Ford Credit has historically fared quite well in J.D. Power studies, earning a third place ranking in the 2021 Canada Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study before moving up to first place last year. Now, the 2023 J.D. Power Canada Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study has been released, and it reveals that Ford Credit took a bit of a plunge in the past year amid a heated market.
After beating all of its rivals in 2022 with a score of 919 out of a possible 1,000 points, Ford Credit only managed to score a 793 this time around, which places it behind Kia Finance (809) and Honda Financial Services (804), though ahead of Hyundai Motor Finance (774), Toyota Financial Services (688), Nissan Canada Finance (644), GM Financial (549), and the segment average of 743).
Now in its 25th year, the 2023 J.D. Power Canada Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study was created using 7,017 finance provider evaluations across three segments, all from new-vehicle dealerships in Canada. The study was fielded in February-March 2023 and was redesigned this year to better capture and reflect dealers’ experiences with their lenders in their own words. The year’s study found that almost 40 percent of dealers prefer not to meet with a lender sales rep on site, but strong engagement between the two makes a huge impact on a dealer’s preference for referring that particular financial institution.
“Dealers are looking for the most effective use of their time, so interactions with lenders’ sales representatives need to be value-added whether that’s via phone, text, email or in-person,” said Patrick Roosenberg, senior director of automotive finance intelligence at J.D. Power. “While many dealers still want in-person meetings, lenders should be mindful about their clients’ time and communications preferences. How they opt to interact with sales reps varies from dealership to dealership and should be taken into consideration. The underlying stance we hear from dealers is that each communication touchpoint must be value-add regardless of channel.”
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