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Clean-up at the car dealerships all about team-building and customer service

LEBANON, Pa. – Some people may care more about clearing snow than how it looks when the job is done, but there’s at least one business in which care...
Snow

LEBANON, Pa. – Some people may care more about clearing snow than how it looks when the job is done, but there’s at least one business in which careful snow removal is critical.

Car dealerships have to put a lot of care into removing snow so that their inventory does not get damaged.

“To move 225 cars, get them cleaned off, move them around the lot, make sure they’re not sliding into cars or slide into poles, damaging them, those types of things, it’s slow but methodical,” Michael Melhorn, a sales manager with Ebersole Hyundai in Lebanon, said.

Most dealers we talked to put in some work on Tuesday in the hopes that by Wednesday, they would be ready for customers again.

“We came at 5 in the morning [Tuesday] and then again [Tuesday] night around 3 o’clock and plowed the whole lot, which is a lot of plowing for one truck,” Jake Daggett, a manager with York Mitsubishi, said.

Dealerships say it becomes a positive team-building exercise.

“The guys, they all chip in, they don’t complain,” Jeramie Grabosch with Apple Chevrolet-Cadillac said. “It’s something that we’ve got to do to conduct business as normal. We’re sales, so we need to get back up and running as soon as possible, so people can come in and buy their cars.”

Snow can even be a reason for customers to shop for a new vehicle.

“You want to be ready for business,” Melhorn said. “Last year during the snowstorm, we had 3 people come out and buy cars during the snow, so you don’t know when people are going to come in, so you have to be ready for them.”

At the end of the day, an added bonus for the work put in can make all the difference.

“The big reward is we buy them a whole bunch of pizzas, so [it’s] cheap help,” Daggett said with a laugh.

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