Car buyers appreciate add-ons

Contrary to popular belief, car buyers appreciate add-ons and are likely to recommend dealers offering them

Car buyers are not turned off by being offered add-ons, such as service plans, finance, GAP and paint protection, and are more likely to recommend dealers who upsell these items.

JudgeService’s newly published The Power of Customer Satisfaction 2022 report identifies how the offer of add-ons is a significant contributor to high promoter scores, challenging the popular view that customers are more likely to be irritated when upsold.

Dealers offering service plans, as a way to manage running costs, had the biggest positive impact on customer satisfaction, resulting in an average promoter score of 85.3%, compared to 55.5% when not offered.

Similar results were found for GAP, achieving a promoter score of 78.8% when offered, compared to 65.9% when not. Finance also featured highly with an 80% score, compared to 68.5% when not offered, as did cosmetic repair insurance at 78.8% compared to 65.9% when not offered.

Other positive add-ons were wheel protection, paint protection and extended warranties. Customers also responded well to explainer videos prior to handover.

“What we’ve discovered is that contrary to popular belief, customers actually much prefer to be offered additional products on top of their vehicle purchase and the ability to spread these costs on a monthly basis is making a big difference,” said Neil Addley, managing director of JudgeService.

“Most dealers would assume that asking customers if they’re interested in signing up for add-ons would annoy them, or taint the relationship they’ve built up, but the opposite seems to be the case,” said Addley.

“Offering extras when dealing with customers really does go a long way when it comes to how likely they are to recommend you,” he said.

Test drives also remain highly valued by customers, with the research showing dealers with high promoter scores proactively offer them.

“We all know that bums on seats sell cars, yet test drives are not always offered and this can have a negative impact on the dealer’s promoter score as well as potentially losing them sales,” he said.

“Our research shows if a test drive is offered to customers, the dealer’s promoter score tracked at approximately 50%, if they did not offer one, they scored 20% and if the customer had to ask, it plummeted to -6%.

“Test drives are an established part of the new and used car sales process but not following through and offering them can have a detrimental impact on your business – it’s an easy thing to put right and will help boost customer satisfaction,” said Addley.

JudgeService’s The Power of Customer Satisfaction 2022 report is based on research conducted between January 2016 and December 2021 with 594,939 car buyers. The full report is available now.

ENDS

Further details and comments available from Neil Addley on 07795 665927 or neil@judgeservice.com

JudgeService Promoter Score

JudgeService’s Promoter Score is a scale of 0-10 that asks customers how likely they would be to recommend a dealer to friends and family or colleagues. It then splits the customers surveyed into promoters, passives and detractors.

If a buyer scores a business 9 or 10, they are a promoter and likely to endorse, recommend or even defend the business against criticism.

If they are scored 7 or 8, they are passive. So, not critical of the dealer, but neither are they particularly engaged. They are quite happy and may carry on using it but might also go elsewhere.

Those who score 6 or lower are detractors, people who would not recommend a dealer and may actively troll it.

To get the overall score we exclude the passives and minus the total number of detractors from the total number of promoters.

About JudgeService

Launched in 2011 by Neil Addley, JudgeService is the UK’s only customer review platform developed exclusively for the car retailing sector. By ensuring all reviews are verified and genuine, JudgeService builds a solid foundation of trust and respect between customers and sellers enabling car retailers to actively manage their online reputations.

JudgeService shares granular insight reports with dealers to help them identify opportunities to improve customer satisfaction levels, with many achieving 100% recommendation scores. Based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, JudgeService has published over 1 million customer reviews and is used by over 1,000 franchised, independent and car supermarket sites across the UK.

Issued by Curtis Hutchinson Communications