Mercedes-Benz Ranks No.1 In After Sales Service Satisfaction, BMW No.2 : Study

The world is going digital and carmakers have a big role to play in it. We've discussed it so many times in seminars and even in press conferences where the senior management of the company are brain storming to make their showrooms digital and customer friendly. However, a study by J.D Power India showed that compared to owners of mass-market cars, luxury car owners in India prefer non-intrusive and digital methods when scheduling future appointments, making payments and when receiving post-service follow-up from dealers. The findings of the J.D. Power 2018 India Customer Service Index (Luxury) Study suggest that while the majority of car owners say they will continue to schedule an appointment for their future service visits over the phone, 16 per cent would prefer to schedule their appointments via the manufacturer's website or app.

Luxury car owners also have a preference for being kept informed of their vehicle's service progress via digital methods, with 61 per cent indicating a desire to receive updates via email/ text message or via a mobile app.

Besides this, the study also suggested that overall satisfaction among luxury car owners whose vehicle was delivered to their home/ office after service is 40 points (on a 1,000-point scale) higher than among those who had to come back to the dealer to pick up their vehicle. The study found that nearly 74 per cent of luxury vehicle owners had their vehicles serviced within the same day. Overall satisfaction among customers whose vehicle is ready in three or fewer hours is higher than among those whose service takes more than three hours.

According to the study, Mercedes-Benz ranks highest in after-sales service satisfaction, with a score of 903. BMW ranks second with a score of 884. Speaking of the study, Martin Schwenk, Managing Director & CEO- Mercedes-Benz India said, "At Mercedes-Benz we are emphasizing on
digitization of our processes and the Digital Service Drive introduced for our customers
was a benchmark initiative. We are excited to see our strategy of Customer Centricity
bearing fruits as the study reveals that luxury vehicle owners demonstrate stronger
preference for non-intrusive Digital Touch Points, while servicing their vehicles. It is
indeed very encouraging for us at Mercedes-Benz and our dealer partners to have
come out on top of both J.D. Power Sales Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction Study
for 2018.”

The 2018 India Customer Service Index (Luxury) Study is based on responses from 301 new-vehicle owners in the luxury segment who purchased their vehicle between March 2015 and August 2017. The study was fielded from March through August 2018.