Ford Ranked Seventh In 2024 U.S. Sales Satisfaction Study

When it comes to customer satisfaction, Ford dealers have produced middling results in various recent studies focused on that topic, including the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) 2024 Automobile Study, which found that among all mass market automotive brands, Ford ranked eighth. As for J.D. Power’s long-running U.S. Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) Study, Ford hasn’t fared too terribly well over the past few years either, though it did post an improvement in the just-released 2024 version of the U.S. SSI Study.

Between 2020 and 2021, Ford dealers fell from fourth to 10^th in the 2021 U.S. SSI, scoring 790 out of 1,000, and in 2022, moved up to eighth with a slightly better score of 791. However, last year, The Blue Oval fell back down to 10^th among all mass market brands with a score of 794 out of 1,000. Now, after a few years of somewhat disappointing results, Ford has risen back up to seventh place in the latest version of the U.S. SSI Study thanks to a much-improved score of 805 points That ranks Ford above the mass market average of 798, and behind only Mini, Buick, Subaru, Nissan, GMC, and Chevrolet.

The J.D. Power U.S. Sales Satisfaction Index Study is designed to measure customer satisfaction with the sales experience when purchasing a new vehicle, as well as those that opted to do so from a different dealer after rejecting one. It derives these rankings from six factors – delivery process; dealer personnel; working out the deal; paperwork completion; dealership facility; and dealership website. Rejecter satisfaction is based on five factors – salesperson; price; facility; variety of inventory; and negotiation. The 2024 version of the U.S. SSI Study is based on the responses of 34,596 buyers who purchased or leased a new vehicle between March and May of 2024, and this year, overall satisfaction rose from 793 to 801, largely due to improvements in pricing and inventory.

“In 2023, improvements in new-vehicle inventory and pricing moved customer satisfaction in an upward trajectory from the lows of 2022, and that’s apparent again this year,” said Stewart Stropp, vice president of automotive retail at J.D. Power. “It marks a return to form. As shoppers see a wider variety of vehicles to choose from, pricing becomes more competitive across the market. But this year’s study shows satisfaction with other parts of the sales experience has not improved nearly as much. Plenty of opportunity remains to optimize the path to purchase.”