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of the time to just drop their vehicle off. There, the vehicle will wait— often outside in the elements— for an undetermined number of days before the dealership gets to it. This demonstrates little concern for a customer’ s time or expectations.

However, this drop-it-off mentality can be transformed from frustration into a positive experience by also offering an appointment. For example, a service department could say:“ I can schedule you two weeks from today, or if you prefer, you’ re welcome to bring it in and we’ ll try to get to it sooner.” Framing it this way respects the customer’ s time and

shows that the dealership is organized and responsive, turning a traditionally negative interaction into a loyalty-building moment.

“ The cliche is true: sales sells the first; service sells the rest,” says O’ Hagan.“ Dealerships that prioritize a superior service experience gain in both sales and service.”

Understand what customers are experiencing: In the 2025 study, 14 brands improved their STE score over the previous year. The brand with the greatest improvement was Kubota, with a sixpoint gain since last year, moving from a 10th-place ranking in 2024 to second this year. Kubota dealers nearly doubled their rate of setting appointments, occurring 58 % of the time in 2025 compared to 31 % of the time last year. Kubota dealers also cut their‘ just drop it off’ rate from 62 % in 2024 to 38 % this year.

The key to this improvement was to show dealers what their customers experienced when calling for service

WHY THIS STUDY WAS CONDUCTED For more than 15 years, Pied Piper has independently published annual industry studies that rank the omnichannel performance of brands and dealer groups. These studies track how industry performance changes over time and let clients understand how their own performance compares.

“ The first service interaction that drives loyalty and service revenue is a customer’ s initial phone call to schedule an appointment,” says O’ Hagan.“ Because these phone calls often go unnoticed in daily operations, they’ re frequently neglected— and without clear visibility, improvement becomes difficult.”

Evan Schipper closed Doc’ s Harley-Davidson and merged operations into the Gateway facility, consolidating inventory, staff, and resources under the new St. Louis Harley-Davidson banner.( Photo: Facebook)