Xtime — Streamlining Automotive Service for Modern Dealerships

 

In today’s competitive automotive world, dealership service departments must deliver exceptional convenience, transparency, and efficiency to meet customer expectations — and that’s exactly where Xtime shines. As a comprehensive fixed-ops software suite, Xtime provides dealerships with the tools needed to manage everything from appointment scheduling to inspections, customer engagement, and follow-up marketing. The result: smoother operations, increased revenue, and satisfied customers. 

What is Xtime?

Xtime is a full-featured platform designed for automotive service departments. It belongs to a broader ecosystem of retail solutions under Cox Automotive.  Its goal: to help dealerships serve more cars in less time while ensuring customers enjoy a transparent, convenient, and trustworthy service experience. 

Rather than relying on separate, disconnected tools, Xtime unifies critical service processes into one cohesive suite — from scheduling to inspection to customer communication and marketing. 

The Core Modules of Xtime

Xtime’s offerings are organized into four core modules. Each addresses a key part of the service lane workflow — together forming an integrated solution. 

Schedule

• The Schedule module enables 24/7 online and mobile booking of service appointments. Customers can book from anywhere — increasing convenience and reducing friction. 

• Dealerships can manage shop capacity and technician availability intelligently. With capacity-management tools, they can avoid overbooking, minimize downtime, and ensure smooth workflow. 

• Schedule allows for customizable service menus with transparent pricing and recommended services. This clarity helps build customer trust and improves the chance of upselling. 

In short: Schedule makes it easy for customers to set appointments — and for service centers to optimize their workflow. 

Inspect

• The Inspect module delivers a fully-digital multipoint-inspection workflow. Technicians can use mobile devices (iOS or Android) to capture photos and high-resolution videos of vehicle condition. 

• This visual documentation (photos/videos) can be shared with customers — giving them clear visibility into needed repairs. Such transparency helps build trust and makes approval easier. 

• Inspect supports real-time status updates, dashboards, and analytics — giving managers insight into technician performance, repair order (RO) progress, and overall shop productivity. 

• With this system, approvals for additional recommended services (ASRs) can come in as quickly as minutes (according to Xtime’s data), making the process more efficient and boosting repair order value. 

By replacing paper-based inspections with digital — and by offering customers transparent, evidence-based repair recommendations — Inspect turns inspections into opportunities for value and trust. 

Engage

• Engage focuses on improving the customer’s service-lane experience. It offers tablet-based self check-in, giving customers a modern, efficient way to begin their service visit. 

• Service advisors can access a customer’s service history instantly, perform walk-arounds with up-to-date vehicle data, and offer informed recommendations — making the process feel professional and personalized. 

• During the service process, the system supports real-time communication and updates — so customers are never left guessing about their vehicle status. Post-service, customers can even pay online or via mobile, making checkout quick and convenient. 

With Engage, the dealership can offer a smooth, customer-friendly experience — which helps build satisfaction, loyalty, and repeat business. 

Invite

• Invite acts as a marketing and demand-generation tool for the service department. It helps dealerships reach out to customers with personalized messages, service reminders, and special offers — especially targeting those who previously declined services or are due for maintenance. 

• Through intelligent segmentation, dealers can filter customer data by services, history, and previous behaviors — ensuring that outreach is relevant and timely. This increases the likelihood of filling open slots, recapturing lost business, and maximizing shop utilization. 

• According to Xtime, dealers using Invite often see dozens of additional repair orders (ROs) per month, significantly boosting overall fixed-ops revenue. 

Invite ensures that the dealership stays connected with customers beyond a single visit, nurturing long-term relationships and recurring business. 

The Power of Integration — Why Xtime Works

One of the main strengths of Xtime is how all its modules connect and work together to create a unified fixed-ops ecosystem. 

From scheduling to inspection to customer communication to marketing — data flows smoothly across the system. That means no duplicate entries, fewer errors, and a more streamlined process for both staff and customers. 

Furthermore, Xtime is built to integrate with existing dealer-management systems (DMS), CRM platforms, and payment processors — making adoption easier without requiring a full overhaul of existing infrastructure. 

The result: dealerships can modernize their service operations — not in fragments, but end-to-end — driving efficiency, customer satisfaction, and profitability. 

Real-World Impact & Dealer Benefits

According to Xtime, dealerships that implement the full suite often see:

• Significant upticks in dollars per repair order — because visual inspections and transparent communication increase service acceptance. 

• Increased shop throughput — more vehicles serviced per day thanks to efficient scheduling and better capacity management. 

• Higher customer retention and loyalty — due to the convenience of online scheduling, smoother check-in/check-out, clear communication, and personalized follow-up via Invite. 

• Better staff productivity and workflow coordination — with digital inspections, real-time updates, and integrated data — reducing uncertainty and manual errors. 

Many dealerships find that Xtime becomes central to their fixed-ops strategy — transforming the service lane into a source of consistent revenue rather than a chaotic afterthought. 

Considerations Before Implementation

While Xtime offers powerful advantages, there are some important considerations:

• Staff Training & Adoption: For best results, technicians, advisors, and service managers must learn and consistently use the digital workflows — from scheduling to inspection to customer communication. Without full adoption, some benefits may be lost.

• Integration with Existing Systems: Even though Xtime supports integrations, dealerships need to ensure compatibility with their current DMS or CRM systems — and may require configuration and onboarding support.

• Discipline in Use: Tools like Invite and digital inspections only deliver value if workflows are consistent and data is kept up-to-date. Otherwise, the power of analytics and targeted marketing can be undermined.

In an era where convenience, transparency, and efficiency define customer loyalty — especially in automotive service — Xtime stands out as a comprehensive, modern solution that dealerships can rely on. By uniting scheduling, inspections, customer engagement, and marketing into a single, integrated platform, Xtime empowers service departments to deliver a superior experience while boosting profitability.

For dealerships ready to embrace digital transformation — with commitment, training, and consistent use — Xtime can turn the service lane into a powerhouse of customer satisfaction and recurring revenue. Think of it not just as software, but as a strategic investment in elevating fixed-ops performance and driving long-term dealership success.