How well dealer service departments are performing

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New data from the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association shed light on how dealer service and parts departments are performing.

The first of its kind, the Data Report for 2022 also included a look at the landscape of dealers, from financial trends to the types of vehicles consumers are buying.

It reported that the average dealership has $8.9 million in parts and service sales. Looking at the biggest categories, about $2.95 million were customer repairs, and about $1.4 million was warranty work. There was about $2.7 million classified as “other.”

Canadian dealerships have an average of 41 employees and 27 of them are technicians, including body repair.

Last year, the average dealer had 8,328 repair tickets. Total service and parts sales per customer repair order was, on average, $436. For warranty repairs, that number was $427.

While many aftermarket shops still aim for a 50-50 parts-to-labour ratio split, dealers in Canada are reporting a 0.79.

The report also included a look at dealers’ shop productivity last year. Each stall reported 79.7 per cent productivity, up from 74.3 the year before,

Technician efficiency also went up, increasing to 116.9 per cent in 2023 from 113.9 per cent in 2022.

Looking at salaries, data was listed from 2021. The average service manager made $109,809 while the top 10 per cent made $156,103 on average.

A parts manager made $89,883 on average across the country with the top 10 per cent making an average of $130,408.

The average service technician made $78,485 with the top 10 per cent making an average of $114,785.

A service advisor/writer at a dealer in Canada made $68,477 on average, with the top 10 per cent making an average of $99,137.

The national average salary for a parts consultant was $54,503. The top 10 per cent made an average of $73,867.