[syednizamudeen]

As another BHPian mentioned, we do not know on what parameters these poll was conducted.

As a end user, The customer support and satisfaction of Maruti Suzuki is so commendable. Despite mammoth sales, No company in India is as close to MS dealerships in maintaining stocks, minimum turn around time, less part and labour costs and express pick up and delivery.

Next I'd choose the Toyota. Our drivers say, they feel pretty happy sitting at the Toyota customer lounge and Toyota too maintains key parts even in the remotest of towns.

Post service with MS and Toyota, their head offices take customer feedback very seriously and the response and reliability of their vehicles are outstanding.

I personally drive a Honda in a small town. Honda too doesn't run into a problem. But, the service personnel does wrong billing, sometimes doesn't clean the car properly and they sometimes doesn't take customer's issue while taking the car for service. I always had to give them a negative review to come back behind me to ask what the problem was.

Being a MS dealer is way difficult than any due to sheer volume and their margins should be considerably small when compared to others.

As KIA is relatively new to the market and their products are selling like hot cakes. Not close to Hyundai though in numbers. When Kia's sales numbers get closer to Hyundai, then only it will be a real test for the end user and the dealer. Kia on top is not that surprising. Honda on the bottom might be due to poor customer feedbacks on the dealers. But, I personally say with 5 years of ownership of a Honda and 1.2 L Km on the odo, I spent only for the periodic maintenance, tyres, brake pads, wiper blades and disc (once).

[SideView]

I find it funny that Nissan is not even on the list.

Says a lot when Magnite is the only thing worthy that they have getting any numbers and that too with long waiting periods.

[aniketi]

Looks like VW, Skoda, Nissan don't even qualify for this survey. If they are part of this survey, I am sure they will be below Honda.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by aniketi

Looks like VW, Skoda, Nissan don't even qualify for this survey. If they are part of this survey, I am sure they will be below Honda.

Wrong assumption IMHO.

Let me state my personal experience from last two weeks.

1. Skoda - Dealership experience was brilliant and the sales guy was one of the most professional I have encountered. Speaking to the sales people in the showroom, I see they are excited with a brand new lineup - Superb is still fresh, Octavia is brand new, Kushaq might bring them volumes they have never seen (though I doubt it will meet their targets), Slavia is on the horizon for an early 2022 launch and there are even rumours of a sub-4m SUV.

There hasn't been a better time for Skoda dealers, at least those who have stuck around. The fact that Skoda is in charge of India 2.0 is even better news for them.

2. Volkswagen - I thought the dealership was closed and being dismantled, but they were open and doing a full renovation. Learned from the sales people that it is for the launch of the Taigun. SUVW might be the future, but there is a hope that the Virtus may launch next year as well. 1.0 TSI is bringing them decent enquiries despite being a decade old product. Only complaint from the sales guy was that they did not get a Kushaq for TD yet, as they had requested Skoda guys to share the car for a short TD.

Overall, there is hope for the dealers now.

3. Honda - Dealership looked deserted and empty. Sad lineup of products and I personally was very disappointed with even the flagship - the City. Part of the disappointment was the way the showroom car looked dirty - so much so that wife asked the sales guy if the car was new or second hand. No test drive offered nor taken.

After posting this in the Kushaq thread, a friend and BHPian messaged me that the dealership is confirmed to be closing down and hence the sad state of the cars.

[landcruiser123]

Kia and MG dealers being happy is a reflection of the company's product lineup. But this is survey is still taken during the phase of the initial euphoria - the brands haven't yet had to worry about things like repeat customers. Acquiring new customers is always more expensive than retaining existing ones. No surprise that Honda dealers rank low as the company lacks consistency in their product line up to do this.

I remember a time when H City was king and Civic, CR-V, and Accord brought in decent numbers too. Many (previous gen) Civic owners I know were upgrading from their 7-10 year old Citys. Today, an owner of a 10-year Honda city has no higher segment upgrade options within the brand. No SUVs, no MUVs, no decent affordable (under INR 10L) cars. A Honda brio owner today will have to settle for an inferior (no disrespect meant) Maruti or Hyundai if he's looking to buy a car in the same segment.

Even (the slow as a turtle) Toyota has a good enough upgrade portfolio - an owner of 10-year old Innova/Corolla can upgrade to a new Innova Crysta (much better car) or a Fortuner depending on his needs.

Originally Posted by aniketi

Looks like VW, Skoda, Nissan don't even qualify for this survey. If they are part of this survey, I am sure they will be below Honda.

Maybe VAG chose to opt out?

Dealer rating & customer rating have no correlation IMHO. I think Skoda has done a decent job of refreshing the Octavia and Superb. VAG is also getting some new crossovers/SUVs in their lineup. They also sell a lot of expensive spares.

Rapid, Vento, Jetta, Polo, haven't been given a platform upgrade though.

[nec2152]

It's a dealer satisfaction survey after all, not an end user survey. As disclosed by the FADA, the business viability is the most important factor ranked by the dealer pricipals/CEOs who responded to the survey. I wouldn't worry too much about such a survey result, unless the survey also takes inputs of the dealership sales, service and other staff anonymously.

My interpretation is that, as long as the cash registers are ringing, the dealer CEOs would be happy. What brings cash in are:

1. Profits from New car sales.
2. Profits from car service.
3. Also, the lower the controls from the manufacturer on enforcing ethics and good customer service on the dealership, the better for the dealer. They can do what they want, without much worry about manufacturer pulling them up for it.

