Fiat dealers (almost) bottom of the pile in the UK
April 18th, 2008In January Fiat UK Managing Director Andrew Humberstone made a pledge that he would be taking a hands on approach to bringing up the standard and reputation of the UK Fiat dealership network. Well, if a survey of around 32,000 UK motorists recently published by magazine Auto Express is anything to go by, he’s going to have his work cut out.
The Driver Power Dealer Survey canvassed the car buying public’s opinions on a range of criterea to paint a balanced picture of people’s overall dealership experience, and Fiat came a lowly 29 out of 30 overall.
This probably comes as perplexing, and certainly challenging news for new Fiat Group UK Sales Director Andrew Sproston, who took up his new position at the company this past Monday.
The broken down results show Fiat dealers as coming in the following positions:
- 20th for Value for money
- 29th for Standard of Workmanship
- 30th for Technical knowledge
- 30th for helpfulness and attitude
- 29th for Communication
- 30th Cleanliness and Atmosphere
It appears to us at NF500 that only the 20th place for “Value for money” saved Fiat’s dealerships from receiving the wooden spoon in this particular survey.
The Fiat 500, as the European wide “500% Fiat” marketing campaign reminds us all, is indented to be the embodiment of a completely fresh and revitalised Fiat. If these results really are anything to go by, along with some recent worrying reports from Fiat 500 owners and would-be owners on the new Fiat 500 forums, Fiat could do with taking a serious look at the dealership network and find out what they can do to improve their reputation “on the street”. If customers are being treated well by dealerships, word gets around, no matter how slick and polished your promotional work may be.
Credit to James on the forums for pointing this one out to us.
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April 18th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Not my recent experience at all.
The old cliches are still alive and well it appears.
Perhaps it is a case of managing expectations, and people expect a lot more these days?