Car Reviews
Do you have your dealer This is what we asked you to power the driver and as always, tens of thousands of you answered You had many good and bad comments to give us, and on the opposite page we begin our countdown of franchise networks.
As was the case in 2012, we found your only problem was the inability of the donor identify the fault This was the biggest complaint for 21 of the 31 franchised networks included in the table, ahead of unanswered phone calls which was the most common gripe for new manufacturers.
More than 13,000 of you have reported a problem with your car in the last three years, Jeep, Land Rover and Alfa Romeo owners most likely to suffer from some form of reliability problem, but what are the most motorists found major flaws with their cars again, electrical problems were top of the list for 2013, with 38 percent of homeowners filing that the biggest problem and a fifth of you have encountered a problem with the engine of your car.
When they do experience problems, the owners seem to have become a little more courageous 23 percent said they have made a complaint to their broker, if they used a franchise or an independent Chevrolet Garage owners seem to be the most virulent, with 33 percent complaining to their broker about a problem, ahead of the SEAT drivers 30 percent.
At the other end of the spectrum, most respondents were content Visiting Specialists independent brand, with 88 percent satisfied with the service slightly more reported using an independent garage readers in the past year, suggesting more you are ready to venture outside the main dealer network to get a problem solved less deductibles But even touched the vast majority of problems with the cars of those surveyed, 66 percent.
After telling us the type of merchant that you used, then explained the reason for the choice and it was a dead heat between the location of the garage and the fact that you bought the car there, with both 44 percent Unsurprisingly, 29 percent of you who use independent specialists do because of their expertise with your car brand, while independent visit said they did so because the staff is friendly and helpful.
First place that art where Lexus is once again in our dealer countdown Driver Power The manufacturer dominates the competition in 2013, head of the table in all categories except for the value for money and even then it comes in ninth acceptable difficult to see how any other automaker will halt it or Lexus owners are quick to reveal how much they are happy with their local franchise as a shining example of what that a dealer should be like, we were told the best service I have ever received in any business, said another with such high praise being heaped on it, Lexus deserves its place as the leading light in the world of dealer service.
After finishing eighth last year, Subaru has upped his game to push Toyota in second place the extra effort can be seen in second place for the attitude and the third for the technical expertise and proprietary seem happy with their dealers Superb, friendly service; a quickly rectified the problem, they say very courteous, always helpful and very reasonable, another said if Subaru can adjust the cleanliness and atmosphere of its sites, there would be no stopping it.
Despite an impressive performance, Toyota can t keep quite in second place but then it s Fallen this year, it is difficult to find fault with the manufacturer's dealers owners are satisfied across the board, and the manufacturer is especially good keeping informed comments included the staff makes their way to make sure you are completely satisfied and they always try to organize a service for your Toyota needs deserves much credit for his performances.
While most manufacturers would be happy to sixth Honda hasn t sit on its laurels and is testimony to the standards of the brand he's risen two places to fourth in 2013 small improvements in all categories contributed to this is closer to the top three once again and Honda owners really seem happy excellent, friendly service and always willing to help, said as good as it gets, added another Honda can keep this up year next, and back on the podium for the first time since 2011.
Jaguar maintains its good work and managed to leapfrog Porsche and Skoda on his way to fifth place and its dealers even seem to do something to improve their value but it is the helpfulness of the high-end manufacturer staff impresses most always helpful, courteous and knowledgeable, was the view of one respondent Keep informed happy owners also helped the brand move the table at this pace, Jaguar could be in the top three in 2014.
A minor blunder in this end of the table can see a network of dealers and fall of a place in sixth is always impressive, Porsche is down fifth in 2012 after the owners have decreased their helpfulness dealers and how they kept customers informed Yet, overall, the owners are satisfied with the service they receive very professional, everything to time and agreed price, we were told the value will always be a weak point for such high-end brand, but Porsche still has to be happy together.
While seventh place in our chart is nothing to sneeze at, Skoda will be disappointed because it was in the top three in 2012 the standards have slipped for helpfulness, with owner slating the deplorable attitude of the technician and the ISN manufacturing does what it was, whether it is lack of knowledge and skills from the technical aspects of the car, was another comment but Skoda is still leading the table of value, with the right dealers all around attracting more praise than criticism.
