According to J.D. Power, vehicle owners say the ease of doing business with an aftermarket service facility is a key reason they choose them rather than a franchised new vehicle dealer for some types of service.
In the firm’s 2022 U.S. Aftermarket Service Index (ASI) Study, dealer service facilities held an advantage in consumer perception with one exception: Customers said aftermarket service providers were easy to do business with, outperforming dealer service facilities specific to general maintenance, tire replacement and oil change services.
“During the depths of the pandemic, many dealers increased emphasis on their service business. To remain competitive, independent service providers must understand that it’s important to build on the competitive advantage of being easier to do business with, which is something franchise dealers typically fail to communicate to their sales and service customers,” said Leonard Martin, director of automotive retail at J.D. Power. “This facet of the business includes location, hours of operation, scheduling procedures and overall friendliness. Customers want to be acknowledged immediately and then served hassle-free.”
The study, now in its third year, measures customer satisfaction with aftermarket service facilities, providing a numerical index ranking of the highest-performing facilities in the U.S. aftermarket. Performance in three segments (full-service maintenance and repair, quick oil change, and tire replacement) was based on the combined scores for seven measures …
• Ease of scheduling/getting vehicle in for service.
• Fairness of charges.
• Service adviser courtesy.
• Service adviser performance.
• Service facility.
• Time to complete service.
• Quality of work.
Christian Brothers Automotive Corp. ranked highest in satisfaction for full-service maintenance and repair with a score of 825 on a 1,000-point scale followed by Kwik Car (820) in second place and Goodyear Tire & Auto Service (816) in third.
Take 5 Oil Change ranked highest in satisfaction for quick oil change with a score of 855 followed by Express Oil Change & Tire Engineers (827) in second place and Valvoline Instant Oil Change (823) in third.
Tires Plus ranked highest in satisfaction for tire replacement with a score of 835 followed by Discount Tire in second place (834) and Firestone Complete Auto Care (813) in third.
Across the measures of customer trust with a service provider, new vehicle dealers performed better than aftermarket service providers in seven of eight attributes, with the exception being ease of doing business. The franchised new vehicle dealer average score in this measure was 6.111 on a 7-point scale compared with independent full-service maintenance and repair facilities (6.18), tire replacement facilities (6.20), and quick oil change facilities (6.28).
Successfully completing work the first time is a critical key performance indicator (KPI) to increase customer satisfaction. When work is completed right the first time, customer satisfaction increases. Independent service providers improved on this metric, climbing from already high scores in 2021.
The percentage of full-service maintenance customers who said their problem was fixed right the first time increased from 94% to 97% in 2021. Among quick oil change customers, the percentage increased from 97% to 98%. And, among tire replacement customers, the percentage increased from 94% to 96%.
“Given that both franchised dealers and independents are finding it more difficult to hire qualified technicians, this result is heartening,” Martin said. “It’s an indicator that the general level of service has improved despite labor challenges.”
According to J.D. Power’s research, price and convenience are equally important. Some 39% of service customers cited the lower cost of service as a reason for choosing independent service providers followed by 38% citing the ability to accommodate their schedule and 34% citing the perceived ease and speed of using the facility.
The 2022 U.S. ASI Study is based on responses from 9,979 vehicle owners. Survey data collection was conducted online between November 2021 and May 2022. Survey respondents were initially selected from online consumer panels.
New for the 2022 study was the inclusion of geo-fencing data in which respondents were invited to take the survey after their cellphone location indicated that they had recently visited a non-dealer service facility. Respondents were screened for having aftermarket service performed in the past 12 months.
