December 4, 2017
www.usedcarnews.com
Tech, Salespeople Drive Buyer Satisfaction
SATISFIED CUSTOMER: The Lincoln brand is doing what it takes to satisfy its customers. Respondents to recent J.D. Power surveys ranked Lincoln the highest in sales satisfaction among luxury brands and its captive finance arm as the highest luxury-brand finance provider.
Today’s consumers want the ability to shop for and inance a vehicle online, but they still want the personal touch of interacting with a salesperson. That’s the inding of a pair of new surveys by J.D. Power. The digital inance application channel generates signiicantly higher levels of overall satisfaction among both mass market and luxury customers, according to the J.D. Power 2017 U.S. Consumer Financing Satisfaction Study. However, there were a couple of catches. One is that while consumers might prefer digital inance applica-
tions, they get inanced more quickly when applying at the dealership. Just 30 percent of customers applying online received a credit decision within 15 minutes vs. 46 percent who illed out a paper application with a dealer. The other is a lack of consistency. The top-performing mass market and luxury lenders rate signiicantly higher than the lowest performers (8.75 vs. 7.93 and 8.85 vs. 7.54, respectively, on a 10-point scale) in the most heavily weighted website attribute in the study: range of services that can be performed online. “With such erratic approaches to digitalization, many auto lend-
ers are failing to successfully capitalize on tremendous cost-cutting opportunities that have proven to boost customer satisfaction,” said Jim Houston, senior director of automotive inance at J.D. Power. “With some lenders varying widely on ease-of-use satisfaction scores for their digital oferings, a huge opportunity is going unmet by many.” Lincoln Automotive Financial Services ranks highest among luxury brands, with a score of 890. Lexus Financial Services (875) ranks second and Acura Financial Services (869) ranks third. Lincoln’s sister company, Ford Credit, ranks highest among mass
market brands, with a score of 857. BB&T/RAC (855) ranks second and Honda Financial Services (855) ranks third. Another recent J.D. Power survey, the 2017 U.S. Sales Satisfaction Index Study, inds salespeople remain crucial to the sales process even as the inluence of technology grows. “While customers are preparing themselves online with the best information and negotiation tactics, they still prefer to interact with a salesperson or product specialist prior to buying a vehicle,” said Chris Sutton, vice president of the automotive retail practice at J.D. Power. Continued on page 3
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