ALL AROUND THE DEALERSHIP

Take a look at the ins and outs of a Jarrett Ford Dealership

The Jarrett Ford Family

William Richard Jarrett and the Jarrett Family purchased their first dealership in 1978, at the Dade City, Florida location. Since then, the family has bought four more to expand and boast the largest inventory of new or used Fords anywhere in the Central Florida area. Serving communities in Plant City, Dover, Seffner, Valrico, Brandon, Lithia, Tampa, Lakeland, Kathleen, Polk City, Mulberry, Bartow and Zephyrhills, each Jarrett Automotive location is equipped to meet any and every need. 

Whether it be sales or service, Jarrett Ford works diligently to help solve any issue for every customer. Due to deep-seeded roots in customer service, high-quality care and attention is an expectation within the company.

Offering 13 major tire brands including Goodyear, Continental Tire and Michelin, Jarrett Ford customers appreciate the factory-trained, certified expert technicians in our friendly, fast and reliable Service Department for all maintenance and repair needs. These needs can include oil changes, tire rotations, brake services, batteries, tune-ups, any radiator, engine and electrical repairs, any warranty work you may need and new and replacement tires.

Since the 1978 opening, the communities served range from Brooksville, Clermont, Lakeland, Lutz, New Tampa, Wesley Chapel, Tampa and Zephyrhills, and each are proud to be part of the Jarrett Ford Family. 

The Jarrett Ford Dade City dealership is comprised of five major parts - body shop, parts department, service, sales and the corporate department. A dealership is more than selling cars, it is a blend of services and people working together, all geared to guaranteeing customer satisfaction. 

Body Shop

Fenders. Dented doors. Mangled hoods. 

Gleaming windshields. Perfectly shaped exhaust pipes. Color-corrected cars. 

Two different sides of one same building. 

This is the body shop, where crushed dreams come to be turned into a beautiful reality. 

“We see it all,” said Shawn Justice, the body shop manager. “Smashed cars, dented fenders from whatever happened, scratches, everything. And we turn those mistakes back into the reality each customer wants - a drivable vehicle that looks good.”

Jarrett Ford Dade City is unique in its possession of a Body Shop on the premises of the dealership. Many dealerships stick to only selling cars, but Jarrett Ford Dade City has it all. A Body Shop to bring wrecked vehicles to and a service branch to take care of the periodical check ups and oil changed. 

“It’s great,” said Justice. “We work relatively quickly, trying to get each customer their vehicle back as soon as possible. Timing really depends on what happened to the vehicle and the insurance they have. We typically get them back quickly though.”

Along with Justice, the shop has a handful of technicians and a shop painter, Trinidad Sanchez. 

“He’s the best there is,” said Justice when asked about Sanchez. “People don't realize how much work goes into matching paint color. You have to paint around the spot that is dented or messed up and match it, not only in the shop, but in the sunlight too. It’s a tough job and he’s so very good at it.”

Matching paint color isn't the only thing that goes into fixing a car. There is the original assessment, where Justice or one of the technicians inspect everything on the interior and exterior of the vehicle and mark everything that needs to be worked on. They will begin working once a monetary collection is made and insurance is worked out.

From there, they re-group and make a game plan on how to get everything done in a timely manner. Each vehicle is different and needs different things, so each vehicle is done differently. If parts are needed, the body shop will either get it from in stock in the Parts Department on site or order through familiar shops. 

Once the parts are in, they are assembled and replace the old parts. Fenders or doors or whatever is needed to be replaced will be put on the car, sanded and smoothed down, and then taken to Sanchez to paint. Painting is the last part of the process and once everything is painted, it is returned to the customer. 

“We always make sure the customer is happy with the product received,” said Justice. “I’ll go with them to look at the vehicle and if they’re happy, they leave. If not, we work together to make sure we get whatever needs to be done, and get them home happy.”

Parts Department 

“Devin! Can you run these parts for me? I need the numbers for the Navigator in the back by the end of the day.”

Requests like that are the norm for Devin Rogers, parts consultant in Jarrett Ford Dade City. 

“I couldn't tell you how many parts we run through this system each day,” said Rogers. “It’s really non-stop back here.”

The Parts Department is home to anything from a decklid ( the cover that allows access to the main storage or luggage compartment) to various valves for engines and spark plugs and fenders are found. 

Everything is organized alphanumerically, starting from left to right in shelves, and is organized by hand by the men who run the department.

Everything has a number, a letter and a spot. The two middle digits are used when calling for that part. 

“We organize it every few weeks,” said Ron Jennett, parts, body shop and service director. “We do it so that when we get a surplus of parts we know where they go and where we can find them when we need them. I worked in this department so I know what makes it work.”

A typical day starts at 7:00 a.m., picking up any of the drop offs from the night before. Once technicians get a vehicle in and get the write-up completed from service about what needs to be done, they go in to the office or slide the all-glass window pane over to ask Rogers to look up a part. If it’s in stock, they get from the shelves and ask how much it costs to add to the write-up for the service assistants to give to the customers. If it isn't in stock, an order will be placed online through one of many different companies Jarrett works with. 

“We try and get parts from here first, so we’ll call Shawn and see if he has whatever we need,” said Jennett. “If he doesn't have it then we go outside of these walls and get it in.”

