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| The Lincoln Navigator: another satisfying luxury ride from Ford. |
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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Ford Motor Co.'s luxury Lincoln brand was tops in customer satisfaction for its dealers' service departments for the second straight year, according to a report from auto research firm J.D. Power and Associates.
Lincoln's score came in at 915 out of possible 1,000 on the customer satisfaction survey. The average score for the industry was 871.
Two other U.S. brands, General Motors Corp.'s Cadillac and Saturn, were close behind Lincoln, with scores of 911 and 905 to round out the top three. Toyota Motor Co.'s luxury Lexus brand is the best foreign brand, coming in at No. 4 in the survey with a score of 904.
On the other end of the survey, Japanese automaker Isuzu had the worst customer satisfaction rating, with a score 810.
Suzuki, with a score of 819, and Volkswagen, scoring 820, had the second and third least satisfied customers.
Foreign-based brands fill the nine of the 10 lowest scores, although two of those brands, Mazda, which was the 10th worst score, and Land Rover, with the seventh worst score, are owned by Ford. DaimlerChrysler's Jeep, with a score of 847, tied with Nissan for the eighth worst score.
The survey measures satisfaction of vehicle owners who visited the dealer service department for maintenance or repair work during the first three years of ownership. The rating looks at six areas: service initiation, service adviser, in-dealership experience, service delivery, service quality and user-friendly service.
This is the second straight year Lincoln topped the survey, the first U.S. brand to record back-to-back wins in the 25-year old survey. The report said Lincoln customers were particularly pleased with the dealership's ability to get them in for an appointment within a reasonable amount of time and the fairness of charges.
One change in the 2005 survey is that 51 percent of repair work involved a recall -- up from 39 percent in 2004. Power said that increase was in part due to a change in government regulations on mandatory reporting of vehicle safety defects.
"As negative as recalls are for manufacturers, they provide dealerships with opportunities to excel in service and make a positive impact on their customers," said a statement from Steve Witten, executive director of automotive retail research at Power. "When a vehicle is fixed quickly and correctly in one visit, customers tend to walk away with higher satisfaction. This typically occurs with recall work since the dealers are prepared to work on the specific problem."
"Manufacturers may consider applying lessons learned from recall campaigns to regular repair service," he added.
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