BMW tops J.D. Power survey in Indonesia

SINGAPORE: BMW leads the Indonesian market in customer satisfaction with
automotive dealer service, according to the J.D. Power Asia Pacific 2001
Indonesia Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) Study released today. This
is J.D. Power Asia Pacific's first CSI study of the Indonesian
automotive market. "Quality of dealer service is more important
to customer satisfaction than problems experienced with a
vehicle," said Yoichi Yamamoto, director for the automotive
industry group at J.D. Power Asia Pacific. "Our analysis indicates
that the ability of dealership service personnel to diagnose problems
correctly and deliver a high level of service quality has a significant
impact on overall satisfaction. Customers do not expect to experience
a problem with their vehicle, but if a problem does occur, they expect
their service dealer to restore the vehicle to its original operating
condition. Customers have high expectations of dealer service
performance." BMW achieves a distinctly superior level of customer
satisfaction with a score of 790 out of a possible 1,000 points.
Mercedes-Benz and Honda rank a distant second and third with scores of
753 and 751, respectively. BMW's dominance in the Indonesian CSI is
the result of industry-leading scores across all seven factors that
measure customer satisfaction. In order of importance, these are:
service quality, problems experienced, user-friendly service, service
advisor, service initiation, service delivery, and in-service
experience. One key method for achieving higher customer satisfaction
is through the implementation of dealer service standards. Standards
help ensure that every customer's needs are consistently met during
each stage of the service process. While individual dealership
standards may vary in detail, J.D. Power Asia Pacific measures dealer
execution of 18 core services. BMW achieves the highest rate of
implementation on nine out of these 18 standards. In addition, BMW
records the highest CSI scores in the industry on time-related issues
during key moments of contact with the customer. "Customers in
Indonesia are sensitive to the time spent on the entire service
process, especially the service initiation and vehicle delivery
phases," explained Yamamoto. "As a result, when customers
are delayed they feel that dealers are not considerate of their
time." The 2001 study finds that more than half of all BMW
customers either do not need to wait to speak with a service advisor or
elect to use a drop box when leaving their vehicles for servicing.
This compares with an industry average of less than 44 per cent.
Moreover, BMW customers are able to complete payment and pick up of
their vehicles in under 10 minutes and hence rate their service dealers
favorably on time-related attributes. The 2001 Indonesia CSI Study is
based on responses from more than 2,500 owners of new cars and light
trucks surveyed at 12 to 18 months of ownership. The study is designed
to provide an objective measure of customer satisfaction with dealer
service and initial quality. J.D. Power Asia Pacific was established
in 1990 as the Asia branch of J.D. Power and Associates. J.D. Power
Asia Pacific conducts customer satisfaction research and provides
consulting services in the automotive, information technology and
finance industries. J.D. POWER ASIA-PACIFIC INDONESIAN CSI STUDY,
2001 BMW 790 Mercedes-Benz 753 Honda 751 Suzuki 740 Toyota 739 Kia
739 GM Opel 735 Industry Ave. 733 Daihatsu 730 Hyundai 729 Mitsubishi
725 Isuzu 718 Timor 715