NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. auto buyers are more satisfied with their dealerships' service departments than in the past, and Lincoln dealers got top marks for the first time, according to a survey from J.D. Power & Associates.
The J.D. Power "Customer Service Index," which measures customers satisfaction with the service department the first three years they own a vehicle, found nearly half of the brands measured improved at least 10 points out of a possible 1,000, and seven brands topped 900, a mark previously reached by only the Lexus and Saturn brands.
Lincoln came in at a 912 rating, the best rating ever received by any brand in history of the 24-year old survey. It was up 17 points from a year earlier.
"Lincoln's CSI performance was also helped by improved vehicle quality," said Joe Ivers, executive director of quality/customer satisfaction at J.D. Power. "This has translated into a 14 percent decline in the volume of repairs needed, meaning that more of Lincoln's work is maintenance-only, which is easier from a customer satisfaction viewpoint."
Other brands that topped the 900 benchmark include Buick (909), Infiniti (908), Cadillac (904), Lexus (902), Saturn (901) and Acura (900).
The best improvement on the index in 2004 came at Audi and Jaguar, which each improved an impressive 31 points over 2003, and Land Rover, which improved 29 points. Lincoln, Jaguar, and Land Rover are all Ford Motor Co. brands. Ford competitor General Motors Corp. also scored some success, as all of its brands scored above the industry average of 862; Saturn, Buick and Cadillac are GM brands.
Korean automaker Daewoo came in at the bottom of the rankings, with a score of 754, and the two other major Korean automakers -- Hyundai and Kia, also were in the bottom five with scores of 832 for Hyundai and 813 for Kia.
Two smaller Japanese automakers round out the bottom five with Suzuki coming in at 809 and Isuzu at 786. But two of the largest Japanese automakers also came in below the industry average, with Toyota scoring an 845 rating and Nissan coming in at 847. Only Honda scored above average among the non-luxury Japanese brands.
|
