Lincoln dealers haven’t historically performed terribly well in J.D. Power’s U.S. Customer Service Index (CSI) Study, and in fact, ranked below the premium brand segment average in last year’s version of the annual report with a score of 835 out of 1,000 possible points. That result also marked a sharp decline versus 2022, when those same entities received a score of 866, and also placed Lincoln dealers near the bottom of the segment – ahead of only Land Rover and Genesis. Now that the 2024 version of the CSI Study has been released, it reveals that Lincoln dealers continued to rank below the segment average over the past year, which was also true of Ford dealers.
In all fairness, Lincoln dealers did improve their score versus last year, coming in at 853 and ranking above Land Rover, Volvo, and Genesis. However, the luxury brand’s dealers still fell behind the rest of the competition, as well as the segment average of 866. It’s worth noting that as a whole, America’s dealer network as a whole improved its score by five points versus last year, though ongoing parts and labor shortages continue to hamper their efforts, regardless – and that’s especially true of EVs.
“It’s encouraging to see an improvement in service satisfaction but, unfortunately, the capacity and wait time issues have gotten progressively worse since the pandemic and show no immediate signs of easing up,” said Chris Sutton, vice president of automotive retail at J.D. Power. “Excluding Tesla owners, the service experience for BEV owners is underwhelming. As sales of BEVs continue to grow and the industry moves out of the early-adopter phase, the typical owner will not be as willing to tolerate a less-than-stellar service and ownership experience. On the manufacturer side, a higher rate of BEV recalls is also contributing to an inconsistent experience. This is an area that automakers and dealers need to address now to help make the transition to electrification as pain-free as possible for owners in the future.”
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