Timehighway.Com Releases New E-Ployee; Real Time Online Scheduling Solution Works 24/7 Without A Sick Day Or Vacation

According to recent industry studies, automotive dealerships have lost more than 80% of non-warranty service business to the independents, primarily because customers view them as more convenient. This is the biggest source of lost revenue for auto dealers. TimeHighway.com today announced the release of a new, greatly enhanced version of its real-time, online service appointment scheduling solution. The tool is returning these customers to auto dealer service departments and recapturing this lost revenue.

NAPLES, FLA (PRWEB) September 20, 2005 -- According to recent industry studies, automotive dealerships have lost more than 80% of non-warranty service business to the independents, primarily because customers view them as more convenient. This is the biggest source of lost revenue for auto dealers. TimeHighway.com today announced the release of a new, greatly enhanced version of its real-time, online service appointment scheduling solution. The tool is returning these customers to auto dealer service departments and recapturing this lost revenue.

Following many months of research, piloting and technical development, TimeHighway.com will unveil the latest version of its online service appointment scheduling solution at the 2005 SEMA Show, November 1-4 at booth 13144, Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada. The tool increases customer satisfaction and retention, increases service department efficiency and revenue, load balances service bays and increases traffic to dealer web sites.

According to TimeHighway.com President, Karen Dillon, reducing the number of inbound and outbound calls allows service advisors to work more closely with their customers on the service drive, resulting in greater service and parts sales and higher customer satisfaction, For a dealership that writes 1500 repair orders a month, if only 10% of customers make their appointment online, this would free up 20 hours (150 calls at 8 minutes/ call) of additional sales time for the service advisors."

With TimeHighway.com each customer can access their service history which shows dates, times and services performed. They also receive confirmation e-mails of their appointments; reminder e-mails to ensure they do not miss appointments; completion e-mails advising them the service on their vehicle is complete and a CSI email after the vehicle is picked up. Missed appointment e-mails are also sent, requesting they reschedule their appointment.

TimeHighway has found that the following to be the top complaints from service

customers:

• When calling to make a service appointment,

they are placed on hold for an extended

period

• Delay in being waited on when bringing

vehicle in for service

• Customer not notified when vehicle is

completed

• Dealership does not meet the time deadline

promised

TimeHighway.com eliminates all four of these complaints by:

• Developing a back-end matrix, incorporating

total hours to be scheduled, all services

offered, number of appointments by time

increments, service duration and service

depth.

• Providing intelligent capacity management

that knows exactly when the shop is

available for an appointment based on the

services requested, preventing overbooking

of resources and ensuring the customers

vehicle is ready when promised. Dealership

can view total number of service hours

scheduled by day and time and determine

hours still available.

• Enabling customer to schedule appointment

with specific service advisor.

• Providing automatic email notifications to

customers when vehicle is completed.

Customer can also follow the repair status

of their vehicle by accessing their customer

profile from the dealer's website --

eliminating need to call the dealership to

check on repair status of their vehicle.

• Generating personalized, rather than generic

emails, developing a dealership/customer

relationship and allowing customer to

contact dealership by a simple click on a

link embedded in the email.

According to United BMW of Gwinnett, one of the largest volume BMW dealers in Atlanta, not only does TimeHighway.com increase sales and CSI by providing a more efficient and convenient way for customers to schedule appointments, its also a great tool to drive traffic to the dealer website, For the month of August, we had 59 brand new sign ups to our site and 72 appointments made online through TimeHighway.com. Before TimeHighway, we tried to load in as many appointments as possible, resulting in missed promises," commented Blair Bowman, Service Director at United BMW of Gwinnett.

We now better balance the work load and dont load up one advisor with 20 appointments at 7:30 a.m.; all oil changes. Customers are happier as we are able to live up to our promises and have more time to build relationships," Bowman added.

About TimeHighway.com:

Long time veteran of the automotive industry, Karen Dillon, joined TimeHighway.com as President in November 2004 after helping to expand her previous company, LeaseLink into the largest provider of leasing data to the dealer and financial industry, with over 4,000 customers. Dillon and her partner sold the company to DealerTrack and she moved on to develop and expand TimeHighway.com.

In the past year, TimeHighway.com has concentrated on product and technology development and system scalability and has emerged as the premier, real-time, online service appointment scheduling tool for dealers.

TimeHighway.com replaces telephone-based scheduling with Internet technology that enhances the effectiveness and customer satisfaction of the dealership. By scheduling

appointments directly through the dealer web site, customers make confirmed appointments instantly without call-backs.

TimeHighway.com puts the service departments schedule on the dealership web site, making it possible to schedule appointments 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from anywhere. All appointments are scheduled on the web site through TimeHighway.com - both by the dealership and customers. When customers access the dealer web site, they select their services, choose from the available time slots and make their appointment. It is simple, effective, and opens a whole new world for the dealerships customer, creating an electronic link" for communications never before possible.

For more information contact Karen Dillon at office: 239-593-4620 cell: 239-438-5359, visit the website at www.timehighway.com or drop by booth 13144 at the 2005 SEMA Show, November 1-4, Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada.

###