http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/...partner=alerts

DETROIT - Auto dealers nationwide are getting better at serving their customers, collectively scoring at a record level this year in a survey of new car buyers by the J.D. Power and Associates research firm.

The California-based company said its survey also found that Toyota Motor Corp. (nyse: TM - news - people )'s Lexus luxury unit led all brands in consumers' satisfaction with their car-buying experience.
Satisfaction with dealers overall was the highest in the 21 years the company has taken the survey. The industry average score was 852 out of a possible 1,000 points, up from last year's 847, showing that dealers are improving the sales process, J.D. Power said.

The survey measures consumer satisfaction with the dealership facility, sales representative, paperwork and finance process, delivery process and vehicle price.

Lexus gained 10 points from its 2006 total, rising from a fifth-place tie last year to take the top spot with a score of 897, J.D. Power said.

General Motors Corp. (nyse: GM - news - people )'s Hummer brand finished second with 895 points, and Ford Motor Co. (nyse: F - news - people )'s Jaguar, last year's winner, took third with 893 points, according to J.D. Power. Hummer leaped 21 points over its 2006 score due to improvements in the vehicle pricing and paperwork/finance process, J.D. Power said. Jaguar's score dropped 19 points from the previous year.

The rankings are based on mailed responses from more than 38,600 buyers nationwide who registered new vehicles in May, J.D. Power said. The company said it sent surveys to about 200,000 buyers.

Industrywide, the survey has a margin of error of plus or minus one point on the 1,000-point scale, but it runs from four to 15 points on individual brands depending on the number of responses per brand, the company said. For Lexus, the margin of error is five points, the company said.

The margin of error is high enough and the top brand scores are so close that it's difficult to discern the overall winner.

Lexus' gain was driven by increased customer satisfaction with the dealership facility, salespeople and price, said Tom Gauer, senior director of automotive retail research at J.D. Power.

Lexus addresses the needs of each customer despite selling two or three times as many vehicles as other luxury brands, Gauer said.

"Lexus salespeople show particular concern for helping customers stay within their budgets, choosing the right vehicle for their needs, as well as for making the negotiation process clear and understandable," he said.

Ford's Lincoln luxury brand finished fourth in the survey with 892 points, while Mercedes-Benz rounded out the top five with 888 points, the company said.

True to previous years, luxury brands generally performed better than more mainstream brands.

GM's Saturn ranked highest of the mainstream nameplates in eighth place, just behind Buick and Cadillac.

The Chevrolet, Ford and Chrysler brands performed better than Asian rivals Honda (nyse: HMC - news - people ) and Toyota, but Honda and Toyota beat Chrysler LLC's Dodge and Jeep brands.

Honda improved six points over last year, while Toyota went up 15 points, but remains behind some of the larger U.S.-based nameplates due mainly to demographics, Gauer said.

Toyota and Honda are attracting younger, more affluent buyers who are tougher graders than the older buyers who generally go to Chevrolet, Ford or Chrysler, Gauer said.

"It's not so much performance. It's just that the buyers are much more critical," he said.

 

Add another one to the trophy case! They jumped from 5th last year to first and broke the record in the process.

 

very nice! although my latest purchase attempt has been of very bad taste. i will post about that some time soon.

to be honest though, out of the 7 to 8 dealerships i have inquired about the car, 3-4 of them couldn't even meet my basic expectations. maybe coz' i know a lot about cars and prices compared to others, but i do expect more from lexus. i can count with 1 hand the sales people i'd be happy to talk to and deal again

keep in mind, i am in socal where you get a dealership with 15 mins in any directions

 

Just goes to show that having good products is only part of the equation. The dealer network and culture are crucial to completing the experience for customers. Fine work Lexus.

 

Wow, the other day I saw a Jaguar sales ad and it had a symbol for the JD Power Dealer Satisfaction results. I think other companies have done similar things. Good job Lexus!

 

So what happened to all the critics that were saying that Lexus/Toyota dealer service was going down? Toyota saw the drop last year, and this year both Toyota and Lexus dealers have improved. Toyota saw the problem and took steps to quickly fix it. Toyota is doing the exact same thing with it's quality problems. Pretty soon critics will be eating their words too about how Toyota quality is going down and that Toyota supposedly "isn't doing anything" about it.

Great work for Lexus dealers breaking the all-time record for this survey.

 

Real news that people need to hear in the midst of all the negativity surrounding Toyota in the "press"

 

Having consistent and good dealer service across an entire network is a really hard thing to achieve and maintain. It takes real organization and implementation from the home base, and dedication and commitment for all those dealers to follow through the way the corporation envisions. That's why this is such a challenge for all automakers and also why it's such a fine achievement for Lexus.

 

Where's BMW, did they go out of business?

The top 10 brands in the J.D. Power and Associates 2007 survey of car buyers' satisfaction with their buying experience at the dealership, out of a maximum score of 1,000:

1. Lexus, 897
2. Hummer, 895
3. Jaguar, 893
4. Lincoln, 892
5. Mercedes-Benz, 888
6. Buick, 887
7. Cadillac, 885
8. Saturn, 880
9. Porsche, 879
10. Mercury, 878

Source: J.D. Power and Associates.

 

I just got my survey in the mail regarding my purchase in May. I gave Lexus of Chester Springs (PA) very high marks.

 

Not too many people deal with service in their "buying experience." I just got my JD Power survey, and I'm at 4300 miles, so I haven't dealt with the service dept yet. I think that would be a separate survey.

 

Yes the Customer Service Index (CSI) is a different survey, where Lexus placed at the top in 2006:

http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/new...spx?ID=2006119

It's a very challenging environment, now more than ever, with lots of companies improving. For Lexus to take back the crown is pretty good. One thing, its close rivals like Jaguar and Hummer are lower volume.

And my 5,000th post!!!

 

CONGRATS!!!

 

Thx. Now on to the next milestone....

BTW here is a vid from JD Power explaining their survey results.

http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/lib...os/?ID=2007270