While customer satisfaction with the dealer service experience has rebounded, there are still significant issues being faced when a consumer brings his car to be worked on.
According to the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Customer Service Index (CSI) Study released March 14, overall customer service satisfaction improved five points to 851 on a 1,000-point scale.
The study measures satisfaction with service at franchised dealer or aftermarket service facilities for maintenance or repair work among owners and lessees of one- to three-year-old vehicles. It provides a numerical index ranking of the highest-performing automotive brands sold in the U.S., which is based on the combined scores of five measures that comprise the vehicle owner service experience.
Three Issue Cited
There are three main issues the J.D. Power’s poll found needed to be improved: appointment wait times for mass market vehicles continue to increase; customers want prompt service appointments; and amount spent per dealer visit continues to climb.
“It’s encouraging to see an improvement in service satisfaction but, unfortunately, the capacity and wait time issues have gotten progressively worse since the pandemic and show no immediate signs of easing up,” said Chris Sutton, vice president of automotive retail at J.D. Power in a press statement.
The survey found owners of mass market vehicles wait 5.2 days on average for an appointment at the dealer, up from 4.8 days in 2023. Owners of premium vehicles wait 5.4 days—slightly better than a year ago.
The authors of the poll noted wait times in both segments are still significantly higher when compared with pre-pandemic levels.
Longer Time at Dealership
As a result of the longer wait times at dealers, more customers to aftermarket service facilities. In the mass market segment, 35% now choose aftermarket service because of the ability to be seen right away, surpassing cheaper costs (34%) as a reason for choosing such service. Notable, too, is that 55% of customers choose aftermarket service due to convenience of location.
Additionally, the average amount spent on a recent dealer service visit has risen 30% for owners of both premium and mass market vehicles over the past two years.
Owners of premium vehicles pay an average of $380, up $66 from 2023, while owners of mass market vehicles pay $140, a year-over-year increase of $15.
Among customers whose service is not covered by warranty or a maintenance contract, these increases can be attributed to inflation and higher costs for parts and labor.
Technology Key to Satisfaction
A significant bright spot is the use of technology improving service experience: Customers are four times as likely to indicate they would like to get service updates via text message (68%) than a phone call (16%).
Additionally, when service advisors provide photos or videos to support the results of a multi-point inspection (MPI), customer satisfaction with their advisor improves 31 points than when no photos or videos are shared (911 vs. 880).
The study, now in its 44th year, measures (in order of importance): service quality; service advisor; vehicle pick-up; service facility; and service initiation. This is the second year that model segment rankings were added to the study to differentiate between the service needs of cars, trucks, SUVs and minivans.
