{"id":2726,"date":"2026-10-07T01:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T01:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tvi-mp3.com\/blog\/?post_type=tvi_insight&p=2726"},"modified":"2026-10-07T01:36:37","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T01:36:37","slug":"pulling-the-right-dms-reports","status":"publish","type":"tvi_insight","link":"https:\/\/www.tvi-mp3.com\/blog\/insights\/pulling-the-right-dms-reports\/","title":{"rendered":"Try Pulling the Right DMS Reports"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Your dealership management system knows more about your fixed ops business than you may realize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every repair order, customer visit, declined recommendation, labor sale, mileage entry, advisor transaction, and service history adds another piece to the story. Yet too often, dealerships use their DMS primarily to document what has already happened instead of uncovering what should happen next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The difference comes down to pulling the right DMS reports\u2014and knowing what questions to ask once the numbers are in front of you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those questions and reports matter in a market where simply increasing dollars per repair order can create a misleading picture of growth. According to Cox Automotive’s repair order analysis<\/a>, dealership repair order volume declined by 1.7% in 2024, while repair order revenue increased by 5.2%. In other words, a dealership can generate more revenue while simultaneously seeing fewer vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your DMS can help expose that difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start With Repair Order Count, Not Just Revenue<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Revenue matters, but it should never be viewed in isolation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start by looking at the customer-pay repair order count over time. Compare this month to the same month last year, and look at rolling 3-, 6-, and 12-month trends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then go deeper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many unique customers are generating those repair orders? How frequently are they returning? Which advisors are seeing increases or declines? Which vehicle age groups are disappearing from the drive?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is where the right DMS reports begin turning a financial result into an operational story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scale of the opportunity is significant. NADA reported<\/a> that U.S. new-vehicle dealerships wrote more than 112 million customer mechanical repair orders in 2025. <\/a>NADA Data 2025: Even relatively small improvements in visit frequency, retention, or recovered customers can produce meaningful additional volume at the dealership level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That idea also aligns with Nick Shaffer\u2019s experience, shared in the TVI MarketPro3 article \u201cTVI MarketPro3 and Nick Shaffer.\u201d<\/a> Shaffer explains that TVI\u2019s reporting dashboards can help dealerships identify opportunities to drive better results and use their resources more efficiently. The value of the data lies not simply in documenting activity, but in helping dealership leaders determine where their attention and resources can have the greatest impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Pulling<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Find the Customers Who Disappeared<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the most valuable reports in your DMS may be the one showing customers who are no longer there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look for customers who have previously received service from you but have passed their normal return interval. Segment customers based on their last repair order date, vehicle mileage, service frequency, model year, and previous spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A customer who visited three times in 18 months and then disappeared is telling you something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So is the customer whose vehicle is past the warranty period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So is the customer who purchased from the dealership but never completed a customer-pay service visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of treating the entire database as one audience, the right DMS reports help distinguish active customers from those beginning to disengage\u2014and those who may already be lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That distinction can dramatically improve marketing. A loyal customer due for maintenance should not necessarily receive the same message as someone who has not returned in 18 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your DMS provides the behavioral history needed to tell the difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look Beyond the Storewide Average<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Averages have a way of hiding problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine two advisors each write 200 repair orders. One consistently identifies legitimate maintenance opportunities, communicates recommendations effectively, and generates strong customer-pay sales. The other produces significantly less revenue and has a lower percentage of recommended maintenance sold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Average the two together, and the department may appear healthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Break down performance by advisor, and you may uncover a coaching opportunity worth thousands of dollars per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same principle applies to effective labor rate, hours per repair order, customer-pay mix, maintenance sales, appointment show rates, declined services, and return frequency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the TVI MarketPro3 video \u201cEffective Marketing Strategies in Fixed Ops,\u201d<\/a> Bruce Peters, TVI MarketPro3 Fixed Operations Specialist, emphasizes the importance of clear reporting and data in demonstrating results and understanding performance. That principle extends well beyond marketing: good reporting creates accountability because leaders can separate assumptions from what is actually happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use Service History to Identify the Next Opportunity<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The smartest DMS reporting is not exclusively backward-looking. A vehicle’s service history can help a dealership anticipate what may come next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mileage, vehicle age, previous repairs, maintenance history, declined recommendations, and visit intervals can reveal customer groups likely approaching their next service need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That creates an opportunity to move from broad marketing to targeted marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of sending a generic service offer to thousands of names, a dealership can identify customers approaching higher-mileage maintenance, customers who previously declined legitimate work, or customers whose normal service interval is approaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result is a message that feels less like advertising and more like useful communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Measure Retention With More Than a Percentage<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Customer retention deserves particular attention because its impact reaches beyond the service drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Service retention is much more than a fixed ops metric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use your DMS to monitor not only the overall retention percentage but also where customers begin falling away. Look at first-to-second-visit retention, vehicle age, months since the last RO, mileage bands, and the point in the ownership cycle at which visit frequency begins to decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The percentage tells you there is a problem. The underlying reports help tell you where it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your DMS Should Help You Ask Better Questions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The goal is not to pull every report your DMS can generate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is to pull the right DMS reports that answer specific business questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • >>> Where is RO volume declining?<\/li>
  • >>> Which customers are overdue?<\/li>
  • >>> Where are advisor performance gaps occurring?<\/li>
  • >>> Which declined services deserve follow-up?<\/li>
  • >>> At what vehicle age are customers disappearing?<\/li>
  • >>> Which customers are approaching their next likely maintenance need?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Your DMS already contains much of the information required to answer those questions. The competitive advantage comes from doing something with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Your DMS isn’t just a record of what happened yesterday. Used correctly, it can become one of the strongest tools you have for deciding what your fixed ops department should do tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Your dealership management system knows more about your fixed ops business than you may realize. Every repair order, customer visit, declined recommendation, labor sale, mileage entry, advisor transaction, and service history adds another piece to the story. Yet too often, dealerships use their DMS primarily to document what has already happened instead of uncovering what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2727,"template":"","tvi_insight_category":[57,59],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n