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12% Gone: Where Dealerships Are Losing Service Visits

Bill Springer | October 8, 2026

Episode 39 — Featuring Guest Skyler Chadwick |

Ever feel like your dealership is doing all the right things and customers still drift away? Skyler Chadwick says the problem is a lack of clarity and confidence at the moments that matter most. His fix: stop checking boxes and start building trust with transparent pricing, tighter processes, and a service experience that makes customers feel certain they’re in the right place.

In this episode, Bill Springer sits down with Skyler, Director of Product Consulting at Cox Automotive, to unpack the latest findings from Cox Automotive’s Service Industry Study and what they signal for 2026 planning. They dig into why dealerships have lost ground to general repair, where the biggest retention drop-offs are happening (and why it’s earlier than many leaders think), and how fixed ops teams can turn the service lane into a retention engine.

Takeaways from this episode:

Dealerships have lost 12% of service visits to competition since 2018 — and the biggest share shift is happening in general repair
The most alarming retention slide shows up as early as year 2, meaning the “safe zone” is shrinking
Longer service intervals mean fewer chances to impress, so the customer experience has to be sharper every time they visit
“Installed” technology doesn’t equal results
The service-to-sales handoff is a 2026 advantage: identify trade-in signals in the lane, do the work before the customer arrives