Two small, niche auto brands scored top marks in the industry’s major dealer service satisfaction survey.
Compact-car maker Mini scored the highest among mass-market brands in J.D. Power’s 2021 U.S. Customer Service Index study, released Thursday. Among luxury brands, Porsche grabbed the top spot, reclaiming the segment crown from Lexus.
Despite a year of operating challenges and disruptions that roiled the industry, consumers’ overall satisfaction with dealer service visits actually rose 10 points, the J.D. Power report found. The improvement occurred as stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic tapped the brakes on service-lane traffic last year.
Customers responded positively to newly implemented pandemic-era convenience services, such as vehicle pickup and drop-off, Chris Sutton, J.D. Power vice president of automotive retail, said in a statement.
“When 1- to 3-year-old vehicles required service in 2020, dealers captured an even greater share of service visits, which is the highest level in at least five years,” Sutton noted. “Dealerships made the most out of a disruptively bad situation.”