It's been dazzling for Mitsubishi this year from a disappointing 21 in 2012 to eighth impressive While the value of money is still a strong point, this incredible change of fortunes is due to improvements elswhere dealers of brand are now much better at keeping you informed, and one respondent said they explain every step of the work process is, and why it is applicable simultaneously, report that staff Mitsubishi are much more useful a good result throughout.
Things looked bad for Renault in 2012 as he languished in place 23 in our table dealer But it saw the biggest jump this year, and the scores across the board have improved considerably The manufacturer seems to have paid attention to technical knowledge very helpful and quick, and they explain what they should do, was one of the positive feedback we received with such an amazing step forward, Renault could soon be sitting pretty in the top five .
Kia seems to have returned to his home, and was able to retire in the table top 10 merchant Power driver Although there were improvements in all areas, solid scores for value and the level of production led this increase retailer Best I never treated because of very personal and fantastic service director They go beyond the call of duty, was the resounding praise from an owner a solid performance.
After a steady rise in the rankings in recent years, Nissan seems to have hit a wall at some point, it reached 10 best scores in all but one of our categories, but things have changed dramatically Your BIGGEST criticism concerns dealers unable to keep customers informed poor attitude towards customers and low levels of service, owner reported another said phone calls are not made; dealer customer always chasing Hopefully, but simply the result of this year will be a blip on the Nissan folder.
Standards seem to have slipped a bit in Mercedes A brand that is proud of its appearance has seen the score for cleanliness dealers and atmosphere fall four locations Your comments included terrible and the worst service ever experienced Customer Only not the only area where things have fallen, as the manufacturing standard has received complaints, too overall, however, Mercedes is even more reason very nice and professional harm, was a summary of a player.
Volvo seems to take small steps forward in some areas but declining in others and its biggest flaw is value for money, which is at the forefront of owners complaints in Driver Power 2013 still slip costs additional to a service, said a driver other they agreed tried to work additional costs on the bill and the solution of this Volvo dealers can squeeze the table even they came out much better to keep you informed, which is the basic type, the brand needs to build.
MINI slowly regaining the form that saw a 2010 top 11th Small improvements have pushed the brand to a position of its 2012 ranking of 15 Despite its greater place in the table, helpfulness and attitude wasn t quite to zero as was the case in 2012, we have received complaints about poor after-sales and service personnel that you have to speak are ineffective and downright rude It's like a slow process, then, but MINI going in the right direction.
Land Rover moves up five positions in our countdown to the 15th If one could simply set the cost of maintenance and repairs, it could still be more successful once again, it is ranked lower our table for value prices are sometimes three times more than in another, said an owner generally good, but very expensive, but added another Land Rover has managed to improve the previously poor scores for helpfulness and attitude of its dealers.
Alfa dealers seem to yo-yo up and down Driver Power table, the network is back to its 2011 position of 16 this year The manufacturing standard has improved 13 places a major jump, which is reflected in the comments as always exceptional service and a premium service, can not fault them the technical knowledge score increased by the same amount, with one respondent saying knowledge of the car is unparalleled hopefully, Alfa can maintain these high standards the 'next year.
A place in the survey dark 27 2012 appears to have generated some action in Mazda dealerships, and improvements across the board means an increase of 10 in our countdown If it continues like this, there no reason why shouldn t be getting manufacturer nearly 10 top next year the big change was the attitude of staff very reliable dealers, courteous, said a Mazda owner very helpful and knowledgeable, reported another and after this good work, Mazda should be commended.
Last year, Vauxhall broke into the top distributor of the table 10 a great success for one of the top selling manufacturers in the UK But the success was short-lived The technical knowledge score took most successful, and there were many problems here you told us dealers t didn mark correct the problems listed several times the quality of work also fell, with disgruntled owners of non-professional standards and sloppy, and jobs that are never on time or even at all.
Suzuki dealers impressed last year, finishing in 13th place, but the network has fallen down around 2013 and it is the simple things that seem to be a problem score for cleanliness and atmosphere fell and the only complaint came from customers complaining about the car being left dirty shame her, because owners seem happy enough with the rest of Good service, very helpful and cheap, says one, while another added staff is always friendly and happy to help.
