11:17 am, August 23, 2013
THIS time of the year sees a wealth of surveys published giving an insight into consumers’ moods.
And this week we heard that in the annual JD Power survey, Jaguar came out on top, with consumers saying the British brand’s dealers provide the most satisfying dealership experience.
The feedback from 13,511 survey respondents resulted in Jaguar achieving an 85.5 per cent satisfaction score as customers commented on the booking process, overall staff helpfulness, dealership facilities, the quality of work carried out and how fair the service charges were.
Customers said Jaguar dealers have friendly advisers, are flexible in finding booking slots, offer quick and painless vehicle hand-over and pick-up services and have staff who take the time to explain the technical details of work carried out. The quality of work carried out was also rated excellent or outstanding by 68 per cent of customers.
Lexus came second, Honda finished in third while fourth went to Mercedes-Benz.
What’s more encouraging though is these results come off the back of our own Car Dealer Power survey – and as you know, this offers the view from the other side of the fence.
Toyota topped this year’s Car Dealer Power survey with an excellent score of 92.3 per cent. Dealers said the Japanese firm has cars which are changing brand perceptions and helping them win new customers, and have ‘like-minded’ management.
Kia followed in second place, Hyundai was in third, Ford was in fourth and Volkswagen finished fifth.
In fact, six manufacturers – Kia, Toyota, Honda, Land Rover, Skoda and Nissan – that finished in the top 10 of Car Dealer Power 2013 also featured in JD Power’s top 10 .
It means that customers and dealers are in general agreement about which manufacturers are doing best in terms of trade and consumer satisfaction. It’s encouraging news in times where impressing and retaining customers has never been so important.
But like we have seen before in Car Dealer Power, a manufacturer who is supportive of its dealers and satisfying them one year can lose focus and tumble down the order the next year. I for one will be interested to see how many of the above car makers feature in both surveys in 2014.