Though Jennett is the head of the department, Rogers, Mike Velocci and Dan spend each day making sure things run smoothly between the parts department, service and the technicians. 

“I’m only in here if we need extra hands,” said Jennett. “These guys are in every day and really run the show.”

Service Assistants

Four desks stand tall, diagonally from the side wall of the building. A whizzing sound coming from the printer at the front left of the room breaks the split-second silence of the moment, the only silent moment that will come that day. 

Papers rustle, pens scrape and keyboards bang, preparing for business. 

The glass door opens, a customer walks in, and the day begins. 

“We go, non-stop, from the moment the first customer walks in the door at 7 a.m.,” said Susie Johnson, service assistant. “It’s a mixture of face-to-face interactions and phone calls throughout the day, but once we start, it’s full throttle until we stop at 6 p.m.”

Though the majority of the service job is fielding phone calls and handling walk-ins with customers, the other percentage of work deals with paperwork, communicating with the technicians, getting parts in, and keeping the cashier in the loop with the final payment price needed. 

“We work closely with the technicians because they have to make sure they write everything needed to be done so we can let the customer know,” said Johnson. “If we have to add anything, we talk to the customer, write it down and then do it, but the technicians really are the ones making sure everything needed to be done is done.”

Johnson has been with Jarrett Ford for 21 years, running the Service Department for a great chunk of that time. 

“I’ve been here for so long that they’re all family now,” said Johnson. “Everyday is a new experience and there is always something interesting happening. I love it.”

Johnson works alongside three other service assistants - Dan White, Stormy Krauss and Kaylee Freeman. 

On each intake, the service assistant writes down the vehicles tag, gets the VIN number, the mileage and then matches each tag to each key tag. This organization keeps each car to it’s respective assistant and everyone is on the same page so the right thing is done to each vehicle. 

“It’s so we’re organized,” said Johnson. “We get vehicle after vehicle and the tag system keeps everything in order when it seems to spiral out of control.”

Service may get hectic, but with the four assistants working at Jarrett Ford Dade City, every vehicle will get the best care possible.

It’s just what they do. 

Sales Department

Lights flicker on the lot to the right of the building as closing time passes. Employees head out to their cars. Lights inside turn off. A stillness settles over the dealership. 

One light remains on. 

An office inside the main building remains lit as a sales representative and customer work on closing a deal to purchase a new vehicle. 

Paperwork on the desk.

A signature here.

A signature there.

A deal finalized. 

A Ford 2018 F-150 key turns in the ignition and a rumble drifts across the pavement, breaking the silence on the lot. Smiles all around can be seen in the faces of the customer, his wife sitting in the passenger seat, and the sales representatives.

It’s 9 p.m. and finally, all it settled on the lot. 

“Sales is a whole other beast,” said Jason Strickland, new/pre-owned sales manager. “These guys can be here first in the morning and last at night depending on the day. They can have nothing or multiple deals, it all depends on the day.”

Jarrett Ford Dade City is an automotive dealership that was established in 1978 as the prominent dealership in the Dade City area. It remains a prominent dealership in the area, under the management of Cliff Martin and Brian Jarrett, son of William Richard Jarrett, founder of Jarrett Ford. 

Though the dealership is a multi faceted business designed to help customers with every need relating to their car or truck, a main fixture of the company is in the sales of vehicles. 

“We meet twice a week with the sales team to talk about what is expected of them at the beginning of the week, and what is to come at the end of the week,” said Martin. “Monday mornings we watch a video and then talk about what we learned, and Friday we typically do the same, or talk about a reading they did during the week.”

Each Monday and Friday meeting starts at 8:30 a.m. Each meeting lasts about an hour or an hour and a half depending on the subject. Post meeting, the managers stay and discuss important happenings coming up, deals needing to be made, and any other business needed to be discussed. 

Each sales representative begins their work day either on the phone, checking emails, or diving in on an appointment for a sale. 

“Sales can either be slow or chaotic,” said Strickland “It seems that we either get bombarded or there is a slow trickle. That’s why we have to make every sale count.”

Jarrett Ford Dade City

Thunder rumbles through the sky as sheets of rain pelt the cement roof of the dealership.

A customer and a salesman can be seen through the glass windows dodging rain puddles on the ground in a sprint to get to the waiting golf cart a few feet away before they head back to sign the deal to guarantee the customer a new truck. 

Phones ring between the answer of “Hello, this is Service. How can we help you?” and the constant flow of foot traffic coming in and out of the door leading to the four desks of the sales assistants. 

A cling, a buzz and the crank of a tool, clenching a bolt tight to its home carries through the back warehouse where technicians work, tirelessly. 

“Hey, your parts came in! Come run the paperwork!” can be heard yelled through the sliding-glass, double paned window separating the Parts Department office and storage room from the back controlled chaos the technicians work in. 

Jarrett Ford Dade City is the original Jarrett Ford and where the family started their business. William Richard Jarrett put down roots in the Dade City community in the late 1900s and never looked back.

Since the opening in 1978, the four stores are managed and run by the two sons, Brian and Bill Jarrett. 

Though the Jarrett Ford family stretches through the five dealerships, the heart of it all remains in Dade City. 

“It’s a close-knit family,” said Randy Neiswender, salesman for Jarrett Ford Dade City. “Because it’s a family-owned business, they can do things differently. I’ve been here for 38 years and I’m still excited to wake up every day and come in to work.”