J.D. Power: Increased after-sales satisfaction amongst national car buyers
J.D. Power Asia Pacific has just released the results of its 2012 Malaysia Customer Service Index (CSI) today. The study, now in its 10th year, measures overall customer satisfaction among vehicle owners who took their vehicles to their authorized service centre for maintenance or repair work during the first 12 to 24 months of ownership.
The study evaluates new-vehicle owner satisfaction with the after-sales service experience by examining dealership performance in five factors (in order of importance): service quality; vehicle pickup; service initiation; service advisor; and service facility. Overall customer satisfaction averages 740 index points on a 1,000-point scale in 2012, an improvement of 22 points from 2011.
Twelve brands were included in the study, and finishing top for the second successive year was BMW with a score of 794. Isuzu and Mercedes-Benz, traded places from their 2011 rankings, finishing second and third respectively. Isuzu’s score was 782 with Mercedes at 780. Hyundai-Inokom charged the biggest leap in improvement, with a 30-point increase from in 2011 to score 746 this year.
J.D. Power’s report of its study also highlighted noticeable improvement on the part of service centres operated by national makes. Improvements cited by owners of national makes include essential customer-centric activities, such as explanations of work and physical inspection of vehicle both before and after service. As such, Perodua and Proton’s scores improved by 29 and 26 index points respectively.
“While national makes still perform below industry average, there are remarkable improvements in performance due to a more systematic implementation of activities with high impact on customer satisfaction,” said Mohit Arora, executive director at J.D. Power Asia Pacific, Singapore.
A consumer trend noted by the study is that majority (55%) of customers in 2012 schedule their visit through a phone appointment, a notable increase from 2011 (+5 percentage points). Customers who schedule a service appointment are considerably more satisfied with their service experience (744) than are those who drop by the dealership without an appointment (734).
The 2012 study is based on responses from 2,836 new-vehicle owners who purchased their vehicle between February 2010 and May 2011 and took their vehicle for service to an authorized dealer or service centre between August 2011 and May 2012. The study was fielded between February and May 2012.
