LCV owners getting top value in SA

The owners of light commercial vehicles (LCVs) in South Africa are getting a very good deal in terms of their purchasing and servicing experience according to the results of the 2015 Ipsos customer satisfaction market research of the local automotive industry which were released recently.

Not only is the LCV satisfaction with customer experience at new highs for both the purchasing and servicing experiences but there has also been an improvement in all except one of the 30 attributes – 15 for purchasing and 15 for servicing - that make up the Ipsos questionnaire.

The latest Ipsos research shows that car buyers are also very well cared for by the manufacturers, importers and dealers. The purchasing experience, at a level of 94.7% and servicing at 88.8% are at their highest levels, but in the case of servicing the figure for LCVs is even higher than that for cars at 89.9%. There were improvements in virtually all the attributes surveyed in terms of LCV customers, whereas in the case of cars there were improvements in only about 50% of the attributes surveyed.

Ipsos has been evaluating the competitive customer experience in the SA motor industry since 1991 so have immense experience in this environment.

This year a total of 23 000 customers were surveyed on either the buying or servicing experience between 10-35 days after buying or servicing their car or LCV. The survey involved 15 of the brands on the local market. These brands account for 75% of the cars and LCVs sold annually through dealer retail channels which makes the Ipsos survey very meaningful.

 The results of the survey are subjected to four separate checks and balances or so-called quality gates to ensure validity. Responses that do not comply are discounted.

While the rating by customers of the purchasing experience continues to rise for LCVs, it has flattened out for passenger car buyers.  But, in terms of the servicing experience, the graph for LCV's has been above that of cars for the past 10 years other than a slight dip below the car graph in 2013. It is now on an upward path again. Studying the purchasing experience changes in the passenger sector we see that answers to the question as to whether or not a vehicle was free of faults has improved by 3.7 points and is the biggest positive mover. It is followed by customers feeling they are appreciated by the dealer which improved by 1.4 points. By far the worst situation arises in terms of taking ownership for queries or problems when buying a car. Here the dealers were found wanting with a decline of 4.7 points in the rating.

Buyers of light commercial vehicles are in the enviable position of seeing improvements in all aspects of the buying experience. These range from the explanation of features and requirements at 0.3 points to appreciation of the customer by the dealer at 2.4 points.

The breakdown of the various attributes that form questions in the servicing section of the survey show that customers like it when they are appreciated by the dealer irrespective of whether it is a car or LCVs being serviced. The provision of transport to the next destination when dropping off a vehicle for service is also very important.

There are very few shortcomings when having a car serviced, according to the respondents, with only four points of concern. One of the aspects that has slightly decreased since 2014, has been that of the contact about progress of the service, which has  dropped by 0.7 points.

The grass is very green on the LCV side of the servicing fence with all except one attribute being rated better than a year ago. A lack of contact about progress with the servicing was also the shortcoming here.

"These 2015 figures are absolutely outstanding," commented Patrick Busschau, the Ipsos SA Automotive Business Unit Director. "The very impressive results show that both the buying and servicing experience provided by dealers franchised by the participating brands in South Africa is world class.

​"Buyers of light commercials are also not short-changed from a product, as well as a sales and after-sales experience perspective, and this is very important in view of the large number of people who now buy top end LCVs for both personal and leisure use. They pay a lot of money for many of these vehicles, which are now competing with mid to high-end SUVs in the quality and comfort stakes, and it is good to see that the manufacturers, importers and dealers are putting a lot of focus on providing excellent service to those buying and operating LCVs. The Isuzu, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen brands, in particular, in the LCV segment are to be commended for the consistently excellent service delivery when customers purchase or service these vehicles".