FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -

This year has brought with it the highest number of recalls the U.S. automotive industry has ever seen. Consequently, this has put considerable pressure on dealerships’ technicians and service departments to rise to the occasion.

And AutoNation, the largest auto retailer in the country, is no exception.

Mike Jackson, AutoNation’s chairman and chief executive officer, said during the group's second quarter results conference call this past summer that it has proven difficult to hire qualified technicians. Jackson asserted back in July that this shortage of technicians was stunting potential growth in the service department.

As a result, AutoNation began moving toward the ambitious goal of hiring 400 new technicians to meet expanding demand.

Mike Maroone, AutoNation’s director, president and chief operating officer, said during the company’s Q3 results call this week they are well on their way to meeting that goal, with 372 new technicians hired since the close of the second quarter.

And the company’s efforts seem to be paying off.  

This past quarter, parts and service revenue came in at $717.4 million, up from $653.8 million during Q3 of 2013.

And the company said a 5-percent increase for parts and service in Q3 helped to drive same-store revenue growth this past quarter.

As of the end of September, the company’s parts and service revenue sat at a little above $2 billion, up from $1.9 billion last year.

Gross profit for the service department was also up, spiking from $277.1 million in Q3 2013 to $303.7 million this past quarter.

This impressive growth sparked questions from investment analysts about the company’s continued progress in service and parts during the Q-and-A portion of the call.

In response, Maroone said, “Our target was to add 400 technicians. We’re currently at 372, so I think we made great progress. I think there is still a lot more opportunity in the business. As we called out, we’re still looking at mid-single-digit growth absent in the elevated recall activity.”

Maroone made a point of noting service growth is not solely being driven by recall activity.

“As you know, the recall activity is not in our control, but certainly the business is, and we want to continue to grow the business by adding productivity and adding more technicians,” he said.

As to whether the new hires have already had a positive impact on the business, Maroone thinks it has, and said, “We think there is even more opportunity … we could not have achieved the results we did without adding those 372 techs.”

As company management was discussing service and parts performance, the topic of the all-new aluminum F-150 came up, as well, since, of course, the switch from steel to aluminum will require shifts in service and collision work, as well.

When asked what percent of the company’s technicians will be training to prepare the aluminum F-150 by early next year, Maroone said AutoNation has “the bulk of our collision technicians at this point trained.”

He added: “We actually are working on a shop-by-shop basis. And we’re really pleased with our progress. It’s really a great opportunity for us. And I don’t have an exact percent of technicians, but I think as of Q3, more than half of our shops were already trained for aluminum repair capability.” 

Rather than a roadblock, Maroone sees the new F-150 aluminum frame as an opportunity.

“I see the bigger players having the training capability and the ability to invest in the equipment. It’s necessary. So I think it’s an opportunity,” Maroone said. “We’re really pleased with our collision business. It’s growing nearly at double-digit pace. And we think this is, we think it’s a real good opportunity.”

In other news from AutoNation's parts and service department, directly relating to recent recalls, a Tuesday report from Reuters indicates that AutoNation has stopped selling cars equipped with the Takata Corp. air bags involved in a global recall that involved more than 16 million vehicles.

Jackson told Reuters, "We as a company have made the decision not to retail any vehicle that is involved in this recall until it is repaired and the vehicles that do come in for service, we are advising the customer not to put a passenger in front of that air bag until it's repaired." 

According to the Reuters report, AutoNation currently has less than 400 used cars equipped with Takata air bags at its vehicle franchises, so it is likely to not make too much of an impact on the dealership group.