Top 10 carmakers with the best dealerships

But even for the top ranked companies on this list, don't assume every dealership has consistently good service. While dealerships are the “face” of the brand to car shoppers and each manufacturer does have corporate standards that all of its dealers must uphold, the vast majority of car dealerships in the U.S. are independently owned and operated.

“The dealer’s main job is to move metal, not build brand equity,” Edwards says. And that creates an inherent conflict because “the manufacturer is trying to build a lifetime relationship, but the dealership might just be looking to make its next sales target,” he says.

J.D. Power’s Tom Gauer says that dealers as a whole are getting better at respecting customers' time, but that this is still a major point of contention that separates the best from the worst. Dealerships with the highest sales satisfaction have gone to a single-contact system all the way through the sales process, which helps keep the customer from feeling passed off or ignored. This tactic has long been used at luxury dealers, but non-luxury ones are increasingly adopting it. At the same time, service departments have grown more convenient from a customer perspective and punctual. “Quick lubes really caught on because the customer knows the time frame,” Gauer says.

Over the past 10 years, Saturn's consumer-friendly strategy has raised standards for non-luxury dealer service and spurred other brands to improve, Strategic Vision's Edwards says. That means fewer sleazy sales tactics, less bickering about the price, more respect for your time and a more straightforward showroom experience. Provided the dealership respects the customer’s knowledge, a greater sense of trust follows as well, Edwards says.

When looking at satisfaction with the dealer experience on a brand-by-brand basis, some brands do stand well above the others in J.D. Power’s annual studies — and as we’ve revealed, they’re not all luxury brands. The firm’s annual Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) looks at the ability of a brand’s dealerships to manage the sales process, from product presentation to negotiation, financing and delivery; the annual Customer Service Index (CSI) gauges the satisfaction of customers who have brought their car in to the service department during the first three years of ownership. The most recent surveys came out last November. The 2006 CSI is based on experiences with 2003-2005 model year vehicles, while the 2006 SSI is based on those who registered new vehicles in May 2006.

Other firms that look specifically at dealer-experience satisfaction include Strategic Vision, which polls buyers three to four months after their purchase as part of its annual New Vehicle Experience Study; and AutoPacific, which asks about it around the same period of ownership as part of its annual Owner Satisfaction Survey.

With approval from J.D. Power, we’ve ranked the top 10 car companies — luxury and non-luxury — with the best dealership experience by combining their SSI and CSI scores (which are both out of a possible 1,000 points, so the combined total is out of a possible 2,000 points). We start with number 10, Mini, and have included results from the other research firms to compare, contrast or draw insight.

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