The American Consumer Satisfaction Index released it’s Q2 results today and the news isn’t good for domestic car manufacturers. The folks at the ASCI say that customer satisfaction for the entire industry is at an all time high — but no American car companies are represented in the top four — and the bottom three in the industry are all American brands.
“The problem for domestic companies is that they now lag further behind their foreign counterparts,” said Claes Fornell, head of the ACSI at the University of Michigan. “This is not going to be helpful as the Big Three will lose more pricing power and be forced to continue dependence on rebates and discounting in a market where consumer preferences keep shifting away from domestic cars.”
The ACSI is a measure of overall satisfaction, (including customer service) and isn’t necessarily indicative of the quality of the car. Ray Wert of our car-obsessed sister blog Jalopnik tells us what he thinks the results really mean:
It’s actually just that consumers aren’t happy with American cars — and it mostly has to do with high gas prices, and American car companies having built so many trucks.
He also notes that car manufacturers essentially have no control over the customer service that you experience at the dealership, because few (if any? Tesla?) dealerships are actually owned by the car company. Sigh.
Here are the results:
Top 5 Car Brands In Customer Satisfaction (starting with the best):
- Lexus
- BMW
- Honda
- Toyota
- Cadillac
Bottom 5 Car Brands In Customer Satisfaction (starting with the worst):
- Jeep
- Dodge
- Chevy
- Kia
- Ford
American Consumer Satisfaction Index
(Photo: Ben Popken )
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I blame it on the unions.
They aren’t quality control obsessed like the Japanese. Union people are too focused on membership break rules and benefits. They never reward people for proactively improving the bottom line or quality of a product or taking responsibility for their failures. Taking someone off line for poor performance is next to impossible under most union sites I worked with.
I tend to be liberal but when it comes to unions, I think they get in the way of quality control.
@Eric Lai:
I concede that, but I think the difference was that Lexus was launched as a “premium brand” separate from Toyota. Hyundai is marketing their cars as ‘luxury’ under the name that has been synonymous with cheap for many years.
Hyundai’s strategy seems to be making their flagship luxury sedans looks as dissimilar from their lowly bargain bin cars as possible so that consumers will not recognize them as the same brand. I think when your best tactic is trying to distance yourself from your own product line, their are some mixed messages being sent.
Like it or not, in the ‘luxury’ category for anything, the name accounts for a lot of the price premium, sometimes in spite of quality (see Lincoln).
Coming of age in the early 80′s meant buying cars from lying,arrogant crapsacks at the big 3 dealerships. (Proud motto- “Take it or leave it,asshole)and a smattering of Japanese dealers in the area. (The Germans were pretty much out of the picture in those years). Now the tables have most definitely turned in favor of the buyer. After being insulted,lied to,hoodwinked,swindled and screwed to the wall, I love the current sales atmosphere just fine.I now own nothing but Toyota. Best decision that we ever made. So long,big 3. See you in the history books…
@NightSteel: In theory, that’s how it is supposed to work. As mentioned, state laws sometimes render the manufacturers with a limited amount of recourse and most of the time it amounts to a slap on the hand. Think about it, particularly in a major metropolitan market, you’ve probably got maybe 3-5 large conglomerates that probably control over half of the new car sales in a given area. They have VERY deep pockets to donate money to the re-election campaigns of anyone who maintains the status quo so far as auto franchise laws are concerned.
so 1 and 4 are the same company for the top five and in the bottom five the first two are also the same company.
so that’s like awesome^2 and suck^2.
i’ve never had to use car’s brand service. autoshop service on the other hand, that could use some tweaking.
@barty: Dealer principals/owners are very powerful when it comes to lobbying power, which is why the way we buy new cars today is more or less the same as how we did it 50 years ago. There’s a few examples that stray from this, like Saturn, who for a while had some of the highest customer satisfaction ratings alongside Lexus – probably as a result of their no-haggle pricing and great dealer experience. But GM let this slide and didn’t provide Saturn with new products for the longest time (their current lineup all showed up within the past few years). Or take Carmax – they applied the same no-haggle pricing structure and dealer experience, changing the way you buy a used car – and suddenly customers are willing to pay a premium for it.
The Big 3 automakers need to come up with something disruptive like that – and then stand behind it – in order to win back former domestic buyers like Snarkysnake who either had a bad experience with their cars or buying process. GMs and Fords might be better than ever – but happy Toyota and Honda owners won’t go back to Chevys and Fords unless they have a pretty damn compelling reason to. This means that Big 3 quality, both real and perceived, along with how you’re treated by your dealer, has to be better than that of their competition. That’s a huge feat.
