Kia and ISUZU dealer and workshop Jørgen Hansen Biler adopts Tjekvik digital self-service to improve customer satisfaction and boost aftersales efficiency
11 Apr 2024
One of Denmark's leading authorised Kia and ISUZU dealers and workshops utilises Tjekvik’s digital self-service solution to streamline its aftersales operations.
Located in Skærbæk in Southern Jutland, Jørgen Hansen Biler has operated in various forms since 1961 and has established itself as one of Denmark’s most respected car dealerships. Over the years Mazda, Citroën and Suzuki have been sold, but the love for Kia has lasted since 2002 and still does. In 2015, the family grew with the addition of Isuzu. Jørgen Hansen has since run a healthy and well-functioning business, which can be felt in the local community they are located in. Changes have been made both on the business side and in terms of innovation, and Jørgen Hansen Biler has been Denmark’s best-selling Kia dealer on numerous occasions.
The rising popularity of Kia’s extensive range of vehicles in Denmark, coupled with Jørgen Hansen Biler’s strong reputation amongst customers, has led to higher levels of footfall over recent years. As with most dealers, Jørgen Hansen Biler’s aftersales department would often experience rising numbers as customers arrived to drop-off and pick-up their vehicles for servicing and repair. With up to 35 service bookings a day, the majority of these customers would arrive at peak periods of early morning and late afternoon.
Growing challenges
When the volumes of aftersales bookings increased, lengthy queues could form at the service reception, causing frustration for customers who were keen to drop-off their vehicles quickly before heading to work.
This was a situation that could be exacerbated by influxes of seasonal bookings, explains Jørgen Andersen Philipp, Aftermarket Manager at Jørgen Hansen Biler. “Queues would get even longer when customers would arrive to get their tyres changed over from winter to summer tyres, and vice versa. There were times when some of our customers would have to wait for long periods. It was far from ideal.”
Staff were also more stressed when faced with these longer queues; anxiety levels would increase as they attempted to provide each customer with the attention they deserved, while also handling other admin and aftersales tasks demanded of a flagship aftersales department.
.jpg?width=2000&height=1333&name=JHBiler%20Tjekvik%20Placering%20(1).jpg "JHBiler Tjekvik Placering (1)")
To ensure its customers received the best in customer service, in March 2021 Jørgen Hansen Biler turned to Tjekvik and its range of intelligent self-service solutions. These digital solutions enable customers to check in and check out how, when and where they want – whether it’s at home on their own device, or in the dealership via two touchscreen kiosks located at the two entrances.
Jørgen Hansen Biler has been swift in adopting digital solutions to improve the service it offers to customers, Tjekvik was among the first initiatives. The company also works closely with digital communications specialists CitNOW, which enables technicians to produce videos for customers explaining future work required or highlighting work completed during a vehicle’s time in the workshop.
Implementing a bespoke self-service solution
During the Tjekvik implementation process, the Jørgen Hansen Biler team were keen to ensure the system was set-up in a way that best suited the demands of staff and the customer base.
Jørgen Andersen Philipp explains: “As well as integrating digital check-in with our dealer management system, we decided to keep things simple and not activate the Tjekvik system’s upselling feature. While this would present to customers additional products and services, such as service plans and extended warranty packages, we chose to stick with the standard check-in and check-out solution.”
Jørgen Hansen Biler also changed the aftersales process working with its technicians to collect keys and drop them back in the kiosks themselves, rather than relying on its service advisors to do so. Not only did this streamlining process save service advisors time, it also meant that technicians could avoid delays and begin working on vehicles straight away. By having a proper strategy in place and taking the time to implement these solutions effectively, staff and customers have both seen the benefits.
Jørgen Andersen Philipp recalls: “When we first implemented digital self-service, some of our staff were very suspicious and called it impersonal. They initially had a hard time getting used to it, but those who work with it today see it as a helping hand. They can work more efficiently, spend more time with those customers who need additional support, and have more time to carry out other tasks. They’re happier and less stressed.”
Jørgen Hansen Biler’s customers are finding digital self-service simple to understand and use, with many happy to bypass queues when dropping-off or collecting their vehicles.
With both of the kiosks located outside of the main showroom area, customers are no longer restricted to checking in or checking out their vehicles within the dealer’s traditional opening hours. Thanks to Tjekvik, Jørgen Hansen Biler has effectively been able to extend its aftersales opening hours to between 4.30 am and 11 pm seven days a week. Overall customer satisfaction has improved, with Kia's customer satisfaction survey, which is sent out to all customers after they have had their car at the workshop.
Impressive results and plans
During 2023, over 30% of Jørgen Hansen Biler’s customers used Tjekvik to check in their vehicles at home, while another third used the in-store kiosks. This rose during the first quarter of 2024, with over 40% checking in from home, and over 40% using the kiosks.
The ability to check vehicles out using digital self-service has also been extremely well received by customers, with 64% checking out using Tjekvik’s solutions last year, and 68% in Q1 2024. These results rank Jørgen Hansen Biler as one of Tjekvik’s best-performing dealers globally for self-service check-outs.
Jørgen Andersen Philipp concludes by saying: “I would wholly recommend the use of self-service kiosks to other car dealerships, as it improves flexibility for customers and shows that you are a modern, digital-centric business. I think customers like that.
Building on this success, Jørgen Hansen Biler is exploring new ways to use the technology. “Now digital check-in is established within our dealership, we’ll look at introducing the upselling feature, and may even integrate self-service with our vehicle rental activities.”
Are you ready to digitise your aftersales department?
Book a demo now!