Chrysler wants dealers open on Sunday for service

Chrysler Dealership
Chrysler Dealership

After increasing the number of dealerships with Saturday hours, Chrysler Group LLC plans to push more of its franchises to offer maintenance and service on Sundays in order to better compete against service stations.

Pietro Gorlier, head of Mopar, the service division of Chrysler, wants to see 80% of US Chrysler dealers with Saturday hours by year’s end. Currently, about 70% of dealers offer this service. Right now, only 20 to 30 of the manufacturers 2,300 US dealers are open on Sunday. Those dealers who expanded their hours to include Saturdays increased service business by 20%. It is expected that Sunday service can increase it by another 10% – 15%.

Eighteen states currently prohibit Sunday sales. While most sales departments are open on Sunday’s where permitted, service departments are widely expected to be closed across the board.

– By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Automotive News