In today’s automotive retail landscape, delivering a seamless, digital-first service experience is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity. Xtime, a cloud-based fixed-operations platform from Cox Automotive, offers dealerships the tools to modernize how they schedule, service, inspect and retain vehicle-owners. From the moment a customer books an appointment to the moment they drive away—Xtime is designed to streamline the journey, boost revenue per repair order, and build lasting loyalty.
What Xtime Brings to the Table
At its core, Xtime is built around several key modules—Schedule, Engage, Inspect and Invite—that together form a complete service lane ecosystem.
- Schedule: This module enables 24/7 online and mobile booking of service appointments, giving customers flexibility while allowing dealerships to manage capacity intelligently. Real-time availability, customizable menus and capacity-management tools help reduce bottlenecks and no-shows.
- Engage: At check-in and throughout the service visit, Engage enables digital self-check-in, tablet-based advisor walks, real-time text updates, and flexible payment options. The goal: make the service visit convenient and transparent for the customer.
- Inspect: Technicians can capture photo and video of vehicle condition, send inspection media to customers, and get informed approvals for additional work more quickly. That transparency drives higher authorization rates and—ultimately—more dollars per repair order.
- Invite: Retention is key in fixed operations. Invite empowers dealerships to reach out to past customers, fill empty bays with targeted offers, and engage customers who have deferred maintenance—keeping volume steady and loyalty high.
- Integration: Xtime works with major DMS (Dealer Management Systems), CRM platforms and payment processors—ensuring data flows smoothly, avoids duplication and supports a cohesive workflow across departments.
Why Dealerships Should Take Note
Given the competitive pressure service departments face—rising customer expectations, independent repair alternatives and increasing demands for convenience—Xtime offers several advantages:
1. Elevated Customer Experience
Customers expect digital convenience—online booking, self check-in, transparency, mobile payments. Xtime helps deliver that. That means customers feel valued and are more likely to come back for future service.
2. Operational Efficiency & Revenue Uplift
By managing capacity more effectively (fewer idle bays, better scheduling) and streamlining check-in, inspection and payment workflows, service departments can handle more vehicles, faster. And when customers see what needs to be done via visual proof (photos/videos), they’re more likely to approve extra services—boosting revenue per repair order. xtime.com+1
3. Transparency Builds Trust
Offering service menus up front, showing clear pricing and visual inspection results helps customers understand recommendations and feel confident in approving work. Trust translates into repeat business.
4. Retention & Repeat Visits
Invite allows proactive outreach—not just reacting when a customer shows up, but engaging them when they should, or may deferred service. This keeps vehicles in the bay and customers returning.
5. Future-Readiness
As vehicles become more connected and customers expect digital service experiences, having a platform that integrates scheduling, inspection, communications, payments and data means your fixed operations are ready for the future. Xtime continues to evolve, with new features around multimedia, reporting and workflow automation.
Real-World Impact & Proof
According to Xtime’s published data, dealerships using the platform have seen significant gains: servicing more vehicles in less time, higher dollars per repair order, better customer show rates and improved capacity utilization.
For example, the ability to send inspection videos has enabled some dealers to get quick approvals “in as fast as seven minutes” for additional recommended service.
Implementation Tips for Dealerships
To gain full benefit from Xtime, dealerships should consider the following:
- Staff training & adoption: Digital workflows represent change—service advisors, technicians and parts staff must adopt the new tools (tablet check-ins, digital inspections, mobile payments) for the platform to deliver.
- Service menu strategy: Develop clear, customer-friendly service menus with transparent pricing, and make sure they’re reflected in scheduling and check-in workflows.
- Customer communication: Utilize the texting, multimedia and self check-in features to keep customers informed and engaged. That reduces friction, builds trust and improves retention.
- Data tracking & optimization: Monitor key metrics (appointment booking rate, show-rate, approval rate for additional service, dollars per RO, repeat visits) and use the reporting capabilities to continuously improve.
- Seamless integration: Ensure that Xtime integrates properly with your DMS/CRM/parts/payment systems—data consistency is critical to avoid duplication, manual work and missed opportunities.
In a world where customers expect the same convenience and transparency in a service department as they do when shopping online or using an app, dealerships can no longer lean on manual, paper-heavy, analog processes in their service lane. Xtime offers a comprehensive answer—bringing scheduling, check-in, inspection, communication, payment and retention into one digital experience.
By adopting Xtime, dealerships can not only improve efficiency and revenue, but also build stronger relationships with vehicle owners. The service lane becomes not just a place where cars are fixed, but a key moment in customer loyalty and lifetime value. Ultimately, Xtime empowers dealers to turn service into a competitive differentiator, delivering the kind of modern experience today’s customers expect—and rewarding the dealership with greater profitability and repeat business.
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