Consumer Satisfaction with Automobiles Fell for Third Year Amid Increased ... - StreetInsider.com (blog)
Car buyer satisfaction is down for a third straight year as prices rise and recalls continue, according to new data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Customer satisfaction with automobiles falls 3. 7 percent to 79 on ACSI’s 100-point scale. Car owners report a 40 percent increase in recalls compared to the second quarter of 2014, which – along with rising prices – is damaging driver satisfaction. “Higher prices are clearly hurting car buyer satisfaction, but low prices also have artificially inflated satisfaction in the years prior,” says David VanAmburg, ACSI Director. “The government’s Cash for Clunkers program helped push driver satisfaction to its highest level ever in 2009 – and heavy discounting as the economy recovered kept satisfaction up for a while. The customer satisfaction levels the auto industry is seeing now are more consistent with historical ACSI data. Among 27 nameplates tracked by the ACSI, 15 lose ground in customer satisfaction and only 2 improve from a year ago – both foreign-made. Foreign-made cars have a significant advantage in customer satisfaction and 77 percent of the above-average nameplates in the ACSI are imports. Source: www.streetinsider.com
