Ford Dealers Rank Below Average In 2024 Canada Service Study

In the recent past, Ford hasn’t ranked terribly well in J.D. Power’s Canada Customer Service Index – Long-Term (CSI-LT) Study, which measures service usage and satisfaction among the owners of vehicles that are 4-12 years old, and analyzes the customer experience in both warranty and non-warranty service visits. That was once again the case with the latest version of that study as well, which was just released.

This year, Ford dealers (including Lincoln) finished with a score of 796 out of 1,000 possible points, landing just under the segment average of 800. However, that also ranked Ford dealers behind almost every other brand, save for Hyundai, Nissan, Kia, Stellantis, BMW, and Subaru. Lexus topped the list, ranking far ahead of second-place Mercedes-Benz with a score of 836 versus 818 for the latter. These results also mimic those posted by both Ford and Lincoln in the 2024 version of J.D. Power’s U.S. Customer Service Index (CSI) Study, too.

This year’s CSI-LT Study is based on responses from 8,750 owners and five factors that J.D. Power uses to calculate overall satisfaction with dealers – service quality, vehicle pick-up, service facility, service initiation, and service advisor. This time around, it found that customers are facing rising costs in terms of maintenance and repairs, though higher new vehicle prices and interest rates are also prompting them to keep their vehicles longer.

“With inflation pushing auto repair costs upward and interest rates making larger-ticket items like mortgage payments and new-vehicle purchases more expensive, owners are being hit with a ‘double whammy’ and have to make different decisions in order to balance their budgets,” said J.D. Ney, automotive practice lead at J.D. Power Canada. “As more owners opt to fix their vehicle instead of buying a new one, auto repair shops have an opportunity to attract more lucrative business in this $13 billion market by excelling in the service factors that drive customer satisfaction, mainly saving time and convenience.”