I love my VW GTI and the dealer I bought it from is awesome. I wouldn’t take one of the American pieces of crap if you gave it to me
Well I just purchased a used 2007 Kia Rio which does have a good amount of manufactures warranty behind it but the dealer I bought it from will also give me a loaner if it does need to be serviced. My other choice was to purchase a brand new 2008 Accent but I didn’t want to purchase a brand new car and I couldn’t find a used Accent anywhere as I live in a small city with very few dealers and used small cars are in high demand. It has the same engine as the 2008 Accent and is much larger and has a lot more trunk space than a 2008 Accent hatchback. I do not regret my purchase at all but when you purchase a very basic car you get a very basic ride, etc. My only other choice was to get say, a Camry with around 90,000 miles on it for 9K and with a 90 day warranty. That to me is just stupid when I can spend, which I did a tad more and get a car with that still has a bumper to bumper warranty. I know it’s not the best built car in the world but I enjoy it and again, I have no regerts.
Uh, if you actually bother to follow the link and read the results, there’s not a whole lot of disparity. Wow, so 13% of people are unhappy with their Lexus dealer versus 20% with their Ford dealer. Considering that the volume of the Ford brand versus the Lexus brand, Ford dealers have several factors of magnitude of ability to screw up. That’s not to defend Ford or the other “losers,” just pointing out that rankings without any thought behind them are kind of not a real indicator on their own (i.e., there’s more data, and we’re smart consumerists, right?).
During a recent cross country move, the only type of vehicles I’ve seen being towed behind Winnebagos and U-Hauls were American branded. No Toyotas, Nissans, etc. Coincidence? I think not.
I wouldn’t have considered driving that distance either if I owned an American car or truck.
best car i ever had was a honda. worst was a vw. but best dealership buying experience was at a toyota dealer & worst was at the honda dealer next door. i walked around for 20 minutes looking at cars & even though i was the only buyer on the lot, none of the 3 salesmen could be bothered to even wave at me (so i walked next door & bought a toyota).
best dealership repair experience was at greentree toyota in danbury, ct. some yahoo teenager backed into me in a parking lot & i needed some body work. they told me 4 days & it was done in 2.
best salesman was at a ford/mazda dealership – the guy had to be 100 (he had 3 “lifetime sales” rings – i think you get those for 20 years of service or something) & i really felt bad that i didn’t buy a car from him – he was everything i could want in a salesperson – no b.s., no forced-sales, just down-to-earth “let’s find you the car you want” attitude.
i would buy american cars if they appealed to me, but frankly they don’t. i like peppy coupes with 5 on the floor, a sunroof & some style reasonably priced. detroit stopped making those cars in the mid-70s.*
*exception, of course, being the mustang, which is a best-seller in this country. imagine that! there’s a market for cars that aren’t baby-mobiles, can’t haul a yard of fill or have enough cargo room to carry half of what you own around with you! shocking!
I know this isn’t about the cars themselves, but the customer disservice. Anyway… I travel one week a month for work and I now actually request “no American cars.” I really don’t think they have a single “usability” person among them. My latest complaint was some GM I think… The window controls were all in a single row in some undeterminable order (maybe DF/DR/PR/PF?). They were at the bottom of the dashboard, so when the floor shifter was in Park you couldn’t roll up all four windows with one hand at once! The stick got in the way. Absolutely moronic.
I got a recall notice on my 97 jeep wrangler for a cat converter inspection and computer software upgrade. I take it in and they won’t even do the recall unless I replace the entire exhaust first. I also wanted the vacuum leak fixed so the air/heat works properly and doesn’t just come out of the defrosters only.
They quote me 3500 for a bunch of stuff I didn’t ask to have fixed or 1500 for just the air. I paid 7k for the jeep 6 years ago. It had about 95k miles on it when I took it in.
I asked for my recall paper back since they didn’t do the work listed on it so I could go elsewhere, and they refused to give it back.
I like jeeps, this being my third, but this article doesn’t surprise me a bit.
In 1990, my father bought a Ford Escort. Being a poor graduate student with a family, this was a substantial amount of money to him and pretty much the best he could afford. In 1992, at a grand total of 56,000 miles, the little Escort broke down completely.
Since then we have owned a 2 Honda Oddyseey’s and 3 Honda Accords. Never had a major issue. My father is looking to buy his 4th Honda Accord at the end of this year.
On the other side, my girlfriend’s father swears by Ford. It’s funny because he acknowledges their history of faulty quality, and tells me he purchases them out of family tradition.
@PoliticalScapegoat: Uh, are you being ironic? If people are driving a U-Haul, they’re obviously not driving their car. Chances are, that U-Haul is in worse condition than any other car on the road.
As for motor homes, those are all American made. People aren’t avoiding driving their cars; they’re taking their cars with them on their trips. You should hang out in the RV forums if you want real education about why some cars are preferred over others for RV’ers. There’s a lot to consider when pulling another vehicle for many months at the time for a lot of miles.
I don’t know if this is a phrase anyone else uses…”cab works”. The engineering behind the interior design including the electric windows. Anything accessible from the inside the cab by the driver.
American cars have F’ed cabworks. I know, I’ve owned 4 American cars. Now, I only buy Toyota and Nissan. I will NEVER buy another American automobile. How frustrating to have to deal with the crappy engineering.
I have to wholeheartedly concur with those who will never buy another American car (= “big 3″ car) again.
