When Land Rover Alexandria decided to leave its landmark location in Old Town after 25 years and become Jaguar Land Rover Alexandria, it wasn’t just to be able to sell and service Jaguars. The Virginia dealership also wanted to expand and update it service facility and capabilities.
At its new 52,000-square-foot location just off the Beltway on Van Dorn Street, the dealership has 20 service bays, more than double the number at the former location.
“We built out our service area to be able to take care of our customers faster, better and more efficiently,” said Roger Wildermuth, general manager of Jaguar Land Rover Alexandria. It’s not unheard of for customers to call and bring their vehicles in the same day for service, he added.
That’s in part because the size of the service facility let the dealership expand its team of highly skilled technicians, Wildermuth said. There are 18 technicians on the team now, though the dealership expects to hire another half dozen to work at the new location.
“In total, our staff of technicians has more than 200 combined years of experience,” he said. “Plus, six or seven of them have more than 15 years of experience servicing Jaguars and are certified as master technicians.”
Modern and digital services for luxury vehicles
The entire service operation — from the service advisers who greet customers on arrival through the technicians and the parts team — relies on digital communications tools, both to manage customer information as well as to engage with vehicle and parts manuals. Many of the modern automobile service tools, mainly high-end Hunter Engineering equipment, installed throughout the bays in the service area also are connected to the dealership network.
“From the moment our clients enter the service arrival area, service advisors can access their information on tablets and automatically test the depth of their tire tread,” using the Hunter Quick Check Inspection technology installed in the floor, Wildermuth explained. “Having our customers’ information available at our fingertips when they arrive means we’re able to get their vehicles to the service department at an expedited pace.”
In the service bays, technicians all use laptops to track the work they are performing and to interact directly with customers if need be.
“Everything is digitalized,” Wildermuth said. That makes it much quicker for the technicians to gather diagnostic information, research manuals and place parts requests, he added.
The size of the service area also made it possible for Jaguar Land Rover Alexandria to install two Hunter WinAlign HD tire systems, which can capture heavy-duty wheel alignment readings in three minutes. “To have two of these alignment systems in a service area, that’s unheard of in the auto industry,” Wildermuth said. “It lets us serve our customers very quickly.”
Ready to provide service to all-electric Jaguar inventory too
By 2025, Jaguar plans to produce only electric luxury vehicles. As a brand-new dealership, Jaguar Land Rover Alexandria will be receiving all these new models as Jaguar produces them, Wildermuth said. Land Rover also has several electric models now.
While planning the layout and details for the new location, Wildermuth says the Beyer Auto Group dealership also made plans to be able to service an increasing number of electric vehicles.
As with all service, he said, “the most important thing is to get the job done right the first time. We have the technicians, the tools and the space to do that.”
Jaguar Land Rover Alexandria is open seven days a week and offers service Monday through Saturday. The phone number is 703-370-6565.
