‘The home team’ at Subaru Cherry Hill

At the service and parts department of Subaru of Cherry Hill, each day is different. With 65 to 75 cars serviced Monday through Saturday, it’s important to have the right people in place.

The Sun caught up with Greg Eife, director of the department, who has been in the business for 43 years and came to Subaru of Cherry Hill six and a half years ago. His department essentially supports the sales staff at the dealership with the after-care of a purchased vehicle.

“We perform all kinds of repairs, (from) maintenance to warranty repairs,” Eife explained. “We build relationships so they (customers) come back and buy the next one. I’m a great believer in the word of mouth … Your reputation on the streets – quote unquote – is the most important thing.

“So we work real hard on one customer at a time to build that, maintain that …” he added. “That’s the most important thing, and that we are fair. Sometimes car dealerships, service departments, can get a bad reputation …

“My message would be, ‘Hey, give us a chance. We are not that.'”

Moneka Nop is a technician and started at Subaru of Cherry Hill the week after Thanksgiving in 2024. She is in a role unusual for women and the only female technician at the dealership. And if you ask Nop, she doesn’t pay any mind to that. She just “likes what she does.”

“I’m very proficient at what I do,” she said. “I’m good at what I do. I’m not as far advanced as the rest of the guys – not yet. I actually enjoy doing this stuff.”

Nop was looking for a part-time job in 2019 when she applied at a Quick Lube. That’s where she learned how to do oil changes and tire rotations.

“I learned on the job,” she recalled, adding that the job started getting repetitive, so she decided to apply to car dealerships.

“I put in applications to many, many dealerships,” she remembered, “and to be honest with you, I don’t think they called me back because of my name, because I’m a female. But in today’s world, it shouldn’t be like that.”

And after working for a year at another Subaru dealership, Nop came to the township dealership on a recommendation from a previous manager.

“I work in the quick lane, almost the same as Quick Lube, but they have me doing a lot more,” she said. “I’m not just oil changes and rotates all day long. They’re trying to get me to become like (an auto) mechanic.”

And that’s Nop’s ultimate goal – to become an auto technician.

“You get to learn on the job and I love that about Subaru in general,” she enthused. “They teach you while you are here. They send you to school. They do a lot. You are valuable to them and that’s good that they make you feel that way.”

And as for advice to females who would like to gain entry into the auto industry, Nop assured, “anybody can do anything as long as you put your mind to it. You have to make what you want out of it.”

Eife oversees 35 employees who range from 18 technicians and six service advisors to a business development person, a shuttle driver, a parts person manager, an assistant manager and counter staff.

“I oversee the daily operations of the service advisors and technicians and I have lead technicians and lead service advisors that report to me,” he said. “I’m in charge of our reputation, training personnel to that end. I also interact with the customers myself …

“I love that.”

As part of his role, Eife also is responsible for warranty compliance with Subaru. And with its national headquarters just three miles down the road in Cherry Hill, it means the dealership is “the home team.”

“My job is to make sure that we fill the shop up and we can get (customers) in and out of here in a timely manner and fixes are done correctly the first time,” he emphasized. “We want to make sure customers are treated properly and the facility is right for them and everything is clean.

“Reputation management is one of the big things with building and maintaining a team.”

Chris Sherman – a lead service advisor in service and parts – said department staff has built a good crew.

“There are good interpersonal relationships here, and it comes from the owner down,” he stated. “It’s a good environment. We love it. It helps with the cohesiveness, and customers see that too, when it’s a good environment.”

“It’s fun, different every day,” Eife remarked of day-to-day operations. “It can be stressful.”

That’s why training is key and – at Subaru of Cherry Hill – constant.

“Technician training happens online, it is web-based,” Eife pointed out. “It also happens with instructor-led training at the training facility in Florence. “I do a lot of training myself when it comes to customer handling, financial matters, leadership training with leaders that work for me, HR (human resources) training and coaching.

“Most of that is one on one,” he added. “Five days a week, I meet with staff and we speak about what is going on, what we can do better. We talk about goals, we talk about where we’ve been, and where are we going forward.

“We train on stress management.”

The leading and training aspect is what Eife enjoys about his role.

“I love being a leader, I love setting up a workplace where people can grow personally and professionally,” he said. “I like to train leadership, to watch people develop from the beginning to their potential.”

And over the course of his career, Eife has seen it all when it comes to learning and building.

“Adaptability is crazy important in this business,” he offered. “Every day is completely different. Every customer is completely different. You train and hire employees and staff to that end. Not everybody can do it. You have to have the right people, which is the most important thing.

“The most important resource is the right people.”

Sherman agrees. And in his role, he is the go between.

“We talk to the technician, they tell us what the need is and we translate that over to the customer,” he said. “I enjoy the customer aspect. I enjoy dealing with customers and situations and trying to help people work through things and doing the best we can for customers and making them happy and satisfied.”

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