Survey Shows US Automakers Making Improvements
provided by the Associated Press

US automakers making strides in customer satisfaction, University of Michigan survey shows

Buzz Up! NEW YORK (AP) -- All three U.S.-based automakers are doing a better job of satisfying their customers than they were a year ago, according to a recent survey.

General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC all posted significant gains in this year's American Customer Satisfaction Index released Tuesday by the University of Michigan.

"Although the future will obviously be challenging for Detroit, the rise in customer satisfaction provides a much needed improvement in competitive standing," Claes Fornell, the University of Michigan business professor who heads the annual survey, said in a statement.

Fornell said keeping customers happy is key for the automakers, especially at a time when less people are buying cars, because they will be more likely to come back the next time they need a new vehicle.

GM's Cadillac and Toyota's Lexus brands tied for first place in the survey with scores of 89 out of 100. That marked a 4 point increase for Cadillac from its 2008 results and a 2 point improvement for Lexus, which also ranked first in last year's survey.

GM's Buick brand, Honda and Ford's Lincoln Mercury vehicles all received an 88. The Lincoln Mercury score marked a 5 point increase over its results for the previous year, while Buick's score rose by 3 points.

BMW received an 87, while Mercedes, Toyota and Volkswagen each got an 86. Volkswagen's increase of 5 points, or 6.2 percent, marked the biggest jump from the year before.

Hyundai received an 85, while the Chrysler's namesake brand rose 4 points to 84. GM's Saturn brand also got an 84.

The Chevrolet and Ford brands rose by 4 points and 3 points respectively to 83, while GMC fell by 1 point to 82.

Dodge, Kia , Mazda and Pontiac all received an 81. Jeep and Nissan, fell to the bottom of the pack with a 79 and 78, respectively. Nissan was one of the few brands to post a decrease from the year before, falling 4 points, or 4.9 percent.

The overall automotive industry's score was 84, up from 82 the year before.

There were over 11,000 telephone surveys conducted and about 5,500 for the auto industry in the second quarter of this year, asking respondents to rate their satisfaction of the vehicles on a scale of zero to 100. At the industry level, the margin of error is plus or minus 1 point. At the company level it is plus or minus 3 points.

Not very comforting to those of us that own Mazdas. I'll bet most of that dissatisfaction comes from Mazda dealers being jerks to customers though.
'Just my opinion.

 

I'd agree with that, Richard...every Mazda dealership I visited (about 5 or 6) was filled with a buncha freakin' jerks.

 

Mine has improved greatly since I first purchased my car. Oh, the sales and support staff were always friendly and nice, but the service people, especially the service writers.....
Even after I told them I had been in the biz and have been around cars most of my life, they treated me like an idiot that couldn't understand a thing!!
That's changed in the last few years (new staff)... thankfully.
They still charge and arm and a leg though, so going back now that my warranty is gone is not very likely.

 

On the other hand, the service at my Chevy dealer feels like it's dropped in the two years since I bought my car...different management there too.

(Side note, your package came yesterday. I think sending 4 was a bit ambitious, all of the jewel cases broke. )

 

Awww, Vince. That sucks. I guess I could've/should've packed them better. But those cheap little thin-line jewel cases are crap anyway. i never really liked them and they have gotten even flimsier than they used to be.
I only hope the CDs were OK?

 

Yep, the CD's weren't marred. I think my favorite's the Alter Bridge CD, was definitely not expecting it to be so good.

 

I thought it might be and I was impressed with the AB too, but frankly I don't think it will stand the test of time. In the long run, it's not very memorable.

 

i dont know the dealership i got my car from everyone was pretty nice (of course they were trying to sell a car) but even still today (3years later) the new faces and the old faces are still as friendly as ever i stop there once a month or so.

I think the reason why the csi for mazda went down is because they knew there gonna have to push hard to get the 2010 mazdas out the door (yes im lumping them all together this time) that and the 07-09's are having more problems than the previous years (thats what i was told by two dealerships i know) so yea pretty much Mazda started to lose it with the 07-09 models and then they just went insane when the 2010 models hit the floor....fact