Dealers get best marks ever from car buyers

Auto dealers nationwide are getting better at serving their customers, collectively scoring at a record level this year in a survey of new-car buyers by research firm J.D. Power & Associates.

Power said its survey also found that Toyota’s Lexus luxury unit led all brands in consumer satisfaction with their car-buying experience.

Satisfaction with dealers overall was the highest in the 21 years the company has taken the survey. The industry average score was 852 out of a possible 1,000 points, up from last year’s 847, showing that dealers were improving the sales process, Power said.

The survey measures consumer satisfaction with the dealership facility, sales representative, paperwork and finance process, delivery process and vehicle price.

Lexus rose from a fifth-place tie last year to take the top spot, Power said.

General Motors Corp.’s Hummer brand finished second, and Ford Motor Co.’s Jaguar, last year’s winner, took third.

The rankings are based on mailed responses from more than 38,600 buyers nationwide who registered new vehicles in May.

Lexus’ gain was driven by increased customer satisfaction with the dealership facility, salespeople and price, said Tom Gauer, senior director of automotive retail research at Power.

Lexus addresses the needs of each customer despite selling two or three times as many vehicles as other luxury brands, Gauer said.

Ford’s Lincoln luxury brand finished fourth in the survey, and Mercedes-Benz rounded out the top five.

True to previous years, luxury brands generally performed better than more mainstream brands.

GM’s Saturn ranked highest of the mainstream nameplates, in eighth place, just behind Buick and Cadillac.

The Chevrolet, Ford and Chrysler brands performed better than Asian rivals Honda and Toyota, but Honda and Toyota beat Chrysler Dodge and Jeep brands.

Toyota and Honda are attracting younger, more affluent buyers who are tougher graders than the older buyers who generally go to Detroit’s Big Three -- Chevrolet, Ford and Chrysler -- Gauer said.

“It’s not so much performance. It’s just that the buyers are much more critical,” he said.