Things seem to have dipped drastically at Hyundai, and he's suffered one of the BIGGEST slide in the driver countdown power this year, it doesn t seem to keep clients informed on the progress and cost labor standards have really dropped in this connection one respondent a dismal experience, saying they strung me along 10 days without car while they did not repair scores below average technical knowledge and dealer atmosphere also left Hyundai with some work to do.
It doesn t seem to be much change at Smart, which moves the chart position and when the score of cleanliness and the atmosphere is awesome, the sparkling concessions can t hide other flaws Although intelligent product a car city low cost, the owners say the price of labor is always the mark of not BIGGEST was called extortionate, while another complained that the bills are too few small improvements can make a huge difference to the overall standings.
Jeep and Chrysler dealers are combined on the same sites, and after sitting on our table last year, they've returned in 2013, and 22 is a decent attempt owners are impressed with the technical knowledge and attitude excellent service from friendly staff, proper diagnosis and repairs, very reasonable prices, owner stated Yet as dealers know their stuff, the quality of work could be better a driver complained of a supposed in which fixed technicians forgot to replace some of the parts.
Audi is about to greenhouse BMW rival in the survey of 2,013 dealership, but again the BIGGEST criticism owners is the price they have to pay a number of responses returned it with a driver complaining about their customers Audi dealers usually expensive pay for a fancy building attitudes Audi franchise employees also seems to irritate a number of drivers, with your comments, including staff was incredibly useless and lack of personal interest.
The ups and downs of BMW dealers continue and this time they're down aesthetics are still a high point, but the owners do not feel they're getting good value for money They charge too much for services that they offer, we were told many drivers also complained about not being kept informed on the issues we found damage to their coolant bottle and hadn t been told about it, and another we said they visited a dealership 12 times in order to get the problems resolved and were rarely updates on what was happening.
By failing to improve its service in the last 12 months, Volkswagen has not moved from position 25 last year a bright spot is cleanliness and atmosphere of its dealers, but the same value for money slipped this year has been a frequent criticism owners over the years another question is how consistent dealers fail to keep drivers informed about the cost and progress of work owners reported to badger for information and the staff had no time to talk to me always too busy.
Over the last 12 months, Peugeot standards fell sharply, its scores in the seven pilot categories of energy distributors decreased significantly Workmanship came in the BIGGEST criticism, with a reader that even revealing their windshield windows were poorly fitted another common gripe is technical expertise, demonstrated in particular by an experienced owner My dealer has spent a year trying to fix a rattle which turned out to be a known defect that took 10 minutes to cure they reported.
Citroën improved in 2011, to slip on the table last year and continued this trend in 2013 A major sticking point was the quality of the dealers work and their inability to solve problems with a landlord indicating its local site doesn t solve the problem directly and efficiently the technical know-how has been criticized often too Cleanliness remains a big problem for Citroën owners, while others feel aftersales priority isn ta more interested selling cars that keep them on the road.
Fell in last place in 2012, Fiat seems to be great strides in the right direction of its dealers have a long way to go, though, and the attitude of the people working for the company continues to be a problem for many of you staff were discourteous and rude, said an owner and the quality of work is still disappointing, with some players complaining also about the duration of work to complete, with the dealers do not keep to the deadlines.
Ford owners seem to give a consistent message this year While the refuge of dealers t provided the worst on the list, their service has not been described in glowing terms it is generally correct and adequate in most respects Actually a number of respondents told us that their dealership necessary to a little more effort to make them more satisfied a lack of staff also trimmed service more than once, as the failure of franchises to solve problems.
Saab has finally crashed on the Driver Power dealer table in 2013, Chevrolet takes its place, but the American brand doesn t put exactly the world descend on his debut You got franchises particularly poorly on the technical knowledge of you told us that I don t feel confident they know what they're talking about others complained of helpfulness and attitude of the staff, with a mechanical claiming the are great, but those behind the nasty little office and professional.
IT S was a slippery slope for SEAT, and today marks at the bottom of the league throttle Dismal dealerships across the board explain the crisis of society, with the value of money the only highlight one of the most common complaints is the attitude of staff dealer one respondent expected the appalling attitude to service reception miscommunication is another regular gripe, as many of you told us that you must call the dealer because it promised remember when September 27th only complaint phone calls unanswered.
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