You won't believe which car company satisfies customers most, according to JD Power

We all know that JD Power study is a measurement of satisfaction regarding with cars and the Asia Pacific branch did the same study on the Malaysian car after-sales market. The J.D. Power Asia Pacific 2015 Malaysia Customer Service Index (CSI) Study had yielded some surprising result.

The study measures overall service satisfaction among owners who took their vehicle to an authorized service centre for service maintenance and/ or repair work during the first 12 to 24 months of ownership. Service satisfaction is examined exclusively in the mass market segment. It evaluates new-vehicle owner satisfaction with the service experience by examining dealership performance in five factors (in order of importance): service quality (32 per cent); service initiation (22 per cent); vehicle pick-up (18 per cent); service advisor (15 per cent); and service facility (13 per cent).

Over in the mass market brands segment, satisfaction averages 749 index points on a 1000-point scale in 2015. J.D Power reports a five-point decline from 2014. Customers are expecting to receive a higher level of service, overall satisfaction averaging 815 among the 12 per cent of customers who indicate they had a “better-than-expected” service experience, compared with 842 in 2014. The greatest drop in satisfaction is in service facility, where satisfaction has declined to 773 in 2015 from 785 in 2014. Ease of approach to and convenience of service centres contribute to the decline in satisfaction in the service facility factor.

Only 42 per cent of vehicle brand owners would return to their respective service dealers for post-warranty service while 12 per cent confessed that they are highly disappointed with the dealers and refused to return.

Surprisingly, Mazda received the highest score in the CSI Study in the Mass Market segment while Mitsubishi comes in second. Honda comes in third while Ford follows up with a fourth place with average scores across the board.

The 2015 CSI study was carried out based on responses from 2,812 new-vehicle owners who purchased their mass market brand vehicle between February 2013 and May 2014 and took their vehicle for service to an authorised service centre between August 2014 and May 2015. The study was fielded between February and May 2015.

Jerrica Leong