Auto Bild Finland published its annual Service 1 purchasing study in the latest issue, providing invaluable insights into the buying experience by brand and seller for both new and used cars. 

Customer service has slightly improved across the industry, yet significant disparities in customer experience persist. The average success rate rose to 79% in both new and used car sales, marking a step in the right direction. 

A Study That Moves the Industry

The magazine and its articles are primarily aimed at consumers, i.e., the magazine's readers and car dealership customers. However, it sparks great interest among car dealers and can indirectly trigger significant actions within dealerships. From a consumer perspective, I ponder if I would be interested in such an article if I weren't professionally so engaged in the industry's activities. If I were currently buying a car, I might prefer dealerships at the top of the study. However, this article would have little to no impact on my choice of car brand.

“Digital Service”

From the perspective of a digital service provider in the automotive sector, it is positive that “digital service” received good ratings across the board. The study, however, leaves a lot of ambiguity about the evaluation criteria for digital services. Examining it objectively, dealers offer very similar digital purchasing journeys and functionalities to customers. It also seems that those providing the most impressive digital services do not automatically top the list. I dare to assert that even in “digital services,” the person behind the service plays a crucial role: How quickly inquiries are responded to, how well customer data is utilized, and so forth. It is exceptionally heartening to see that a whole host of dealerships whose digital services Crasman has been involved with appear on the list of dealers who participated in the study.

Figures Without Explanations?

The article is a lengthy series of percentages, but there is little explanation about the criteria behind them, and journalistic analysis is scarce. Listing percentages and rankings is easy, but it’s more important to understand why one operator succeeded while another did not. A few open comments from “mystery shoppers” provide the article’s most intriguing insights.

As the study states, it is based on "mystery shoppers" and their subjective observations. Long-term customer satisfaction remains in the dark. What does the customer think 6 or 12 months after the transaction? How does customer service handle problematic situations – in these instances, the real customer relationship is tested, and successes determine whether the same customer will ever return to the dealership. This is particularly crucial on the used car dealership side.

Brands and Dealers

The top of the new car brand comparison was occupied by Cupra and Mercedes. BMW and Audi followed these. Such a lineup makes one wonder if premium and lifestyle brands also invest the most in customer experience. On the other hand, one would think that real-life expectations are highest among premium brand customers. There are few lower-priced brands in the entire comparison.

The critical difference between brand and dealer ratings lies in the fact that the brand-specific rating is the average of all visits made to sellers of that brand, regardless of the dealership chain involved. The dealership chain’s rating is the average of all visits it received, possibly spanning multiple brands. Comparing dealers representing numerous brands to those focusing on one or a few is challenging. A multi-brand chain's top performance for one brand and weaker performance for another can lead to mediocre overall ratings.

The Value of Specialisation

In new car sales, Veho, K-Auto, and Autokeskus topped the comparisons, but in used car dealership comparisons, the top positions were held by the trio specializing in used cars: Bilar99e, Saka, and Kamux. This highlights the value of specialisation even in the car trade.

Behind the percentage figures, there is much thought-provoking material. Perhaps it's a professional affliction, but from my perspective, the most interesting aspect is how challenging it is to conduct such a comprehensive customer study and transform it into article form.