The lobby has been designated a handshake-free zone. Pump bottles of hand sanitizer, already a fixture, have been replaced by automatic dispensers. Cleaning crews are on site multiple times a day. No more than 10 customers are allowed inside at a given time.
As with everyone else these days, the staff at Lindsay Volkswagen of Dulles in Sterling, Va., is emphasizing hygiene practices and implementing new measures to help stave off coronavirus.
“We’re doing what we can to minimize physical interactions and reduce the time in the dealership if customers do decide they want to physically visit,” said Jerry Holloway, the dealership’s general manager. “Customers can upload documents ahead of time. There’s so much they can do ahead of time.”
From car dealerships to public- transit operators, businesses and organizations that provide rides have been rethinking procedures and, perhaps more broadly, ushering in a new era of mobility in which cleaning must be bolstered and customers and employees alike must be reassured that vehicles are virus-free.Concerns are everywhere. On March 17, bus service in Detroit ground to a halt for the day because almost all of the city’s 500-plus bus drivers, expressing fears for their health, didn’t show up for work. Service resumed the next day after the Detroit Department of Transportation, among other actions, agreed to suspend fares to reduce close contact between drivers and passengers. Passengers can now enter and exit buses only through the rear door.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority created a task force to confront coronavirus and ensure high-touch areas are frequently cleaned. Buses and trains are being cleaned “at least” once daily, officials say, as they review cleaning protocols.
In the private sector, fleet managers such as RideKleen are working to ensure their cleaning products can kill COVID-19. A company spokesperson says employees are developing and testing a new cleaning solution, though there’s no firm time frame for when it will be ready for market.
Ford Motor Co. says it has developed new disinfection procedure guidelines for its dealer network using products approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At Lindsay Volkswagen, employees have long had a heightened aversion to germs. The dealership supports several special-needs organizations, including the Sprout Therapeutic Riding and Education Center, that have members with compromised immune systems. Animal adoptions are sometimes held at the dealership, and Holloway, 53, ensures the facilities are sterilized before and after those events. “We’re germophobes to begin with,” he said.
As the dealership shifted into higher alert as coronavirus fears captivated the country, Lindsay added the handshake-free zones and started wiping down cars before and after every test drive. Janitorial services have been added midday, and cleaning crews ensured that door handles, railings, buttons on the coffee and vending machines and the customer-service area get special attention.
As companies have flooded their customers’ inboxes with health-related information, Lindsay is avoiding adding to the white noise. Holloway says the dealership has favored updates via its website, paid search ads and video messaging to reflect remote test-drive opportunities, ultrasonic cleaning offerings and sanitizing procedures.
There’s an emphasis on services already offered: pickup and drop-off efforts, remote test drives and home deliveries of new vehicles, complete with paperwork. Both sales and service customers are receiving care kits that include hand sanitizer, packs of branded playing cards for those stuck inside their homes, hand wipes and a roll of toilet paper.
Weeks ago, those items might have seemed strange. But now, they make perfect sense. And they’re one more way Holloway says the dealership is connecting with customers in a tumultuous time.
“Our constant mantra is empathy,” he said. “We’re flexible to whatever people need. If they’d rather visit, stay outside the showroom and interact outside, whether it’s a test drive or to go over paperwork, we can do that. We’re flexible. We’re happy to be here.”