Recent Press - dealership responsiveness

Daimler AG's Mercedes and Toyota Motor Co's luxury Lexus brand topped a ranking intended to measure how well U.S. car shoppers were treated in dealer showrooms whether they bought a new car or not.

The survey released by Monterey, California-based sales consultancy Pied Piper showed Mercedes and Lexus in first and second place followed by Jaguar, Saturn and Land Rover.

The study ranked 14 brands below the industry average, including all three Ford Motor Co brands -- Ford, Lincoln and Mercury -- and all three brands with Chrysler Group LLC -- Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge.

By contrast, three of the four brands that General Motors Co is keeping as part of the leaner operation that emerged from a federally sponsored bankruptcy scored above average -- Cadillac, Chevy and GMC.

Fran O'Hagan, study author and president of Pied Piper, said up to 90 percent of U.S. car shoppers now walk out of car dealerships without buying, making satisfaction with the shopping experience very important in a declining market.

Daimler AG's Mercedes and Toyota Motor Co's luxury Lexus brand topped a ranking intended to measure how well U.S. car shoppers were treated in dealer showrooms whether they bought a new car or not. The survey released by Monterey, California-based sales consultancy Pied Piper showed Mercedes and Lexus in first and second place followed by Jaguar, Saturn and Land Rover.

Fran O'Hagan, study author and president of Pied Piper, said up to 90 percent of U.S. car shoppers now walk out of car dealerships without buying, making satisfaction with the shopping experience very important in a declining market.

The Pied Piper study, now in its third year, was based on the results from 3,531 paid researchers posing as car shoppers who rated dealerships on the qualities that actual car shoppers report as being important.

Pied Piper clients include major automakers such as Honda Motor Co and Volkswagen AG as well as listed dealership groups Group 1 Automotive Inc and AutoNation.

Mercedes-Benz dealerships ranked highest in the new 2009 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index (PSI) U.S. Auto Industry Study. The study measures how consumers are treated when shopping for a new car, motorcycle, RV or boat via 3,531 hired anonymous "mystery shoppers" who go into auto dealerships and measure how each brand's dealerships treat car shoppers.

The 2009 study showed that a brand or dealership's treatment of shoppers paralleled their retail sales success. Eight of the Top 10 brands when ranked by PSI also gained market share from 2008 to 2009, while eight of the bottom ten brands when ranked by PSI lost market share from 2008 to 2009, per the firm.

It's partly the cars that keeps customers coming to a dealership, but it's also the experience those customers have in the showroom. Forbes reports that in the midst of dealership closures, several international brands, including Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, and Lexus are leading the way in customer satisfaction at the dealership. To generate its list of the best car dealerships this year, Forbes used data provided by marketing firm Pied Piper Management.

Mercedes-Benz dealerships ranked highest in the newly released 2009 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index (PSI) U.S. Auto Industry Study, one of a series of unique national benchmarking studies that measure how consumers are treated when shopping for a new car, motorcycle, RV or boat. Following Mercedes-Benz were Lexus, Jaguar, Saturn and Land Rover. The independent study sent 3,531 hired anonymous "mystery shoppers" into auto dealerships nationwide, then used the patent-pending PSI process to compile the results into an accurate measurement of how each brand's dealerships treat car shoppers.

It is known in every industry that consumer satisfaction is one of the key points in keeping your business at a competitive level. The same is true for the automotive industry.

Mercedes-Benz has one reason to be happy about how it is perceived by the customers. Its dealerships across the U.S. ranked the highest, according to the recently released 2009 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index.

"Nine out of ten car shoppers walk back out a dealership's door without buying," said Fran O'Hagan, CEO of Pied Piper Management Co., LLC. "The tough economic climate of the past year has clearly encouraged salespeople to be more helpful to the majority of shoppers who aren't yet ready to buy, but still need help narrowing-down their selection."

In an effort to see which automakers' dealers are treating vehicle shoppers the best, Pied Piper recently sent more than 3,000 mystery shoppers into various dealerships and measured the feedback.

And the dealers who gained the best marks? According to the company, they are Mercedes-Benz dealers. Next in line were dealers from Lexus, Jaguar, Saturn and Land Rover, respectively.

The 2009 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index found that a brand or dealership's treatment of shoppers tended to parallel retail sales success.

A happy customer, it's been said, is a repeat customer. Yet a surprising number of automakers and their dealers seem to almost go out of their way to frustrate potential buyers, sending them scampering over to the competition.

That's a key finding of the Prospect Satisfaction Index, an annual study by the California research firm, Pied Piper. It reveals that Mercedes-Benz dealerships ranked highest in the newly released 2009 PSI, which looks at hidden facets of sales process, and how lookers are converted into serious prospects.

It's partly the cars that keeps customers coming, sure, but it's also the experience those customers have in the showroom. While General Motors and Chrysler are closing roughly 1,100 and 800 dealerships nationwide, respectively (and surviving dealerships conjure ways to attract their customers), Jaguar joins several other luxury brands in shining through the recession's haze.

Mercedes-Benz, Lexus and Jaguar are the top three brands when it comes to consumer satisfaction at their dealerships. Along with Saturn and Land Rover, they round out the top five in our list of the best dealerships in the country.

To generate our list of the best car dealerships this year, we used data provided by Pied Piper Management, a California-based marketing firm. The numbers were collected between July 2008 and June 2009 using 3,531 anonymous shoppers at dealerships of every automotive brand, nationwide. The prospective car buyers were questioned on many aspects of their experiences at the dealerships, from whether a salesperson smiled to whether they were offered a brochure to whether they planned to purchase a vehicle from that particular showroom.

Pied Piper analysts then used that information to evaluate how effectively a dealership sells cars, to compare particular sales processes to industry benchmarks and to identify deficiencies in certain brands. Each brand was then given a score as a factor of overall sales effectiveness, with a higher score meaning better sales rates, as well as a greater likelihood of brand-exclusive dealerships.

Mercedes-Benz dealerships ranked highest in the newly released 2009 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index(R) (PSI) U.S. Auto Industry Study, one of a series of unique national benchmarking studies that measure how consumers are treated when shopping for a new car, motorcycle, RV or boat. Following Mercedes-Benz were Lexus, Jaguar, Saturn and Land Rover. The independent study sent 3,531 hired anonymous “mystery shoppers” into auto dealerships nationwide, then used the patent-pending PSI process to compile the results into an accurate measurement of how each brand's dealerships treat car shoppers.