Car industry has upped its service levels

This is one of the key findings of the annual Synovate Quality Awards which are based on interviews with customers who purchased or serviced a vehicle between January and December of 2007.

Recognition is given to the outstanding achievers in the following four categories:
- Customer Satisfaction when purchasing a Passenger Vehicle
- Customer Satisfaction when servicing a Passenger Vehicle
- Customer Satisfaction when purchasing a Light Commercial Vehicle
- Customer Satisfaction when servicing a Light Commercial Vehicle

These awards recognise service excellence and are acknowledged as the highest accolade for customer service in the South African motor industry.

The survey shows that vehicle owners are getting better service than seven years ago. In fact, the lowest points scored in the 2007 survey were still better than the highest points scored in 2001.

The category that measures customer satisfaction when buying a new passenger vehicle was won by Nissan with a score of 93.9%, followed by Chevrolet, BMW, Toyota, MINI, Audi, Volkswagen and Volvo.

In 2000 the average score for this category was only 86.9%. It rose to 90.3% in 2003 and has now reached an all time high of 91.7%.

“Scores are getting closer and the competition for top spot is intensifying. Achievements such as this can only be realised through constant focus on enhancing the customer experience and the consistent delivery of this experience across the dealer network,” said Richard Rice, client service director of customer research company Synovate.

Nissan also came first when it came to measuring customer satisfaction when purchasing a light commercial vehicle, followed by Toyota and Isuzu. The industry average score for this sector has increased to a record 90.7%.

Rice said satisfaction scores with the service process were generally lower, primarily due to the fact that the service process was relatively complex and the service itself was a ‘grudge purchase'.

“Nevertheless, the industry average for servicing is increasing every year and this year it broke through the 80% barrier for the first time.”

The highest achiever in the passenger car service segment was Mitsubishi with a score of 85.6%. Hot on its heels came Toyota, scoring 85.1% and then Jaguar with 84.6%.

Interestingly, the average satisfaction score for servicing a light commercial vehicle is higher than for passenger cars and stands at 81.9%.

“There are a variety of reasons for the LCV score being higher than the PC score,” says Rice, “and these relate primarily to the fact that light commercial vehicles have fewer electrically operated fittings making them somewhat easier to service.

Another factor is that many customers in this segment use their vehicles as workhorses and are more tolerant of the ‘cosmetic' issues such as noise levels. They are more concerned with vehicle reliability and their expectations of a service reflect this.

When comes to client satisfaction with the way their bakkies are looked after, Toyota came first with a score of 84.9%, followed by Nissan and Mitsubishi.

As service levels continue to improve there is increased focus on “softer” issues, such as how customer complaints are handled.

The results of the 2007 survey show that the dealers are getting the basics right, but that that they still have a way to go to keep customers happy. Rice said dealers and manufacturers can no longer just focus on making sure the vehicle is right – they must pay more attention to how staff deals with customers.

For example, the service sector of the awards show that clients place a higher value on the technician's understanding of his problems than actually fixing the vehicle 100% the first time round.

And in the sales award sections, higher points were scored if a salesman kept the promises he made to the customer at the time of purchase.

This was reflected in a special section which shows 92.8 satisfaction points with a car's price where sales staff kept their promises. This dropped to 47.8 satisfaction points where promises and commitments were not kept.

“In summary, the industry performance is outstanding,” said Rice. “One must remember that with new entrants into the market, it is harder to maintain a high industry standard. New entrants often start out on a lower level when it comes to satisfying their customers.

“However the industry average continues to improve despite this challenge. It is also gratifying to see that the top rankings in the passenger car segments are not the exclusive domain of luxury vehicle brands. There is a healthy mix of nameplates on the podium and this is good news for potential buyers of motor vehicles – you can expect and receive top service levels no matter what kind of money you are spending.”

He said he expected satisfaction scores to further increase, primarily due to the drop in vehicle sales that manufacturers are currently experiencing.

“During times of lower demand, customer satisfaction generally improves as competition for customers intensifies and dealers up their game to maintain their revenues,” Rice said.