I used to believe the “improved quality” and “equal to or better than Japanese” lines. I was “patriotic” and bought a Saturn once; they said at the corporate level that they benchmarked manufacturing quality and customer satisfaction (including dealership and service) from Honda. After only 60K it went through its oil almost as fast as gasoline (3-4 qt per tank of gas, no kidding). I was told “It’s normal” and not to worry about it by several dealers’ service departments. The internet and independent service centers told me this is a very common occurrence in this car that is suposedly the equal or better of any car in its class. Traded it for a Toyota that now has over 110,000 trouble free miles on it.
Saturns nowadays aren’t anything more than rebadged Opels, and “Home of the Saturn” Spring Hill now makes GM trucks or SUVs or something. Saturn as concieved of is now extinct. And deservedly so. The rest of GM is on its way, too. I won’t miss it.
My favorite cars are Acuras. They are superbly made and perform very well in addition to being very fun to drive and comfortable. My dealer (Rosetthal Acura in MD) is wonderful. The only thing wrong with an Acura is that they last forever, so you really have to bend your own rules to justiify buying a new one. They are a bit pricey (but far less so than comparable cars by Toyota/Lexus or BMW or Mercedes or whomever else), but are in my experience worth every dime.
Note: By dickering a bit, we got our 09 TSX for about what the local Honda dealer wanted for an Accord, which wasn’t as nicely equiped and had a vastly inferior warranty and maintenance package.
For the record, I’ve owned:
1999 Saturn: bought new, ran for 60,000 miles and it was worthless except as a smokescreen layer. Meticulous about recomended and required service.
1984 Toyota light truck: bought new, drove it for 350,000 miles, sold off (gave it away, really) to a needy laborer. The only trouble I had from it was in getting parts as it was a diesel —I even had a dealer tell me that they (Toyota) “never made diesel vehicles”.
1980 Honda Civic: 250,000 miles, sold off; wish I still had it. No troubles from it. Totally fun car!
1990 Honda Civic: 150,000 miles, lost it in a divorce. No troubles from it.
2000 Acura 3.2 TL: 120,000 miles, ran like new but we wanted a new one and traded it in a month ago. No troubles from it.
Are you seeing a pattern here?
I just had a terrible salesman experience last night and it was even someone that I know. This dealership sells my grandpa a new vehicle every year, my mom one every two years, etc. I gave the guy our budget and some of my very basic desires and he proceeded to show me a car $10,000 more than my price range.
Last week, I went to a dealership I had never stepped foot in before. The salesman was very friendly and concious of what I want. He pressed for no timeline for buying and when my husband pointed out a car he liked, the salesman said, “That’s a little out of the price range you gave me but I can let you drive it if you like.” Even if I don’t buy a car from him (while they score high, I’m not sure I want a Toyota), I would recommend him to friends.
Living here in Detroit, it’s hard not to buy a “big 3″ car. After a few terrible auto dealership experiences, I bought my first Toyota in the early 80s.
The car was great, but I had to endure broken antennas, keyed doors, and even had to dodge a bullet (someone shot at me in traffic.)
The ironic thing is, my Toyota is assembled right here in the USA by American workers. Lots of “American” cars aren’t any longer.
It is a huge paradigm shift going from Lexus, Merc, BMW, Jag, even Hyundai to American brands. The Cadillac dealer I went to was just clueless about anything this century. The one time I set foot into a Buick dealership I was the youngest by 60 years…that business model might work for another 10 years or so but they really need to youthanize their brands (one way or another).
@Apeweek: See, Big 3 cars are so bad you wont even drive one with a gun to your head!
Really though, wtf?
Since I began driving in 92 I have always owned Mustang GT’s. I started buying them new in 95 and trading them in every body change. They are great cars in every way. They have NEVER left me stranded. They do eat tires and brakes but I think that’s my driving habits at work there. My Ford dealer is spectacular in service and communication.If something was to happen to Ford, I don’t know what I’d do…
@Pro-Pain: I leased an MY98 Mustang new ten years ago. I traded it off after a year as it was a terrible car (and I was only leasing it). I’m glad you’ve had better luck.
I recall the following comment from the Service Manager of the dealership where I leased it when I had it in getting a failed part replaced. I was inquiring as to the annoying rattle that came from the interior (the rear deck rattled). His comment, “It’s a Mustang…they do that. If you want a car that doesn’t rattle, you should buy a Lincoln.”
All this talk of how great foreign cars must be a little tongue in cheek. My family has owned dozens of cars over the last 10 years, big family. Not much differenc eoverall as far as I could tell regarding quality. Anecdotal evidence aside (meaning all the… I bought X car and it was crap now I buy only XY!!, reliability of American made vehicles has improved dramatically as shown by brands such Buick and Mercury beating out EVERY other brand with the exception of Lexus.
Now styling and features… still room for considerable improvement. I think alot of the supposed quality disparity has become something of self centered bias/self fullfilling prophecy. Domestic quality/performance lagged for decades… now it is just assumed by many despite all the evidence to the contrary.
By evidence I mean legitimate surveys, not the anecdotes.