Aug 8, 2007 6:02 AM, PROMO P&I

Car owners who feel a personal connection to auto dealer service advisors will keep coming back, and buy their next car there.

Some 70% of car owners who reported feeling a connection with their local dealership’s service advisor said they would “definitely return” to that dealership for work not covered by their vehicle warranties, according to the 2007 J.D. Power and Associates Service Usage and Retention Study.

Those same customers indicated higher service satisfaction rates, registering an average score of 936 on a 1,000-point scale, against an average of 728 among customers lacking an advisor relationship.

Nearly half—46%—of those customers who feel that personal tie to their auto dealership said they would “definitely” buy another vehicle of the same make they currently own, while only 15% of those with no personal connection to a car dealer expressed the same intention.

“That issue of having a personal connection and feeling that your time is important can add a lot to satisfaction, and if you get high levels in the satisfaction area, they’re more likely to come back to buy another vehicle,” said Tom Gauer, J.D. Power senior director of automotive retail research, in a statement.

The study indicated car dealerships’ failures to meet their customers expectations has a severe dampening impact, with only 4% who came away dissatisfied from a dealership experience saying they’d go back. But 73% of those who reported that their expectations were exceeded by the dealership said they would return for future service.

Satisfaction rates depended on being able to provide appointments in a timely manner and keeping customers informed on what was happening with their vehicles, even if the dealership initially failed to solve the problem, Gauer said.

The results suggest that the historical gap in overall service satisfaction rates between car dealers and non-dealer facilities has narrowed dramatically in the past two years.

Satisfaction scores averaged 867 for non-dealer facilities and 863 for dealer facilities in the current survey. Average non-dealer satisfaction scores topped by dealer satisfaction scores by 18 points in J.D. Power’s 2005 study, and 11 points in last year’s study.

Gauer attributed that shift to dealers’ initiatives to provide express service for oil changes and other perfunctory service needs.

Acura, Cadillac, Lexus, Lincoln and Mercury showed particularly positive results among dealers in the current study, while Goodyear Tire and Valvoline Instant Oil Change were among non-dealers who were most positively perceived.

Now in its 11th year, the study gauges customer satisfaction among car owners who visit dealerships in their fourth or fifth year of vehicle ownership, typically beyond the vehicle’s term of warranty. It measures six indices, including service initiation, service quality, user-friendly service, service delivery, in-service experience and service advisor.

The 2007 survey, based on responses to a J.D. Power mailing from 11,674 owners of 2002 and 2003 model-year vehicles, was conducted in March and April.

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