Isuzu’s After-sales Service Best In Kingdom

[george]

Isuzu’s after-sales service best in Kingdom: poll

BANGKOK: -- Isuzu ranked highest in customer satisfaction with authorised dealers’ after-sales service in Thailand, according to the JD Power Asia Pacific 2005 Thailand Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) StudySM released yesterday.

Now in its sixth year, the study is conducted by JD Power Asia Pacific to measure customer satisfaction with maintenance and repair service at authorised dealerships.

Overall customer satisfaction is measured by 35 dealer-performance attributes, which are grouped into seven CSI factors. In order of importance, these are: service quality, problems experienced, service delivery, user-friendly service, service advice, service initiation and in-service experience.

Of the 12 brands covered in the 2005 Thailand CSI Study, two are newcomers: Thairung and Kia.

Isuzu earned an overall satisfaction index score of 823 – up 14 points from 2004 – and led the field in three of the seven CSI factors: problems experienced, user-friendly service and service advice.

Isuzu and six other brands performed at or above the industry average. Mazda ranks second with a score of 819.

“Isuzu improves across all factors this year, especially on in-service experience, which deals with customer perceptions of how their time is spent at the dealership,” said Gerrit Kuyntjes, general manager of JD Power Asia Pacific’s Singapore office.

Luxury brands BMW and Mercedes-Benz showed great improvement versus their 2004 rankings. While both brands ranked below the industry average in 2004, each posted above-average scores in 2005, ranking third and fifth, respectively. BMW outperformed all other makes on service quality while Mercedes-Benz received the highest ratings in service initiation.

The study also found that customers are defecting to after-market service facilities in increasing numbers.

While just 20 per cent of owners had their vehicle serviced at an after-market facility in the inaugural 2000 Thailand CSI Study, 38 per cent had done so in 2005. Dissatisfaction with the authorised dealer’s performance is evident among this group as defectors recorded CSI scores nine points below non-defectors (801 vs. 810, respectively).

The 2005 Thailand CSI also monitored the service standard implementation rate, a measure of dealer service consistency. Among the 24 service standards measured in the study, BMW recorded the highest average number of standards provided (18.7).

Seventy-two per cent of customers with the highest levels of satisfaction (above 877) said they definitely would revisit the service dealer for post-warranty service, compared to only 31 per cent of relatively dissatisfied customers (with CSI scores below 749).

The 2005 Thailand Customer Satisfaction Index Study is based on evaluations from more than 2,900 vehicle owners at 12 to 18 months of ownership and includes those who purchased their vehicles between August 2003 and April 2004.

--The Nation 2005-08-02