Larry H. Miller Dealerships Get a Lift in Service Profits from Rotary Lift Shockwave™-Equipped SmartLift® Inground Lifts
Apr 22, 2014, 02:42 ET
MADISON, Ind., April 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- When you're in charge of fixed operations for one of the 10 largest dealership groups in the United States, you get pitched a lot of new products. For Dan Johnson, fixed operations director at Larry H. Miller Dealerships of Sandy, Utah, seeing is believing.
"We were in the process of a number of construction projects when I had the opportunity at SEMA to watch a demonstration of a Rotary Lift Shockwave™-equipped lift vs. a standard lift," Johnson recalls. "It was immediately clear how much faster Shockwave is. My thought was, with our group of 55 dealerships employing well over 900 technicians, if I take the couple minutes per job we'd save with Shockwave and multiply that by 900 technicians and then multiply that by our current effective labor rate: It equals a lot of money. At that point, I was sold."
Johnson proceeded to work with his long-time Rotary Lift distributor, McGee Company, to order 115 Shockwave-equipped lifts for installation in several new Larry H. Miller dealership locations, including Nissan, Lexus, Dodge/Ram and Hyundai stores in Colorado, Utah and Arizona.
Billed as the "world's fastest lift," Rotary Lift Shockwave-equipped two-post surface and SmartLift® inground lifts are twice as fast as standard vehicle lifts, enabling technicians using them to be more productive.
In a recent analysis, Johnson found that technicians using Shockwave-equipped SmartLift inground lifts at the newly built Larry H. Miller Lexus Murray in Murray, Utah, are able complete at least one additional job per day, resulting in $59,904 in additional revenue per bay annually. With 29 Shockwave-equipped bays, Larry H. Miller Lexus Murray is on track to generate more than $1.7 million in incremental revenue every year thanks to Shockwave technology.
The returns don't stop there. Shockwave-equipped lifts are battery operated with built-in chargers, eliminating the need for expensive 220V wiring. Johnson estimates that this DC power system saves Larry H. Miller Dealerships around $500 per lift on electrical installation. Ongoing energy bills are also lower since the lifts use less electricity.
For new construction, Johnson has also shifted from the Rotary Lift two-post surface lifts that Larry H. Miller Dealerships have relied on for more than 30 years to Rotary Lift SmartLift inground lifts. Because inground lifts can be installed in 11-foot-bays while two-post lifts require bays that are at least 12 feet wide, the group is able to add one inground bay for every 11 surface bays. That means the average Larry H. Miller service department can grow from 33 production bays to 36 bays without increasing overall square footage. Those extra three bays generate an average of $415,308 in additional gross profit per shop annually.
Automotive News recently named Larry H. Miller Dealerships the tenth largest dealership group in the United States based on 2013 retail unit sales. The business currently includes 52 locations in seven western states, with plans for further expansion. As the group continues to grow, Rotary Lift's Shockwave technology will be there to drive productivity.
"Going forward, all of the car bays we build will include Shockwave-equipped lifts," Johnson says. "We have confidence in the product and in the Rotary name. Rotary is a name you can trust."
To hear more from Johnson and others at Larry H. Miller Dealerships about their experience with Rotary Lift Shockwave-equipped lifts, watch the video interviews at http://www.rotarylift.com/Media/Videos/. You can calculate your own Shockwave ROI at www.rotarylift.com/Shockwave.aspx.
Learn more from your local Rotary Lift distributor or call (800) 640-5438. Rotary Lift is also active on Facebook, www.facebook.com/RotaryLift; Twitter, twitter.com/RotaryLift; and YouTube, www.youtube.com/RotaryLiftMedia.
For more information about Larry H. Miller Dealerships, visit www.lhmauto.com.
About Rotary Lift
Rotary Lift is the leading brand of vehicle lifts and equipment designed to increase technician productivity. Founded in 1925 by the inventor of the first automotive hydraulic lift, Rotary Lift offers the broadest line of lifts for use in professional automotive service, commercial truck and transit, and enthusiast/residential customer segments. There are more Rotary Lift products used in vehicle repair shops around the world than any other brand.
Rotary Lift is a Vehicle Service Group (VSG) brand. VSG comprises nine major vehicle lifting and collision repair brands: Rotary Lift, Chief® Automotive Technologies, Forward® Lift, Direct-Lift®, Hanmecson®, Revolution® Lift, Elektron, Blitz® and nogra®. Based in Madison, Ind., VSG has operations worldwide, including ISO 9001-certified manufacturing centers in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
SOURCE Rotary Lift