Founder and Executive Fixed Operations Consultant| Strategy | Data Analysis| Accountability | Board President | Author | Fixed Operations Transformation
The Problem Behind the Bays
Dealerships spend millions on software designed to fix profit leaks in their service departments. They install digital scheduling systems, automated marketing platforms, and multi-point inspection tools. Yet the service lanes still back up, customers still complain, and revenue still stalls. The tension is obvious but rarely addressed. Software cannot turn wrenches, and algorithms cannot look a frustrated customer in the eye.
The Architect of Process Discipline
Carol Kitts is the Founder and Executive Fixed Operations Consultant at Carol Kitts Consulting, LLC. She steps into automotive groups across the country and rebuilds the human systems that make technology actually work. She defines her leadership not by the software a dealership buys, but by the culture of accountability a management team is willing to enforce.
From a Foreign Country to the Corporate Office
Kitts built her career from the ground floor of the automotive industry. She immigrated to the United States with a clear goal to build a life and a career on her own terms. That drive kept her moving forward through an eleven-year tenure at Ehrlich Toyota, where she learned the daily realities of the service drive. She learned how technicians work, how advisors sell, and how customers react when things go wrong.
Her perspective expanded dramatically when she joined Xtime as a Dealer Performance Specialist. In this role, she coached leadership teams across more than 190 dealerships. She watched hundreds of different managers try to solve the exact same problems. She saw which stores thrived and which ones failed, and the difference never came down to the tools they used.
She took those lessons into corporate leadership, serving as the Corporate Fixed Operations Director for the Schomp Automotive Group and later as the Corporate Director of Fixed Operations for Fairfield Automotive Partners. In these roles, she managed multiple rooftops and drove operational excellence across massive teams. For years, she attributed her success to sheer resilience. She pushed through adversity and willed her teams to hit their numbers.
Recently, that perspective shifted. She realized that resilience alone was not a sustainable operating model. Her faith deepened, altering how she viewed her responsibility to her teams. She began to see that pushing people for numbers was entirely different from developing people for growth. That realization changed how she runs a service department.
Coaching Behaviors Instead of Chasing Numbers
Today, Kitts advises dealership ownership groups nationwide. She partners with dealer principals to optimize fixed operations performance, focusing heavily on process discipline and cultural health. She walks into service departments that have all the right tools but lack the execution required to make them profitable.
“I believe the most underestimated challenge today is process discipline,” Kitts says. “Most dealerships already have the tools and data they need, but inconsistent execution prevents them from reaching their potential.”
She builds her consulting methodology around this exact gap. She establishes clear operating rhythms around key performance indicators like multi-point inspection completion, digital communication, and closing ratios. But she refuses to let managers simply demand better numbers from their staff.
“Technology doesn’t improve performance on its own, leadership does,” she explains. “When leaders coach behaviors instead of chasing numbers, profitability, capacity, and the customer experience all improve together.”
Her approach requires a willingness to have difficult conversations. She insists on healthy debate within management teams, provided it is rooted in respect. She expects transparent communication and consistent coaching. This operational rigor is the foundation of her consulting firm, and it mirrors the discipline she applies to her life outside the dealership.
Kitts serves as President of the Board at SafeQuest, supporting survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. She is an Honorary Commander at Travis Air Force Base. She also founded the Share God’s Love Initiative and authored a bilingual children’s book. She applies the same strategic execution to these community projects as she does to a struggling service drive.
“Inside a dealership, that translates into clear expectations, transparent communication, consistent coaching, and leadership teams that spend time developing people instead of simply reacting to results,” she says.
The Real Measure of Success
The tension in automotive fixed operations will always exist. Dealerships want maximum efficiency, and customers want human empathy. Kitts proves that these two goals are not mutually exclusive. When managers stop hiding behind software and start leading their people, the service bays become the most profitable part of the business.
She leaves every dealership stronger than she found it, not just because the metrics improved, but because the managers finally learned how to lead. True operational excellence requires a soul.
Carol Kitts is the Founder and Executive Fixed Operations Consultant of Carol Kitts Consulting, LLC based in Fairfield, California. She partners with automotive dealership ownership groups nationwide to optimize fixed operations performance, profitability, and culture. To connect with Carol or learn more, visit her LinkedIn profile.
