Lithia’s Blueprint for Variable Cost Service Transportation | ASOTU Edge Webinar

Courtesy transportation has been a service department staple for decades. A shuttle van. A driver. A schedule. “That’s just the cost of doing business.”

Lithia is challenging that assumption.

In this ASOTU Edge Webinar, John Church, Category Manager of Procurement at Lithia & Driveway, and Trevor Stanco, Account Executive at Uber for Business, walked through what it looks like to evaluate courtesy transportation like a real program. Not a tradition. A line item with ROI, customer impact, and operational constraints.

The headline lesson was simple: if your courtesy transportation is a fixed cost, your customer expectations are not.

Check out the Full Replay

Hear directly from Trevor and John in the replay here.

Stop Pricing the Shuttle Like It Only Costs Payroll and Gas

Most stores know the obvious costs of a shuttle program: driver wages, fuel, and a vehicle payment.

The costs that get ignored are the ones that quietly compound: insurance, maintenance, downtime, coverage gaps when someone calls out, and the customer frustration that shows up when the shuttle schedule cannot match the customer’s schedule.

From Lithia’s perspective, shifting the lens to cost per ride changes the conversation. A variable model can align spend with actual usage instead of carrying overhead whether you use it or not.

Try This: List every shuttle cost in three buckets:

• Vehicle and depreciation

• Labor and coverage (including call-outs and backfill)

• Insurance and maintenance Then add one reality check: pull the last 30 days of customer comments and tag anything mentioning waiting, rides, or pickup friction.

Customer Experience and Procurement Are the Same Conversation Now

John was clear that Lithia is not chasing lower cost at the expense of the customer. The goal is balance: protect retention while managing expense.

A key concept was optionality. Customers increasingly expect to control their own time. The more flexible the ride option, the easier it is to meet customers where they are without forcing them into a shuttle loop.

Trevor added the operational truth dealers see daily: when transportation is not on demand, customers look elsewhere because convenience is part of the service product now.

Try This: Choose one service segment to standardize around flexibility, like warranty repairs, long jobs, or repeat customers. Make the offer consistent for 30 days and watch what changes in feedback.

OEMs Are Reinforcing the Shift

One of the most important signals in the conversation was not coming from dealers. It was coming from OEMs.

John noted that ride share is increasingly included in warranty reimbursement programs across many manufacturers. That matters because it confirms what the market has already decided: the service experience reflects back on the brand, not just the store.

Try This: Ask your warranty admin: “What transportation costs are eligible for reimbursement right now, and how do we claim them?” If the answer is unclear, you have found a missed lever.

The Operational Win Dealers Miss: One Employee Instead of Two

The group also called out a practical use case that gets overlooked: pickup and delivery.

Without a flexible transportation option, stores often need two employees to move one vehicle, or they have to run a second car to bring the driver back. That doubles labor and creates scheduling pressure.

A variable ride model can reduce that to one employee while keeping the customer at home, which is increasingly what customers prefer.

Try This: Track how often pickup and delivery currently requires two people for one loop. Multiply by fully burdened hourly cost. That number makes the decision feel less theoretical.

How to Transition Without Breaking the Store

Dealers are resistant to change, and the webinar did not pretend otherwise. The path forward is not ripping the shuttle out overnight. It is testing with guardrails and measuring results.

Trevor emphasized the low barrier to piloting. Stores can start small, use it as coverage when the shuttle driver is out, or apply it in a defined window. Then expand once it proves itself.

John emphasized continuity and scalability. Transportation has to keep working even when systems change, and at Lithia’s size, the model has to scale without adding facilities, personnel, or internal infrastructure.

Try This: Pilot a variable model with three rules:

1. Define the use case (long repairs, warranty, waiters, or pickup and delivery)

2. Set caps (miles, dollars, or customer segments)

3. Track outcomes weekly (spend per ride, usage, customer comments, advisor adoption)

Final Thought

This webinar was not about replacing a shuttle. It was about replacing a blind spot.

Courtesy transportation is one of those programs that can feel like “just overhead” until you price it correctly, measure it honestly, and connect it to retention and throughput.

Lithia’s blueprint is a reminder: the next wave of service efficiency will come from making old assumptions earn their keep.