Supply chain issues and a lack of microchips have led to a slump in automotive sales and now the impact is causing customer frustrations and leading to record numbers of complaints.
But despite the concerns there has been a huge boost to the sector with customer satisfaction in automotive brands seeing a significant increase in the past 12 months.
The news comes from the latest UK Customer Satisfaction Index, which has been published by The Institute of Customer Service. The Index showed that automotive achieved 80.7 points, is biggest ever year on year increase, at a time wen 14.1 per cent of customers reported problems with their brand’s service.
Two brands, Skoda (6th) and Nissan (9th) climbed into the top ten, while Suzuki (17th), BMW (20th), Dacia (32nd), Toyota (47th) and Hyundai (49th) all made the top fifty.
“The latest UKCSI results demonstrate the complexities of the current environment the automotive sector continues to face,” said Jo Causon, chief executive of The Institute of Customer Service.
“The number of customers experiencing a problem with an organisation is at its highest ever level, although satisfaction with complaint handling and overall satisfaction has improved.
“This suggests many organisations have got better at service recovery and adapted to new ways of working.
“However, wider service chain issues continue to plague the automotive sector. This is something we need to tackle if we are to improve organisational performance and productivity.
“Those organisations in the top 10 make it easy to contact the right person, show they care about their customers, and build trust by making them feel reassured.”
The highest rated organisations are Pets at Home (86.7), first direct (85.7) and SAGA Insurance (85.5).