The Career Path of a Service Advisor
Service Advisor Job Overview
A Service Advisor at an automotive repair shops acts as a liaison between customers and auto techs to guide car repairs through the shop. He or she communicates with the customer to help identify vehicle problems and options for repair, assists in ordering parts and delivers repaired vehicles to customers. Good communication skills and a commitment to customer service are a must.
BLVD Autoworks
Molly has been a Service Advisor at BLVD Autoworks in Minneapolis for two and a half years. Coming from a background in car sales, she is one of three service advisors at BLVD. A normal day (if there is such a thing) involves arriving at 7am and working until 5pm, Monday through Friday. Her day consists of creating estimates for vehicles that need work, managing and communicating with the technicians on staff and being the face of the business by dealing with customers directly.
BLVD Autoworks has been at its St. Anthony location for 38 years and Molly describes working there as working with family. Her co-workers are like family and they treat their customers that way, as well. They have over 1,600 Google reviews and are all about repeat customers and word-of-mouth advertising.
As a service advisor, she is the first person that people see when they come in and is their main point of contact during the process of having their vehicle repaired. She says there can be challenges to being a woman in a male-dominated industry, but loves being able to relate better and build trust with the female clients.
To keep up-to-date with the latest changes in the industry, Molly says she attends occasional training sessions and learns something new each week from her co-workers at BLVD. The changes in the last year brought about by COVID have her and the entire team focused on keeping people safe throughout the vehicle repair process. Sanitizing touchpoints, wearing masks and taking the necessary steps to socially distance have become routine, alongside dealing with the clients’ needs and communicating properly.
Although there have been fewer people on the road in the last year due to COVID, Molly noted that she’s also noticed that people are still maintaining their vehicles and keeping everything in order in this always changing environment.
