Secrets of Consumer Satisfaction Index Scores

Customer Satisfaction Index scores are the lifeblood of a car dealership. Based on surveys filled out by car buyers like you, these scores determine how likely a dealership gets the vehicles they want. Likewise, CSI scores are often suggested as a means for buyers to determine the quality of a dealership. However, some dealers have complained that the system is flawed and in desperate need of reform.

Some of the flaws pointed out by dealers:

  • Top-Box Scoring
    Many manufacturers take anything less than a top score unacceptable. This comes from manufacturers ranking the bottom percentile of scores as unsatisfactory regardless of the actual score. For an example, imagine you took a test, and failed with a B+ just because the rest of the class got A’s.

  • Poorly Worded or Loaded Questions
    Let’s say you took a day off just to buy a car. You get to the dealership early, and the salesman patiently spends the day with you, showing you cars, and even buying you lunch. You buy a car that day, but you indicate on the survey that the deal took all day. The manufacturer would most likely take that to mean that the dealership held you up, and punish them accordingly.

  • Consumer Apathy and Angry Customers
    It’s been shown that the buyers most likely to fill out the surveys are those that have a bone to pick, skewing the results. But when many manufacturer surveys come in at eight pages or more, who can blame them?

  • Failure to Distinguish Between the Manufacturer and the Dealer
    Customers who are dissatisfied with their vehicle often take it out on the dealer in the survey. Or let’s say the manufacturer issues a rebate after the customer has made the purchase. If the customer finds out, he could feel cheated and then take it out on the dealership.

According to the National Automobile Dealers Association, manufacturers have made some progress by changing protocols and shortening surveys, but there is still work to be done. Dealers maintain that perhaps the biggest flaw is that by basing rewards and punishments on CSI scores, dealerships cater more to the survey than they do the customer.


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