New car buyers value customer service more than price: study

A recent study by J.D. Power and Associates in the US has revealed car buyers put customer service ahead of purchase price during the car buying process. Although the findings are pretty obvious, some dealers might like to listen up.


The Sales Satisfaction Index study found that 52 percent of customers who did make a purchase made the purchase because of the way they were treated by the dealers. Remarkably, only 38 percent of buyers said they bought because of the price.

So no matter how many TV ads car yards and manufacturers throw out there or how many large-font 'DEALS' they slap onto the screen, buyers are more likely to buy from the dealer who offers reassurance and ongoing service.

The research also discovered that around 60 percent of buyers do go to more than one showroom when looking for a car, and that up to 18 percent of customers that walked away from a dealer said it was because of how they were treated by the salespeople.

Interestingly, and not surprisingly nowadays, up to 79 percent of new-car buyers said they did research on the internet before making a purchase. Up to 24 percent of buyers even made an online quote request to a dealer and were, mostly, happy with the outcome.

So what can we learn from this? Make sure you are happy with the dealer and comfortable at going ahead with a negotiated settlement. And don't forget to do your research beforehand... on fine sites such as CarAdvice of course.

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