The traditional definition of Quality is Zero Defects. The idea being that if a customer buys a brand of product that breaks immediately or within a few weeks of ownership, then they will probably not want to buy that brand of product again in the future and will also tell their friends so they won't buy it either.
For service departments, this becomes more complicated as the definition of Quality is twofold: Zero Comebacks and Zero Customer Handling Problems. For service departments, customer handling must be included as a part of a Quality Repair Process to build customer loyalty and retention during the ownership period. This puts more pressure on dealerships to make sure that they are doing of great job of fixing vehicles on the first visit as well as providing excellent customer handling.
To properly set up a good Quality Repair Process, a definition of a Comeback must be established. We suggest something like this:
A Comeback is anytime a customer does not believe that their vehicle was fixed on the first visit or anytime it takes more than one visit to complete a repair.
This example covers a lot of issues including special ordered parts and has no time frame as customers have no time frame concerning poor repairs or service. The definition is not to place blame but to identify situations that need to be reviewed to discover how to minimize that type of Comeback from happening again.
Automotive Service Management articles can help you improve the Quality Repair Process by assessing and improving in these areas:
