What this checklist covers
The Customer Handover Between Departments Checklist is a 15-point scorecard for sales-to-delivery, sales-to-service, service-to-parts, complaint-to-management, and CRM handover discipline. Each criterion is scored from 1 to 5 on what the auditor sees on the day, and every gap goes into an action plan with an owner and a close date.
AutoSmart tip: Handover failures are invisible in most dealership metrics because neither the sending nor receiving team flags the gap — the customer absorbs the friction and either tolerates it or leaves. Shadowing a customer across two or three department transitions on the same day is the most reliable way to surface handover gaps that internal data will never reveal.
The checks
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Sales-to-delivery and sales-to-service handover
- Is a structured handover process followed when a customer transitions from the sales team to the delivery team, with all relevant customer preferences, promises made, and vehicle details transferred in writing?
- Is the delivery team briefed on the customer's name, vehicle, key preferences, and any special arrangements before the customer arrives for collection?
- Is the customer introduced to the service team by the sales advisor at or before delivery, establishing a named service contact for their ongoing ownership experience?
- Is the customer's vehicle service history, upcoming service dates, and warranty status transferred to the service team's DMS record at point of sale, not left for the customer to explain at their first service visit?
Service-to-parts and workshop handover
- Is the parts requirement for each job confirmed with the parts department before the workshop allocates the job to a technician, to prevent bay downtime caused by unavailable parts?
- Are back-ordered or delayed parts communicated from parts to the service advisor promptly, allowing the customer to be informed before the promised delivery time has passed?
- When a vehicle is transferred from one technician to another mid-repair (shift change, skill escalation), is a formal handover note completed covering work done, work remaining, and any open diagnostic questions?
- Is there a documented sign-off at each stage of the repair — job allocated, work completed, quality checked — so no stage is assumed complete without explicit confirmation?
Complaint-to-management handover
- Is the full complaint history (initial complaint, actions taken, customer communications, prior resolution attempts) transferred to the escalating manager before the manager contacts the customer?
- Is the customer informed that their complaint has been escalated and who will be contacting them, rather than receiving an unexpected call from someone they have not previously dealt with?
- Is the management owner of the escalated complaint formally recorded in the complaint system, with accountability for resolution sitting with a named individual rather than a department?
CRM handover discipline and governance
- Is the CRM record fully updated at each handover point — with notes, next actions, and ownership transferred — so the receiving team member has complete context without needing to ask the customer to repeat themselves?
- Is there a defined protocol for what information must be recorded in the CRM before a handover is considered complete, with no handover accepted by the receiving team if the record is incomplete?
- Are handover failures (customer needing to repeat information, missed follow-up due to handover gap, incorrect information transferred) logged and reviewed as a process metric?
- Is handover discipline reviewed as part of the regular CX and operations management meeting, with persistent handover gaps addressed through process redesign rather than repeated individual coaching?
How to run it
How the scoring works
Before the visit, fill in the dealer or centre, the auditor, the date and the audit cycle. Then score each of the 15 checks from 1 to 5 on what you see on the day, not on what the site aims for, and add them up out of 75.
- 1Not in place
- 2Attempted
- 3Defined
- 4Managed
- 5Fully sustained
- Green60–75 · 80–100%Compliant. Keep the standard.
- Amber38–59 · 50–79%Improvement needed: a structured action plan within 30 days.
- Red0–37 · Below 50%Priority intervention, escalated to regional management.
Then close every gap
Each gap goes into the action plan tracker and moves through four stages until the auditor closes it.
- 1PendingOwner and close date set
- 2In progressWork under way, evidence gathered
- 3CompletedEvidence submitted for review
- 4ApprovedVerified and closed by the auditor
