Hyundai Pips Maruti And Tata To Top After-Sales Customer Satisfaction Index

In mid-October, we reported that Mahindra had surpassed every other carmaker in India to claim the top spot in the 2017 sales satisfaction index, in a survey conducted by JD Power. Now though, we have a new report that talks about the after-sales service given to vehicle owners by automakers in India. As per the survey conducted, Hyundai has edged past Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors to claim the top spot amongst mass market brands.

Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors shared the second spot with 893 points, while the South Korean carmaker claimed the first rank with 923. The points are given on a scale of 1,000 points and various parameters such as service initiation, service quality and service facility are taken into account.

Here's the bifurcation of the weightage given to five different factors that contribute to overall customer satisfaction for after-sales service - service initiation (11 per cent), service advisor (14 per cent), service facility (14 per cent), vehicle pick-up (17 per cent), and service quality (43 per cent).

The 2017 study was conducted on responses from 7,878 new-vehicle owners who purchased their vehicles between May 2015 and August 2016. Given below is a crux of several interesting observations:

' 79 per cent of vehicle owners received all relevant advisor-led communications, such as multi-point inspection of vehicle, review and explanation of work pre- and post-service, etc. This led to a 23-point increase in overall satisfaction
' Non-compliance with the above-mentioned aspects resulted in a 41-point drop in overall satisfaction
' Compared to last year's study, the average satisfaction for this segment dropped by 3 points (877 vs 880)
' Among the factors which led to this drop in average score, the greatest contribution were from these three - service initiation, service advisor and service facility
' 87 per cent of vehicle owners were satisfied with the work that was carried out, including washing and vacuuming
' Overall satisfaction among those 87 per cent customers was 13 points higher than the rest of the 13 per cent
' 24 per cent of the overall sample size indicated that they chose to remain at the dealership while their car was being worked upon
' Of those 24 per cent, 58 per cent of customers said they were given amenities like internet access, televisions, mobile charging points, etc., which is 24 per cent more than last year

Want to see where your carmaker came this year? Refer to the graph below.

While this survey gives an interesting insight, the small sample size for such studies remains to be a big question mark. Another aspect worth considering is the area segmentation in a country as big and diverse as India. Different areas will have different challenges and different types of customers. Do tell us what you think in the comments section below.