Buying a vehicle is one of the biggest investments you make in your life and you want that experience to be one that’s easy to navigate and enjoy. In the past it was hard to gauge how dealers handled the deal and what made sense for them to sell you a vehicle, but for the past thirty years JD Power has compiled a score that is called the Sales Satisfaction Index Study which measures your satisfaction with a dealership based upon specific factors to help understand why you buy your car from on dealership or another.
The satisfaction scale uses four factors; working out the deal, salesperson, delivery process and facility. On the other side of the coin, those who shopped at a dealership then went elsewhere to purchase their vehicle are considered rejecters and these experiences are measured with five criteria. These are salesperson, fairness of price, experience negotiating, facility and variety of inventory. This gives us a good idea of what dealerships offer the vehicles that we want to buy and which ones don’t. The results for this year might surprise you, unless you’ve been paying close attention to the shift in the market.
This year the mass market brands of dealers for satisfaction is led by Buick. On a 1,000 point scale Buick scored 809 points, edging out MINI which has held the title since 2010. MINI received a score of 797 and Chevrolet was third with 789 followed by GMC at 786 and then a tie between Subaru and Volkswagen with 775. This puts GM brands up in the top of the category for this award and makes it easier for you to choose the dealerships you should shop. Based upon the criteria used, you’ll have the best price and experience at a GM dealer than at any other.
For the luxury brands Porsche was the winner at 824 points and holds this position for a second year in a row. Next was Infiniti at 815, Mercedes-Benz at 809, BMW and Cadillac at 807 and finally Lincoln at 806 giving you a full five for this group. The fact that the American automakers made it in the top five for the luxury brands is significant and impressive, making it easy for you to understand and enjoy the fact that you can shop at brands that you know and trust and have a great shopping experience.
Many dealerships have noticed thee need to have specialists on hand that are able to offer a singular experience to the customers who come in and shop. This gives these customers a more thorough ownership experience on the vehicles they are going to drive and helps them learn about and understand the various technologies that’s part of the feature makeup of the new vehicle they have their eyes on. It seems to be paying off in a big way, especially for the luxury brands that have scored extremely high in the customer satisfaction category.
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