Honda Cars Philippines tops the J.D. Power 2018 Philippines Customer Service Index (CSI) for the second year in the row. Out of a 1,000-point scale, Honda Cars Philippines ranked first with an overall score of 823.

The study, which considered 2,455 new-vehicle owners who purchased their vehicle between February 2015 and May 2017, and took their vehicle for service to an authorized dealer or service center between August 2017 and May 2018, revealed that Honda owners were the most satisfied when it came to service, followed by Nissan (822) in second and Mitsubishi (816) in third. Hyundai, which was the second-placed brand last year dropped to dead last with a score of 787.

According to J.D. Power, offering express service has become a key driver of customer satisfaction, particularly for customers who visit a dealer for routine maintenance or Preventive Maintenance Service (PMS).

“With an increasingly fast-paced lifestyle, customers in the Philippines are time sensitive,” said Sigfred M. Doloroso, Country Manager for the Philippines, J.D. Power. “Given the decline in new-vehicle sales this year, dealerships have been trying to maximize their service revenue and improve capacity utilization. The retention of existing customers through systematic service reminders, notifications for due service, faster service turnaround and improved customer experience is the key to business viability.”

The proportion of customers who were offered express service during their most recent visit has increased by 38 percentage points year over year (55 percent vs. 17 percent, respectively). Nearly half (44 percent) of those who used the express service option had their vehicle returned within two hours. Overall satisfaction among these customers is higher than among those who did not select express service (820 vs. 793, respectively, on a 1,000-point scale). More than half (51 percent) of customers who chose this option say they “definitely would” recommend the service center to a friend or relative, compared with 42 percent of those who did not use the option.

This year’s study also finds that 82 percent of customers made an appointment for servicing their vehicle, compared with 47 percent last year. Dealerships have been actively notifying their customers whose vehicles are due for service, with more customers receiving such notifications in 2018 than in 2017 (87 percent vs. 66 percent, respectively).

Following are additional key findings of the study:

• Customers prefer transparency on work carried out on vehicle: The percentage of customers who had the chance to observe their vehicle being serviced has more than doubled from 2017 (32 percent vs. 15 percent, respectively). These customers also tend to consider the time taken for the service reasonable, compared with those who did not observe the servicing (98 percent vs. 92 percent, respectively).
• Engagement builds trust: Speaking with a technician or mechanic during the service visit has a notable impact on a customer’s likelihood to follow recommendations offered by their service advisor. More than 4 in 10 (41 percent) customers who spoke with their technician agreed to additional work recommended by their service advisor. This is 10 percentage points higher than among customers who were not able to talk to their technician. Speaking with the technician also has a notable effect on satisfaction, compared to not speaking with the technician (818 vs. 809, respectively).
• Young owners want more control and transparency: Making appointments to schedule service visits has increased across all age groups, but younger customers (29 years and younger) are more apt with using the digital channels (12 percent) to schedule their next service visit than customers aged 30 years and above (7 percent). Additionally, the study finds that 42 percent of customers from this age group spoke with their technician, compared with 34 percent of those who are 30 years and older. 

Now in its 18th year, the study measures overall satisfaction among vehicle owners who visited an authorized service center for maintenance or repair work during the first 12 to 36 months of ownership based on five factors (in order of importance): service quality (28 percent); service initiation (20 percent); service facility (20 percent); vehicle pick-up (17 percent); and service advisor (16 percent).

Overall satisfaction for the industry is 812 points, a score that is not comparable to previous J.D. Power CSI studies due to a change in rating scale. Interestingly, Mazda, which topped the study in 2016, was not ranked due to its small sample size.