How Car Dealerships and Mechanics Benefit from Online Appointment Booking

Just as cars have become increasingly more reliant on computers, car dealerships and mechanics can transform their customer experience and satisfaction by adopting new digital strategies. 

Using a website and engaging with customers on social media is a good start. However, you should prioritise making your services easily accessible to potential and loyal customers, 24 hours a day. 

One way to achieve this is to offer customers the option to book appointments online. By integrating an online booking system on your website or even directly in Google results or your social media pages, customers can easily book appointments, even outside your normal booking hours.

TIMIFY’s online booking system can be customised to fit the specific needs of dealerships or mechanics. Instead of just booking a general appointment, set it up so customers can book specific services, such as an oil change, new tyres or a test drive. 

In addition to benefiting your customers, TIMIFY also improves your office management. When a customer books a specific service, the booking system can automatically reserve everything needed for the appointment, such as test cars, workshop space, specific mechanics or salespeople and keep track of everything across different branches.

Whether you are a dealership selling new or used cars or a mechanic’s repair shop, TIMIFY can help improve how you interact and manage the customer experience, helping new customers become regular customers.
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Shopping for a new car: 

Many customers begin their search for a new car on the internet. They may not have a dealership in mind, so first impressions are important. If booking an appointment is convenient, easy and instant, it’s far more likely a new customer will opt for your business than if they have to book an appointment in a cumbersome way, such as waiting for Monday opening hours to call and book. 

TIMIFY offers various ways to include an online booking option at different touchpoints, such as directly on your website, social media channels, Google profile or on printed marketing materials using a QR code.

When booking, prospective customers can specify everything they desire in a car, such as preferred manufacturers, features and price expectations. You can even allow them to select a specific salesperson, useful if they have received a recommendation from a friend or a preferred location or branch.

By collecting all of this information at the point of reservation, your salesperson can prepare better for the appointment by tailoring it to the customer’s needs. All resources, such as blocking off the salesperson’s calendar or reserving a meeting room, are automatically booked for the appointment slot and are no longer available for other bookings.
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Scheduling a test drive: 

By including all of your cars in the TIMIFY booking system, customers can reserve specific cars for a test drive without an employee needing to check if it is available or reserve the time. The software does it for you.

When setting up your booking system, you can specify how long a test drive should last, which employees should be scheduled to greet the customer or provide detailed consultation afterwards, or whether the vehicle needs to be cleaned before the next appointment. 

Purchasing a car: 

When a customer is ready to purchase a car, you can create individual booking links that are only accessible to that customer. When they schedule an appointment with that link, all the customer’s existing data will be attached to the booking, making it even quicker and easier for them to complete the purchase. If specific paperwork is required, you can have them upload the documents as part of the appointment booking process.

Furthermore, the car will be added to the reservation, the salesperson’s calendar will be blocked for that time, an office or meeting room reserved and, if necessary, a finance specialist can also be added to attend the meeting. 

TIMIFY is even able to make reservations within the reservation. For example, the car and the salesperson will be booked for the entire appointment, while the financial consultant’s calendar will only be reserved for the specific part of the appointment when they need to be present. This frees up their time for other tasks and ensures everyone’s time is respected.
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Maintaining the vehicle:

After congratulating a new car owner on their purchase, it is important to help them properly maintain their vehicle. 

With TIMIFY, once a customer and their vehicle are in your system, you can send maintenance reminders for oil changes, regular tune ups or to change seasonal tyres. By providing reminders, you help customers extend the life of their vehicle and foster relationships that create long-term customers. 

As with all your other online appointments, after receiving an email, customers can choose  appointments that fit their schedule. It also provides options for customers to edit or reschedule an appointment. 

Once a reservation is booked, a confirmation email can be sent providing necessary information, a reminder email directly before the appointment, or you could automatically send an email after the appointment requesting feedback. This is a valuable way to collect information to improve your services or gather testimonials for marketing literature.
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Improving office management:

While implementing an online booking system saves time for both your customers and employees, it also provides new ways to view your office organisation. 

TIMIFY allows you to view which appointments are pending in which departments across all your branches, from any device, regardless of location. If inspections or test drives are cancelled, the workshop space, the test car and the employees’ blocked time are released again for new bookings, which is displayed in real time in the calendar.

In addition to appointment bookings, the software offers many other effective solutions such as resource and data management as well as performance statistics. 

See which services are most popular and identify areas where you can increase marketing. For example, if customers use you for routine tune ups, but not for oil changes or tyre rotations, you could include an offer to attract them.

You can see how TIMIFY's online appointment booking system not only facilitates the coordination of appointments, but also supports you at every contact point with your customers. By identifying, focusing and improving all the steps of your customer journey, you can improve satisfaction and grow your business.
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Start now!

Digital solutions enable an immense leap in business productivity and customer satisfaction, making adopting them a no-brainer.

We are always on hand to support you in implementing our software solution, whether with comprehensive installation guides or in person via the chat on our website. Find out more on our website and take the first steps to grow your business by trying TIMIFY for free today.