WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. -

Given that a white paper from DMEautomotive recently discovered that younger consumers are steering more and more to other sources for their service needs, dealers can likely find some solace in what a different study suggested about customer satisfaction with service facilities.

Consumers turning to the dealer to take care of their service needs are “considerably more satisfied” about their trips to the dealership service center than they are about their trips to independent facilities, according to J.D. Power and Associates.

More specifically, in its 2012 U.S. Customer Service Index Study, J.D. Power found that among shoppers who visit dealership facilities for service, their satisfaction is 5 percent higher for dealer shops than for non-dealer service facilities.

These customers, on average, gave their experience at a dealership service facility a rating of 787 out of 1,000, while giving their experience at a non-dealer shop a 749.

What’s more, dealership facilities represent 79 percent of all the service visits by owners of one- to three-year-old vehicles, officials noted. A year ago, this proportion was at 74 percent, and the year before it was 72 percent.

There were also widespread gains in overall satisfaction with dealer service, which climbed 19 points year-over-year. Twenty-eight of the 33 rank-eligible brands in J.D. Power’s study showed increases. Eight brands boosted their score by 20 points or more.

What the firm noted as pivotal in lifting overall satisfaction was that the mix between maintenance and repair visits favored maintenance even more this year.

Specifically, 72 percent said they came in for maintenance rather than repair on their last service visit, versus 63 percent who did so a year ago. Officials explained that maintenance visits tend to generate higher satisfaction scores than repair as they are usually quicker and less expensive.

“Steady improvements in vehicle quality, longer intervals between recommended service visits and a higher mix of maintenance service events have had a positive effect on overall dealer service satisfaction,” said Chris Sutton, senior director at J.D. Power and Associates.

“Moreover, manufacturers and their dealers have instituted broad-based customer service improvement initiatives to increase satisfaction with both the purchase experience and after-sales service, with the understanding that a substandard service occasion can and will impact their ability to make a future vehicle sale or gain repeat service business.”

Looking forward, J.D. Power forecasts that dealers will continue to see their service volumes drop through next year thanks to the car sales slowdown from the recession. However, these numbers will bounce back, J.D. Power stressed.

“The challenge for automakers will be to maintain high levels of satisfaction once service volumes do rebound,” officials shared.

So what can dealerships do?

The study offered the following tips, as listed by J.D. Power:

Promote online scheduling of service appointments.
“Customers who schedule a service appointment online are notably more satisfied with the service experience than are customers who call to make an appointment or who drop by the dealership without an appointment,” officials emphasized. “In addition, customers who schedule service online spend $36 more on service per year than do customers who do not make an appointment, and $17 more per year than customers who call to make an appointment."

Review the technician inspection report with all service customers.
“Service customers who indicate the service advisor reviewed the multi-point inspection report with them are significantly more likely to say they ‘definitely will’ return for both paid and warranty service work, compared with customers who didn’t receive a report review,” they shared.

“Customers whose service advisor provided a review of the inspection report are also much more likely to say they ‘definitely will’ repurchase or lease the same vehicle make,” J.D. Power added.

Consider the benefits of implementing complimentary maintenance programs.
“Not unexpectedly, owners of vehicles covered by manufacturer-sponsored maintenance programs are more likely to visit the dealer for service, rather than a non-dealer service facility,” analysts noted.

“These brands also benefit from higher rates of service visit retention after the warranty/complimentary maintenance contract expires, compared with brands without complimentary maintenance programs,” they added.

Brand Rankings

Moving along, J.D. Power also revealed the Customer Service Index scores for individual brands. Receiving the top award in the luxury category for the fourth straight time was Lexus (861 out of 1,000).

The mass market brands were led by Mini (809), which won for the second straight year.

And in some good news for General Motors, all four of its brands placed in the top five for either the luxury or mass market category.

The CSI scores are determined by five measures, which are (in order of importance) service quality, service initiation, service advisor, service facility and vehicle pick-up. These are base based on the first three years of owning a new vehicle.

Lexus, in particular, fared especially strongly in service initiation, service facility and service quality. Mini was touted for its performance in service quality, service adviser, service facility and vehicle pick-up.

“Lexus dealers continue to raise the bar in delivering on the promise of industry-leading customer satisfaction,” said Mark Templin, Lexus group vice president and general manager. “We are thrilled that their tireless efforts at exceeding customer expectations resulted in Lexus being the highest ranked brand in CSI for the 15th time, more than any other manufacturer.”

Following Lexus in the luxury category was Cadillac (852), with Jaguar coming in third (849). Placing fourth was Acura (838) and Porsche was fifth (836). Audi improved the most among its peers, as it climbed 34 points year-over-year.

For the mainstream category, the runner up was Buick (805) followed by fellow GM brands GMC (803) and Chevrolet (801), respectively. Hyundai was No. 5 with a score of 791. Nissan climbed 43 points and was the biggest improver, with Toyota (up 31 points) in second.