The article also states that:

Interestingly, what made Kia India stand out and tick all the right boxes for the dealer fraternity includes offering one of the highest margins in the industry, and delivery time for Kia products being amongst the quickest, which leads to faster turnaround time. Higher percentage of settling of warranty claims in time and timely delivery of vehicles as per the specifications were also Kia's performance highlights.

Looking at the dealership happiness rankings from post#1, I feel that starting around Hyundai in the rankings, point 3 above starts bringing down the happiness level more than point 1 and 2 can bring it up.
Perhaps Skoda ranking was removed from the publication as it might have been too high on the list, and reflected what really mattered to the people filling up the survey

I know its too simplistic of a summary of a complex world, and I'm no expert in this landscape. Just an interpretation of the published results that came without much data about the parameters and their weightage, by an user of VW/Toyota/Hyundai and seen Maruti & Honda closely.

[Big Smoke]

This report is both unsurprising & surprising at the same time.

Unsurprising because KIA & MG top the charts. It was expected (although MG was a bit doubtful for me, but okay).

Surprising because Maruti & Hyundai dealers are less satisfied than Tata & Renault!

I can understand why Tata dealers are satisfied. About 5 years ago (prior to Nexon's existence), they were nowhere. Products were all over the place (ranging from Sumo to Nano to Aria). But now, they've turned out to be an aspirational brand for many. They couldn't have been happier.

Renault? Maybe because of Kiger & Triber & Kwid, they're happy.

But why Hyundai? Hyundai has got stellar products, marketing strategy & continually refreshes it's models. Very difficult to understand.

Maruti, as other members have pointed out, is understandable why the dealers are unhappy.

[anjan_c2007]

An amusing survey. Teambhpians who keep a watchful eye on the Skoda dealers are unable to know whether they are happy/not happy. Mitsubishi, Volkswagen and Nissan are also not seen.

In the luxury segment too, the low volume players like Porsche, Ferrari, RR, Bentley, Lamborghini and Maserati to name a few are missing.

The survey perhaps rejected all small volume players, much like students short of attendance are barred from appearing for their university/board exams.

[Mafia]

Can Honda Automobile division really leave India while their motorcycles and Scooters are among the highest sold in the same market?

Most satisfied in 2 wheelers and most dissatisfied in the 4 wheeler. Honda has to learn from Honda

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Dhillon

2-3 years back Royal Enfield dealers were in top 3 satisfied list because the motorcycles were on waiting. Now see where it has come. It shows that dealers are happy as long as they have money flowing in with minimum efforts.

Absolutely. Give the dealers volumes + profits and they're a satisfied lot. They'll even happily put in 16-hour workdays as long as there is moolah for them.

Know why Kia is on top? Here goes - Thread Link (Sales revenue per dealer outlet: Kia tops the list followed by Hyundai, Maruti at 5th!)

[Nilesh5417]

Surprising that inspite of such good numbers they make, they can't get the service side on spot. Just last week we had a new thread started on how Kia after sales is fleecing customers in NCR.
There will always be some bad apples but it is getting Kia a really bad name and sooner than later, it cements as a reputation.

[Totoro11]

In the end, it all comes down to how much money does a dealer make. And it ultimately comes out of the end customer's pocket directly or indirectly. Contrarian thinking would suggest to go with the brand having higher dealer dissatisfaction as that can offer better value for money to end customer (and probably more stringent quality controls by OEM)

Yes there is a possibility that the dealer may try to fleece you to cover for lost margins but thanks to TBHP, you would know most of the tricks

[naveen.raju]

No wonder I got a call from the top guy from HASS thanking me on my positive feedback that I gave and also inquiring on any problems that I faced.

Also, the surprising thing was that I got a call from Hyundai regional office. If anyone remembers, in my brake failure thread (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techn...-owners-9.html (Hyundai Creta: Serious brake failure issue (must-read for all owners))), I tried all means to contact the regional office and when I did, they didn't update me. Now last week, they contacted me asking about the complaint that I had raised more than a year back. So guess all this was due to this study. The guy told he will contact Hyundai, express my concerns and update. I might get an answer during the next study .

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by Big Smoke

But why Hyundai? Hyundai has got stellar products, marketing strategy & continually refreshes it's models. Very difficult to understand.

Maruti, as other members have pointed out, is understandable why the dealers are unhappy.

It's got to do with the age of their Indian presence, they sell well but dealerships are increasing by the day, errors, inventory troubles and troubleshooting too, as a result, will go through the roof, leading to more dealership stress.

Ultimately KIA and MG are anomalies in terms of automobile experience in India, KIA specially, piggybacked on Hyundai's experience and started strong from day 1, lesser dealerships mean more sales per outlet and more profit per dealer, that experience will vastly taper down as the outlets expand and the usual constraints in terms of inventory hit hard.

[buntee90]

Originally Posted by GTO

Absolutely. Give the dealers volumes + profits and they're a satisfied lot. They'll even happily put in 16-hour workdays as long as there is moolah for them.

Know why Kia is on top? Here goes - Thread Link (Sales revenue per dealer outlet: Kia tops the list followed by Hyundai, Maruti at 5th!)
Attachment 2186504

Very surprised to see average ticket size of Toyota at just 13.5L or is it a mistake.

If not then , urban cruiser must be selling in very large numbers as compared to the fortuner and Innova !