Dealer Satisfaction with Service Provider

Client

American Division of Major International Auto Manufacturer

Project

Certified Pre-Owned Warranty Program Survey

Challenge

As this client realized increased sales in recent years, they also began to receive a significant number of complaints from consumers and dealership personnel regarding the third party vendor selected to manage warranty claims for all Certified Pre-Owned vehicles.

Customers raised issues regarding the third party company’s representatives, as well as their program and vehicle knowledge. Dealer personnel echoed these sentiments and also raised issues of their own regarding the training, program and vehicle knowledge, and high turnover among this vendor’s staff. The manufacturer's management needed to know if these were merely isolated incidents within specific regions or if this was truly a national problem.

Solution

The client and their trusted marketing partner engaged PappasVolk to develop and field a survey — sent to all dealerships throughout North America — regarding overall satisfaction with this vendor and its performance. The survey was sent via email to the General Manager at each dealership and encouraged each GM to include Service and Sales Managers in a collaborative discussion when completing the online survey.

The survey was developed and hosted by PappasVolk and asked the dealer teams to answer 21 multiple choice and scaled questions. Also included were a series of open-ended (short-answer) questions developed to provide specific insight into the warranty service process.

Results

Our on-time and on-budget delivery of this project yielded a 67% response rate and provided highly detailed — and actionable — data to the client's management team. Thanks to the insights captured through the survey process, the management team was able to work with the vendor to identify and address specific areas for improvement. The information gathered allowed the team to develop a detailed training regimen and new hiring guidelines for the third party's customer-facing representatives. Overall, the client's team has seen measurable improvement in dealership satisfaction with the third-party company as well as improved performance by this vendor, including more frequent visits and significantly decreated turnover among this vendor’s on-site representatives.

• Survey sent to 175 dealerships;
• Survey consisted of 21 multiple choice/scaled questions, and 4 open ended questions;
• Responses received from 67% of dealerships invited to participate;
• 100% of respondents completed the full survey.