Customers are more satisfied with their dealers in 2024 than they were in 2023, according to new data from J.D. Power. Overall, consumers ranked their satisfaction at 851 on a 1,000-point scale, despite continuing difficulties.
“It’s encouraging to see an improvement in service satisfaction,” said Chris Sutton, VP of automotive retail at J.D. Power. “Unfortunately, the capacity and wait time issues have gotten progressively worse since the pandemic and show no immediate signs of easing up.”
Owners of mass-market vehicles are now waiting an average of 5.2 days for an appointment at a dealer, up from 4.8 days in 2023, according to the study. Although wait times have shrunk slightly for premium vehicles, customers are still waiting 5.4 days, much longer than they had to wait before the pandemic.
That’s pushing customers away from dealers, and towards independent shops. In 2024, the ability to be seen right away was more frequently cited than price as a reason to choose an aftermarket garage instead of a dealer.
Read: 76% Of Americans Don’t Trust Car Dealers To Be Honest About Pricing
The cost of dealer visits remains a concern, though, and it has increased by 30 percent across both the mass market and premium segments. Higher-end vehicle owners are now spending as much as $380 per visit, but that change can largely be attributed to inflation and higher costs for parts and labor.
On the positive side, dealers are getting better at using technology. Customers much prefer receiving dealer updates via text, rather than by a phone call, and their satisfaction improves by 31 points when they receive videos and photos of their vehicle following a multipoint inspection.
While the use of technology and other factors are improving with dealers, not all segments are happy, the study finds. EV owners (excluding Tesla, since it doesn’t operate dealerships) are the unhappiest in the industry.
EV owners trust their dealers less than other owners, and their vehicles are subject to about twice as many recalls as internal combustion vehicles. Worse still, EV owners rank their satisfaction with the recall work done to their vehicles as 50 points lower (782) than on gas-powered vehicles (832).
“As sales of BEVs continue to grow and the industry moves out of the early-adopter phase, the typical owner will not be as willing to tolerate a less-than-stellar service and ownership experience,” said Sutton, adding that automakers and dealers must address the frequency of recalls to make the transition to electric vehicles as painless as possible.
Most Satisfied Customers by Brand
Narrowing the focus, the brands that do it the best are Lexus and Buick. They lead overall customer satisfaction for the premium and mass-market brands, respectively. It may not surprise you that the same brands also lead customer satisfaction in the premium and mass-market SUV segments.
Buick and Lexus didn’t lock out all categories, though. Among car owners, Porsche leads the premium segment and Mini leads the mass market segment. Meanwhile, Nissan dealers lead customer satisfaction among truck owners.
