Lot Visibility Benchmark

You think you know your time-to-line. You probably don't.

The benchmark is 3–5 days. The accepted industry average is 12–15. Almost every fixed ops director we meet believes they're in the first group.

Move the sliders to see what MDD Locate will deliver for your store.

See where your store lands.

Repair orders per month 3,000

1,00010,000

Your current time-to-line 12days

1 day30 days

Minutes per RO spent locating cars and keys 15min

5 min45 min

4.5 Technicians' worth of capacity you're spending on looking for things — at your current volume. Your numbers · 168 hrs = one tech-month

750 Hours a month spent locating cars and keys. Your numbers

375 Repair orders that time could cover. Your numbers · 2.0 hrs avg labour

At the accepted average

You're at the number the industry calls average. That number has no study behind it.

Recovered time is only worth money if you have the demand to fill it. An empty bay pays nothing.

For most stores the demand is there. Cox Automotive's 2026 study has dealer service share falling from 33% to 29%, and on vehicles under two years old from 68% to 55% — work that is going somewhere, just not to you. Their 2021 service study found 57% of dealerships weren't fully staffed in service. But if your bays aren't full, this math doesn't apply to you, and we'd rather say so than sell you a number.

One more limit, because it changes the answer: only technician minutes convert into technician-equivalents. If part of the time you recovered is service-advisor or porter time, it is real time back but it does not flag hours. Split your minutes accordingly before you take this figure to a 20 Group.

Proven in service

That's the math. Here's what it looks like in a store.

Time back on the clock only counts if it shows up in the numbers you get measured on. These are what dealers running MDD report.

15min Saved on every repair order. Toyota dealer group, fixed ops

Zero Lost keys since install. Multi-store Honda dealer

25% Cut from repair cycle time. Across MDD dealers

85% Less time spent finding a vehicle. Across MDD dealers

Publishing in four weeks

We're publishing the benchmark. Want it?

The Lot Visibility Benchmark measures what actually happens across 250+ rooftops — how long it takes to find a car, find a key, and get a unit frontline. Not a survey. What the systems recorded. Including where our own customers underperform.

Want to see it on your own lot instead? Fifteen minutes, live map, straight answer.