How do you store out of hand LPO's?

[InBloom94]

We do not have any room, very small dealership, and we have at least 20 LPO's come in every morning, they pile up and I would say we have literally hundreds of LPO's...as you know, we do not make a cent on them so why should parts be responsible for storing them? What all do you do...we have tried putting them in the shop but they do not have the room out there either? I am beyond frustrated, to the point of thinking of dropping them in the showroom floor everyday so sales can deal with it!

[tnpartsguy]

Stop the sales dept from ordering them. They are costing your dealership tens of thousands of dollars. We lost $50k last year just in LPO steps. THe owner needs to be aware that there are ways to do it in house and make more money. Stop giving GM profit!

Seriously, I had them rent an offsite storage locker at model change last year, because we had 20~30 sets of steps and no room to put them....good luck!

[zep33]

LPOs suck filthy ass. I have 8 wheels due in here today, nowhere to put them and the trucks they are for aren't even here yet.

[tnpartsguy]

I am waiting for a set of wheels, truck has been here 10 days. I want to get my $1500's back for the stupid transit wheels that charged on my open acct to my ADI, even though I have ZERO dog in this hunt.... LPO wheels suck

[zep33]

I had a set of LPO wheels sit here tying up $1500 for 2 months until the truck showed up last spring

[TORGY]

is anyone having an issue with the service department getting the LPO parts installed at the time of the PDI? The wheels are pretty obvious, but all the exhaust tips, emblems, sill plates...etc.

Here is what happens here, when the LPO parts arrive we give the service manager the green packing slips with hopes that when the vehicles arrive that they write the work order and add the LPO's as a job on the work order. We also have informed each technician to look at the window sticker for "dealer added options". But yet somehow things still seem to fall through the cracks, and vehicles hit the lot without the LPO's, some get dealer traded and some get sold without the parts that they paid for. We then have to get the vehicles back in the service dept. from the lot, call customers and get their accessories installed, or pay shipping to send them to the place that we dealer traded the vehicle. just a flipping joke all the way around!!!

We are also a very small Hyundai dealership.
Hyundai does not do LPO's, but they are so nice as to send us accessories for new model vehicles and expect that the sales dept. will install them on lot vehicles. Like that ever happens.
So then after we sit on them for more than 6 months, we can return them, and we get use our return reserve, and pay shipping to send them back. Sweet deal huh! Especially when we only earn about $2000. a year in reserves.

[tnpartsguy]

I have a spreadsheet that I put all the incoming LPO's on for the PDI tech.
Yes, it's a pain in the ass, but it's better than the asschewing I got when they dealer traded one and had to pay $100's to ship all the crap that didn't get installed.

[zep33]

why would you get an ass chewing for something service didn't do?

Ours show up on a yellow invoice from the ADI.

First thing I do is find the stock # of the vehicle if they've already added it in (99% of the time they have)

I write the stock # on the original invoice

I make photocopies for each part and tape one copy to each part.

I give the service manager the original invoice and he writes up an RO and staples the invoice to it.

Now when the techs come to get the stuff, all they have to do is match the stock # on the invoices and grab them. No digging around trying to match up VINS, just the stock #

That process has worked perfectly here for years

[tnpartsguy]

Ah, you see, parts is ALWAYS the culprit here. The Service manager has the Title Fixed Ops Director, but doesn't know an oil filter from an air filter....

[zep33]

I see. I've been here 23 years and the closest behind me might be 3 years. If someone here tried to give me **** over something like that, I'd be rubbing his nose in it until it bled. I put up with a lot but there are limits.

[TORGY]

as of last week we are also giving a copy of the packing slips from the ADI to our title clerk, who also is the person who makes the stock tags for the vehicle. She has been instructed to attach the stock tags to the packing slips prior to turning the stock tags to the service department. That way when the service advisor looks for the stock tags once the vehicle arrives there will be the packing slip attached and hopefully they will get the LPO's installed at time of PDI.

[Joker]

Hate LPO's. Can't stand the fact that GM allows it. Of course it's a new car sales orientated business, screw the parts department. I don't see alot of them thankfully and I don't have a foolproof process for dealing with them.

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by Joker

Of course it's a new car sales orientated business, screw the parts department.

That's an interesting comment - and one I'm inclined to agree with.

I wonder if some OEMs are more balanced than others? If I had to guess my bet would be the Detroit 3 are probably the most sales-biased and the European OEMs are probably the most balanced.

[bambam93]

Our store gets the total LPO purchase amount each month from our rep, and then we charge sales a 5% handling fee on that amount which we put to accessory gross.

[Joker]

I'd even be willing to sell them for low mark-up, but then comes installation. We don't have any jack-of-all-trades hourly techs.

bambam93, that is not a bad idea. If I can get the owner to think so is another battle.