autoflow’s Digital Vehicle Inspection Software
Autoflow pairs its best-in-class digital vehicle inspection (DVI) with its two-way text messaging platform to share information visually and quickly.
On average, shops make $125 more on every ticket with an accompanying digital inspection. The power of a picture or video to build trust equals a 38-percent increase in ARO. Wow, right?!
In the bays, your techs work faster by using customized digital checklists. All that data feeds into a file they share with the front counter. Now, estimates come together more easily and accurately.
“We were able to run our best four weeks ever while being short a staff member in the front office and still communicate well with our customers,” says Tommy Keeter at Christian Brothers Automotive in South Tulsa.
“We use Autoflow in all nine locations,” Ricky Gutierrez of Thomas Tire and Automotive in North Carolina. “Words can’t describe the impact.
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Create Strategies to Increase Average Repair Order
Face it, seeing a broken part sells the repair for you. With a DVI sent via text, pictures and video inspire your customers to act.
With digital customer files, you can personalize messages to resonate with certain customers, then tailor recommendations based on their previous actions. Likewise, you can convince customers to invest in preventive maintenance.
This keeps drivers safely on the road while generating more profit.
All along, DVI reports to build customer trust and confidence in your shop. So, customers feel valued, come back again and tell their friends.
Measure and Analyze ARO With Autoflow
Of course, you cannot grow what you cannot measure. Thankfully, Autoflow solves that problem too.
Autoflow’s data analytics tracks ARO trends right from the day of installation. That way, repair shop owners monitor ARO trends via data analytics to identify patterns and seize opportunities for improvement.
For instance, you may notice bottlenecks or inefficiencies in your repair shop workflow. By clearing them up, you increase your ARO and overall profitability.
In short, real-time data informs your business decisions like never before. From here, you keep learning, optimizing and growing your ARO.
Conclusion
In the end, you cannot build your business’s profits without understanding your most vital statistic – your ARO. By leveraging the factors that make it rise, you make your shop more efficient and profitable
Autoflow fuels your growth by streamlining processes, while communicating more compellingly with customers. When they trust the visual cues you deliver, they spend more money at your shop, boosting your ARO.
To see how Autoflow can optimize your operations, book a demo to see its game-changing benefits firsthand. Only then can you reach your amazing potential.
