Current Issue:Top service honours for Japanese vehicle makers

By: Irma Venter
5th June 2009 (source : Engineering News)

Mitsubishi, Nissan and Toyota offer South African car and bakkie buyers the best sales and service experience, according to market research house Synovate’s 2009 Quality Awards for Sales and Service Satisfaction in the automotive industry.

The three Japanese brands have all scooped gold awards in the categories ‘Customer satisfaction when purchasing a passenger vehicle’, ‘Customer satisfaction when servicing a passenger vehicle’, ‘Customer satisfaction when purchasing a light commercial vehicle’, and ‘Customer satisfaction when servicing a light commercial vehicle’.

There are several gold award winners in the various categories, but only these three manufacturers have taken top honours in all four categories.

The Synovate awards are based on interviews with customers who bought or serviced a vehicle between January and December 2008, as part of the largest survey of South African vehicle owners.

Most manufacturers fared reasonable well.

In the category ‘Customer satisfaction when purchasing a passenger vehicle’, there are 11 gold award winners, including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Chevrolet and Volkswagen.

“Manufacturers are perfec- ting the sales process,” says Synovate motor research client services head Roger Gibbs. “Especially in times of decreased sales, manufacturers are doing everything they can to ensure customers are happy when buying a car from their dealerships, and this is definitely one of the ways of securing repeat business and loyalty to their brand.”

In the category ‘Customer satisfaction when purchasing a light commercial vehicle’ (or bakkie), there are five gold award winners, including Isuzu and Opel.

The top achiever in ‘Customer satisfaction when servicing a passenger vehicle’ is Nissan, followed by Mitsubishi and Toyota. There are no other gold award winners.

“The service process is a relatively complex one and is generally a grudge purchase for consumers. Regarding satisfaction with the service, respondents are asked about their experience on arriving at the dealership, being booked in on time, being kept in the loop about progress on their vehicle and having their vehicle fixed right the first time, amongst a host of many other aspects,” says Gibbs.

Gold award winners in the category ‘Customer satisfaction when servicing a light commercial vehicle’ also include Isuzu.

The Synovate results are endorsed by the Department of Trade and Industry.

For various reasons, not all brands are included in the survey.

This may be because the manu- facturer chooses not to partici- pate, or because the sample is too small.

Manufacturers not included in this survey are Honda, Alfa, Smart, Jaguar, Hummer, Lexus and the Chinese and Indian vehicle brands.

The study includes around 90% of passenger car and light commercial vehicles in the South African vehicle market.

Edited by: Martin Zhuwakinyu