6 Automotive Service Manager Interview Questions and Answers

Updated on: September 19, 2022

Interviews are challenging whether you are being grilled for a position that is new to you or one where you have had ample experience. 

To make things easy for you, here’s a set of interview questions and answers to look through:

Automotive Service Manager Interview Questions and Answers

1. What was your journey to the post of automotive service manager?

The good thing is that I wasn’t directly hired as an automotive service manager, or I would have been clueless about what to do. 7 years ago, I started out as an automotive service technician and slowly built my way up to a managerial position. I have now worked in a managerial capacity for 3 years.

2. What exactly have you been doing as an automotive service manager?

While working as an automotive service manager, I have been handling many duties such as supervising a staff of 15 service technicians by creating and implementing work schedules, overseeing their activities, and ensuring the delivery of good customer services. Additionally, I’ve been responsible for creating and maintaining liaisons with vendors and suppliers to ensure timely and accurate delivery of service equipment and supplies. Ensuring that the operational end of the service facility is managed properly has also been my work.

3. How do you feel about direct customer contact?

Working as an automotive service manager automatically translates into direct contact with customers. I enjoy engaging them in conversation to determine what their automotive service requirements are, providing them with suggestions, and ensuring that what they are looking for is delivered to them.

4. Do you think that working as an automotive service manager is like working as an automotive service technician with managerial duties?

That is true to some extent. While automotive service managers do not often perform actual servicing duties, it is always at the back of our minds that we will need to intervene in escalated issues and assist technicians when they are stumped.

5. As far as cost-cutting is concerned, do you have a milestone that you would like to share with us?

As a matter of fact, I do. Quite recently, I managed to reduce the cost of equipment maintenance by 65% by training one of my technicians to do the needful, instead of acquiring external help!

6. Where are you headed from here, professionally speaking?

Not yet but eventually, I would like to own an automotive service shop, when I know all there is to know about the work.