SEATTLE — Price uncertainty is the No. 1 reason a customer won’t visit a dealership’s service center for maintenance, according to results of a survey commissioned by Record360, which provides asset condition reporting app.
If dealerships want to bring those weary customers in and improve customer retention, then their pricing needs to be transparent and they need to provide greater visibility into vehicle condition, results of the survey concluded.
“It’s exciting to see that customers are asking for services that are well within any dealership’s ability to offer. Whether it’s stronger transparency around cost and the time it takes to complete maintenance or around visualizing vehicle condition, customers are asking for things that dealerships can implement right now, or with some minor technology upgrades,” said Shane Skinner, co-founder and CEO of Record360.
More than half of respondents said they wanted a free car wash as part of their visit. About 41% stated they wanted an email record of their vehicle’s condition.
One thing that would dissuade a majority of survey respondents from ever returning to a dealership was stolen property, the survey found. Eighty percent of respondents said they would not return to a service center if they thought an item went missing from their car during their last visit.
The survey polled 500 consumers that had taken their vehicle into a dealership service center for maintenance within the past 12 months. Respondents were asked about the factors that determine whether or not they’ll visit a dealership’s service center, as well as what kind of services they would want to see from their service centers.
