AutoPacific Press Release: Study of Customer Experience Shows Dealers Underperform

08/12/96

AUTOPACIFIC STUDY ADDS FUEL TO FIGHT FOR USED CAR BUYERS

    SANTA ANA, Calif., July 23 -- Traditional dealers
continue to underperform for their used car customers.  In everything
from their initial contact with the customer to the knowledge level of
their salespeople, dealers score far lower with used car buyers than
with new ones.  This may not, however, translate into an easy victory
for used car superstores.
    A nationwide survey of 10,700 vehicle buyers for AutoPacific's
Vehicle Acquisition Preference Study asked consumers about their
dealership experience.  "Our findings should simultaneously encourage
and scare the hell out of the emerging used car superstores," stated the
firm's president George Peterson, "because the problems used car buyers
have with traditional dealers are very real, but they're also very
fixable."
    In rating over twenty aspects of their purchase experience, used
vehicle buyers scored dealers lowest on relational issues.  They were
33% less likely, for instance, to be "extremely satisfied" with the
courtesy of dealer staff than were new car acquirers.  When asked about
their dealer's explanation of service, used buyers were not even half as
likely to say they were extremely satisfied.  Similar stores resulted
when buyers were asked about sales staff pressure tactics and honesty.
    According to Peterson, all of this could be fatal for dealers and
manufacturers otherwise exhibiting the ability to do things right.
"What we're seeing is a ridiculously wide gap in customer service where
the only real difference is the age of the car being sold.  Which
doesn't bode well for automakers faced with ever-increasing numbers of
off-lease vehicles to be marketed by their dealers.
    "Every time a dealer doesn't get it right, the superstores are
empowered.  The manufacturers need to seriously consider whether they
want that.  If they don't, they'd better start devoting some resources
to learning about used vehicle buyers," warns Peterson.  Dealers can,
indeed, perform better.  What remains to be seen is whether they can do
so in time.

    AutoPacific, Inc. is a future-oriented automotive marketing and
product consulting firm.  Each year it publishes a variety of syndicated
studies including the Vehicle Acquisition Preference Study.  The firm
also conducts extensive proprietary research and consulting for
manufacturers, marketers, distributors, and suppliers.  Headquartered in
Santa Ana, California and with offices in Detroit, Michigan, the firm
works exclusively in the automotive industry.