Teens Explain Car Tech Features to Dealership Buyers

Quirk Ford in Quincy, MA, hires high school kids to tell customers, some of them clueless, about technology features on their newly bought vehicles.

Dubbed the “Technology Team,” the teens spend 15 to 30 minutes giving tutorials and answering questions during the vehicle delivery.

Brothers Mike (left) and Dan Quirk of Quirk Ford.

A J.D. Power study says automakers put billions of dollars of driver-oriented technology in today’s vehicles, yet many customers don’t use the stuff because they don’t know how to.

The study urges dealers to do a better job explaining features and calls on automakers to focus more on making interface technology easier to use.

Many customer questions at Quirk Ford center on how the MyFord Touch infotainment system works, says Mike Quirk, general manager of the store owned by his brother Dan. The students also do a lot of Bluetooth phone pairing.

“Everybody’s pretty amazed at all that is in today’s vehicles,” says tech-team member Thomas Pugsley, age 16. “I’m amazed myself. Someone was kidding around after my presentation, and said: ‘Can the car blow my nose?’”

Pugsley particularly likes demonstrating ambient interior lighting, showing people how they can select preferred colors. “Most men pick blue, most women, red,” says the Quincy High School student who plans a career in business technology.

High-volume Quirk Ford in metro Boston employs 10 Tech Team members. The 14-store Quirk Auto Group employs 30 altogether. Since the program began four years ago, about 70 Massachusetts and New Hampshire students, some as young as 14, have participated.

WardsAuto talks with Mike Quirk about the program.

WardsAuto: How’d it come about?

Quirk: Customers needed more time than the salesperson would normally take to help them learn all the features with MyFord Touch. There was lots of customer unfamiliarity with that. That’s where the program started.

WardsAuto: How do you find candidates and decide which are right for the job?

Quirk: They just apply. We constantly have a flow of students applying. We just interview them and try to find the ones that come across well, have a bit of an outgoing personality. The technology is easy for them to learn. We don’t have any trouble with that.

WardsAuto: So these aren’t tech wizards planning to attend MIT?

Quirk: We’ve hired them from different high schools. They’re just normal students.

WardsAuto: One would think you’d pick geniuses who are real tech savvy, but kids today probably are that way already just because of the exposure.  

Quirk: Students who take the job are surprised it is as easy to learn and pick up. The technology part of it comes natural to them.

WardsAuto: How do they interact with the customers?

Quirk: They’re trained to do a complete delivery. Same as the sales person would, going through all of the features. Customers often don’t know which questions to ask. So the students are trained to engage with them.

WardsAuto: Silicon Valley dealers say many of their customers are tech savvy but that’s presumably an exception. How would you describe your average customer’s technical knowledge?

Quirk: Some of our customers are that way and some aren’t. I’d say it’s half and half. When we explain the whole thing, they find that there are a lot of things available that they would never otherwise use. With most of technology, you use the things you are comfortable with, and don’t use the rest. Customers have found a lot of features they like that they didn’t know existed.

WardsAuto: Would that include how far you can drill down in the infotainment system?

Quirk: Exactly. You can customize it to work for you. The MyFord Touch system is what I’m dealing with all the time, and the customers can set that up to where they feel comfortable with it.

WardsAuto: How receptive are the customers to your Tech Team?

Quirk: Very. We get a lot of comments back on the customer survey as to how much they like certain individuals on the team. It makes the customer more comfortable than sometimes having a salesperson do that. The Tech Team members represent another voice. They’re very good with customers.

WardsAuto: And presumably you would prefer your salespeople to be selling cars rather than doing tech tutorials.

Quirk: Absolutely. A lot is involved in the purchase and delivery of a car. The salesperson still is involved in much of that. But the 15 to 30 minutes the customer spends with the Tech Team member keeps the customer focused on the delivery and frees the sales person up to complete the transaction in a timely manner.

WardsAuto: How do you work it with the hours, with dealerships staying open pretty late? Can the kids cover that?

Quirk: Right now it is the school year. We normally have two or three students come in and work 3 to 9 p.m. two days a week. Then they’ll maybe work a weekend day. So they get 15 to 20 hours a week.

WardsAuto: This is a far cry from teens typically working at a dealership as porters or car washers.

Quirk: It is. It has helped us and the sales organization.

WardsAuto: How much do you pay them?

Quirk: They make $11 an hour. It’s better than minimum wage. It makes them feel better about the job.

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