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Want happier customers? Chris Sutton can help.
As director of automotive retail service at J.D. Power and Associates, Sutton has helped survey thousands of consumers on their car-buying experiences for Power's annual Sales Satisfaction Index.
Customer responses to the survey category "Working out the Deal," are linked to the F&I department. Sutton shares these tips for giving customers an aggravation-free car-buying experience.
1. Keep it clear. Scores improved in this year's SSI for "Clarity of document review." Despite jokes in the popular culture about fine print and sleight of hand, as well as calls for simpler loan documents by agencies such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Sutton says that most people give dealerships good marks for explaining the necessary documents. That can be time-consuming. But within reason, customers don't penalize the dealership for being thorough as long as they feel their time isn't being wasted, he says.
2. Adopt a simple, transparent process. Customers associate some routine dealership practices with dishonesty. Customers can become suspicious when:
• There are too many hand-offs.
• The F&I manager or salesman needs to check with a manager for approval.
• The F&I department quotes a higher price than the salesman quoted earlier.
Complaints about these practices cause SSI scores to suffer, J.D. Power says.
3. Make it snappy. Buyers in the 2011 study, published this month, gave dealerships a higher grade for "Timeliness of paperwork process," an area that traditionally drags down the average.
"Customers definitely want that F&I process to go quickly," Sutton says. "Satisfaction is best when F&I review takes 15 minutes or less, which may not always be realistic, and it really drops off after 30 minutes."
Dealerships should bear in mind that customers may take it out on the F&I manager if they're kept waiting, even if the actual paperwork doesn't take long. Says Sutton: "Being kept waiting continues to be a customer issue."
You can reach Jim Henry at autonews@crain.com.
