How Unanswered Calls Hurt Service Department Satisfaction

Every franchised dealership’s Service department is a busy, high-volume and profitable part of the business. The dealership competes hard for this business against independent shops, service chains and mobile mechanics. But while you’re busy booking, servicing and maintaining customers’ vehicles, who’s maintaining your Service department’s call center?

Not effectively handling Service customers’ calls could negatively affect the rest of the dealership's reputation. While you may run Sales and Service as two largely different departments, in your customers’ minds, it’s all one store that they’ll recommend — or not — to friends and family.

4 out of 10 Customers Reported Frustration With a Dealership’s Call Center

This year, CDK surveyed over 2,000 customers who had car maintenance and repairs done to gauge customer service experience satisfaction. The results were generally positive. The Net Promoter Score — the satisfaction score based on a customer’s likelihood to recommend a business — for dealers’ Service departments rose significantly to 59 compared to 45 in 2023. Independent shops also saw a significant increase, but dealerships are closing the gap from an 11-point difference in 2023 to seven in 2024. 

When we asked dealership Service customers what the easiest part of their visit was, booking the appointment ranked first at 34%. And our study found that a number of customers were frustrated  by unanswered calls or being put on hold. 

Even though the majority of callers were able to schedule without a problem, four out of 10 shoppers did run into significant issues, such as being put on hold, navigating a phone menu, having their call transferred at least once, having to call back, and, the most egregious, the phone rang repeatedly, but no one answered. Forty percent of Service customers had this experience, which isn’t a good way to represent a dealership. 

Customers With Call Center Frustrations Rated Their Overall Experience of the Dealership Lower

Whether they were put on hold, transferred, had to call back, or didn’t get an answer, these shoppers were frustrated and it showed in how they rated their entire service experience. 

If a shopper encountered one of these problems, their NPS was significantly below this year’s average of 59. If no one answered, the NPS was, understandably, rated the lowest, at 26.7. Those put on hold waited an average of over eight minutes and reported an NPS of 39.7. 

It might seem commonplace to put people on hold or transfer calls, but CDK’s data shows that while 40% of customers did have this experience, 60% didn’t. It seems many dealerships have figured out a way to avoid the phone call limbo when customers call. 

AI Voice Assistants May Be Able to Help

In the past, long call hold times and unanswered ringing phones were addressed by hiring more workers, interrupting current tasks, such as assisting customers in the dealership. Today, the issue still needs to be resolved to raise customer satisfaction but new employees aren’t easy to come by. An AI voice assistant might be the answer. 

AI voice assistance technology prevents calls from going unanswered, immediately solving the most consequential issue customers face. Similarly, it removes hold time, transfers and call backs. Customers can simply book their service through AI-generated voice prompts or, if they prefer, ask to speak to a person.

If you have concerns about having AI voice assistance answer your phones, that’s understandable. Our survey showed that while the implementation of an AI voice assistant in dealer service is relatively new, nearly 31% of our total respondents actually prefer booking with an AI assistant. Looking at generational breakdowns, while only 19% of baby boomers would prefer an AI agent that number rises sharply to 44% for millennials. Further, 51% of all Generation Z survey respondents preferred the AI voice assistant when they called. While Gen Z Service customers aren't the majority of callers today, someday they'll be.

Learn more about CDK’s AI-powered features.