The Car Brands that Need to Improve the Shopping Experience

There are plenty of lists that cover the brands that offer you the best experience when shopping for a new car, but what about those brands that offer the worst experience rating? These are the brands that a customer might show at and then purchase elsewhere because of any number of factors. The satisfaction index is based upon working out the deal, salesperson, deliver process and facility while those who are rejectors (purchased elsewhere after shopping these dealer brands) are rated based on salesperson, fairness of price, experience negotiating, facility and the variety of inventory. Here are the brands that scored the worst, meaning they need to make sure improvements for the future.

Acura – With a score of 769 on a 1,000 point scale Acura was much lower than the luxury brand average of 801. When you shop with a luxury brand you expect to have a better experience and be given a bit of a VIP treatment which seems to be lacking. For Acura this is a trend as they were last in the luxury market last year as well.

Toyota – As the largest mass market brand Toyota faces the challenge of volume every year. This does contribute to their poor score, but they have improved to be above the average score this year, so things are looking up for this brand. Their score for this year was a 766 which was ninth out of the 17 mass market brands and shows a sign of moving in the right direction.

Honda – This is a brand you might expect to perform much better, but Honda has steadily been in the middle of the pack. Their score of 755 puts them in tenth place behind Toyota. This is below the market average and shows that Honda needs to make some changes to improve the customer experience when they come to shop at their lots.

Chrysler – This is not a surprising brand to have on this list. The Chrysler brand only has a few models, making the selection for this brand one of the worst in the industry. At 11^th place this brand has actually moved up three spots compared to last year, but eventually the lack of selection gets them every time.

Kia – Here’s another brand that has shown improvement over last year, moving from 16^th to 12^th to be a brand that scored a 747 this year. The brand has some impressive vehicles and makes better scores for initial quality, but they need to address the shopping experience even more in order to capture the market more than they already have.

Mazda – Someone may ask what’s going at the Mazda dealership. They have a great line of products that are active and engaging, but they scored below the market average and ended up at 13^th this year. The score of 742 was a sharp tumble down for a brand that finished ninth on the same list just a year ago.

Hyundai – With Kia on this list it’s not a surprise to have Hyundai here as well. This brand made it to near the bottom of the list after being in eighth place last year. The score of 741 could be a result of the Genesis and Equus models being deleted to build their own luxury brand which means this brand may bounce back next year.

Jeep – Jeep was in last place only a year ago as the worst shopping experience for a customer of a new vehicle. Anything would be an improvement and a score of 740 puts it ahead of other FCA brands, which isn’t really a huge improvement. FCA needs to figure out how to make the experience better at the dealers for the customers to leave in one of their models.

Dodge – Another FCA brand that scored low with a 738, putting it in the exact same place las last year, second from the bottom. This is not a good trend that FCA is creating for itself when it comes to the overall satisfaction a customer feels when at their dealerships. Whatever they aren’t doing to make the sale work needs to be fixed.

Ram – In the final spot on the list is Ram with a 733 putting it at the bottom. This is a drop for Ram which finished 15^th last year, but not a huge drop as it simply switched places with Jeep. It’s time for FCA to address this serious issue and make the changes that will help put its brands up near the average to start with.