Toyota, Mazda and Mitsubishi Top J.D Power Customer Satisfaction Ratings

J.D Power’s 2016 Malaysia Customer Service Index (CSI) Study report was released today, and it suggests that the level of customer satisfaction remains somewhat flat compared to 2015.

The study, now in its 14th year, measures overall service satisfaction among owners who took their vehicle to an authorized service center by examining dealership performance in five factors (in order of importance): service quality (32%); service initiation (22%); vehicle pick-up (18%); service advisor (15%); and service facility (13%). Brand service performance is measured on a 1,000-point scale.

Overall customer service satisfaction averages 751 points this year, up 2 points from 2015.  While all factors have improved in the low single-digit figures, satisfaction with service advisors has declined by 1 point.

Toyota ranks highest in overall service satisfaction among mass market brands with a score of 763,  performing well in the service initiation, service advisor and service quality factors. Ranking second is Mazda with a score of 760 and Mitsubishi ranks third at 758.

Other findings include:

• Malaysian National Brands Show Improvement: Overall customer service among the Malaysian national brands within the mass market segment averages 747, up 5 points from 2015.
• Service Centers Sending More Service Reminders:  More customers indicated they received routine maintenance notification (41% vs. 30%) from the previous year. An increase of 4 percentage points (26% vs. 22%) was seen in customers’ specific service needs being discussed with the service center prior to taking the vehicle in.
• Longer Waiting Time for Service by Appointment: Customers waiting three or more days for an appointment (31% of respondents) average an overall satisfaction score of 743. Furthermore, the percentage of customers who waited three days or more has increased by 10 percentage points. Customers waiting two days or less for an appointment (69% of respondents) average an overall satisfaction score of 768.
• Delighted Customers Raise Loyalty and Advocacy: Among customers who are highly satisfied with their dealer service (overall satisfaction scores of 823 and above), 46% say they “definitely would” return to their dealer for post-warranty service and 50% “definitely would” recommend their dealer to friends and family. In contrast, among customers who are less satisfied (scores of 690 and below), only 15% say they “definitely would” return to the dealer for post-warranty service, and only 11% say they “definitely would” recommend the dealer to others.

“With the stresses of modern living, Malaysian car owners are clearly more time-constrained and demand to complete this important but time-consuming errand in a hassle-free manner. Hence, it is critical for dealerships to ensure they have the right ratio of service advisors who exhibit high quality customer-handling skills to meet customers’ expectations,” said Rajaswaran Tharmalingam, the country head of Malaysia for J.D. Power.