What manufacture has the best customer service?

[cmhj]

I'm sure this will get off topic fast but I'd like comments based on good customer service from the factory level with warranty issues that were not of the ordinary and or hard to fix/diag.

Many of us have mentioned the lousy service we get/got from auto companies when having a warranty or an assumed warranty issue.

But, how about the good side? There has to be more than 1.

****************************************

In the past 2 months I had a very good experience with Kia regarding an on going passenger airbag issue, which was a dramatic turn around from the service I received from Kia 18 months ago.

While the above was thru a different dealer than the first, the feedback & assistance I got from Kia was also very different than what had been received 18 months ago.

 

[wapacz]

I think of it has to do more with the dealer than the company but those are my thought. I mean you can get a dealer that hates warranty work so doesn't allow his guys to correct a problem totally before it gets sent out. On the other hand you can get a dealer that will make sure stuff is done right and push corporate to cover fixes that fall abit outside of the norm.

 

[biomed_eng_2000]

My mom's Acura TL had a transmission go bad AFTER the 100k mile warranty...they replaced it with a NEW transmission for FREE!

Weir Canyon Acura in Anaheim rocks!

 

[MrCritical]

Wow, a really complex question. You can go by the J.D. Power customer satisfaction index, but there are a lot of intangibles to consider.

For instance, I have a neighbor with a Jaguar convertible. It's probably 10 years old and has maybe 20k on the odometer. I've seen the top down twice in 5 years. The car is garaged and I've never seen it dirty.

They probably have a different perception of the service they've got out of the car than someone who put 15k miles a year on it and have operated the convertible top, all the power accessories and the HVAC system on a regular basis. To the neighbor that rarely uses the car it's great. To the average driver, it's probably an average car in terms of problems at best.

I've worked with GM, Ford, Chrysler,Jeep, Honda, and Lincoln/Mercury in my 30 plus years in automotive. In terms of factory authorization to go over warranty coverage, Lincoln went the farthest. GM now will authorize repairs a couple of years out of warranty for known problems up to 60k mileage for the original owner of a GM vehicle at their selling dealer who has been a good customer since the purchase. While not always paying 100% of the repair they will at least help.

 

[ekpolk]

I think (note my careful choice of words -- this is my opinion, albeit I believe a well founded one) that you can not answer this question meaningfully in any general sense. I had a Buick dealer simply give me a new car to a replace a bad one that I'd driven for 10k miles. I'd say that's about as good as it gets. They didn't even make me play lemon law with them. I had a Toyota store give me a new transmission on my first 02 Camry (a 5-spd manual on which the speed sensor had self-destructed, contaminating the trans with metal chunks). After the trans swap, I talked them into a new car too. That's extra good. But then I've had less-than-wonderful experiences with other makes, and some less happy experiences with Toyota (but mostly very, very good).

IMO, it really depends on a lot of factors. You can have a great experience with a "bad" brand, and an awful experience with a "good" one.

 

[jduramax]

boy did you open up a can of worms with that question......I really think it comes down to the individual dealer and the people that work there. manufacturers can be real hard to deal with. nissan used to be real good in their lean years, but when sales increased they starting down hard on dealers, which in turn flips to the guy(or girl) on the other side of the counter.
some dealers will really bend over backwards to help.

 

[brianl703]

Ford used to be pretty good but I think they started clamping down on warranty fraud a lot more and dealers became reluctant to replace things under warranty unless they were clearly bad, and even then sometimes not.

My general opinion of that is no, you do not deserve a free replacement engine if it still has the original oil filter on it at 20K! (If anyone remembers that thread).

 

[1999nick]

Originally Posted By: brianl703
Ford used to be pretty good but I think they started clamping down on warranty fraud a lot more and dealers became reluctant to replace things under warranty unless they were clearly bad, and even then sometimes not.

My general opinion of that is no, you do not deserve a free replacement engine if it still has the original oil filter on it at 20K! (If anyone remembers that thread).

But, if you have a late model Honda without the OLM, regular oil changes are at 10,000 miles, with a filter change every other oil change, or 20,000 miles. Even if an engine had NO filter, 20,000 miles shouldn't be a problem, given oil changes at a reasonable interval.

 

[2002 Maxima SE]

I'd agree with the other comments on this question coming down to how the individual dealer handles problems. My small hometown Ford dealer was awful. The Ford dealer where I went to college was great, then they got bought out by a bigger dealer and got really awful (extra work done when car brought in for routine maintenance, etc).

My Nissan had great service at the small town dealership where I bought it. I got [censored] service from the big Nissan dealer in my new town. It all rolls down hill (as they say) and [censored] managment causes [censored] service.

 

[brianl703]

Issue was, the engine was in a Ford Explorer which had a factory recommended 5K max oil interval (5K regular, 3K severe). So for it to have had the factory oil filter when it was 20K miles old with an engine that seized up due to a lack of lubrication kinda tells me that the owner didn't perform the maintenance he was supposed to, and therefore ought to be told go pound sand so Ford can spend the $3K on customers who are having problems they didn't cause.

 

[eljefino]

my sister brought a used, bought elsewhere hyundai accent to a dealer for a CEL that turned out to be a cracked exhaust manifold.

First, within the 60k warranty, they replaced an o2 sensor.

Then, out of the original warranty, they fixed the manifold, under a 1 yr/ 12k warranty on their own workmanship.

Sister never had to pay a penny.

 

[Cutehumor]

Nissan is the worst to deal with warranty repair coverage!

 

[GMBoy]

Bottom line is that dealerships are privately owned and manufactures get the bad rap when a dealer delivers poor service. yes, there are guidelines a dealer must follow to sell a brand, but that doesn't mean customer satisfaction all the time.

 

[MrCritical]

Working at a dealership, I can tell you it's very frustrating when the manufacturer steps up to the plate and repairs a known problem out of factory warranty, and then ignores the next one. How they pick and choose is beyond me.

That's where good and bad customer perception comes in. Whether or not they took care of YOUR problem.

 

[deeter16317]

Any manufacturer of a diesel pickup will be horrible to get warranty work done...to many hot rodder have ruined that by taking advantage of warranty work inflicted by power adders...

I fought to get valid warranty-covered work done to my completely stock pickup because of this...Dodge is notably the worst.

 

[Win]

Jaguar.

 

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: MrCritical
Working at a dealership, I can tell you it's very frustrating when the manufacturer steps up to the plate and repairs a known problem out of factory warranty, and then ignores the next one. How they pick and choose is beyond me.

That's where good and bad customer perception comes in. Whether or not they took care of YOUR problem.


If they don't take care of my problem, it's not just perception.

 

[deven]

Acura

 

[Cutehumor]

Originally Posted By: MrCritical
Working at a dealership, I can tell you it's very frustrating when the manufacturer steps up to the plate and repairs a known problem out of factory warranty, and then ignores the next one. How they pick and choose is beyond me.

That's where good and bad customer perception comes in. Whether or not they took care of YOUR problem.


I bet the person got a lawyer and they ok'd the repair. If you didn't fight, they wouldn't cover it.

 

[Jaybird]

I'm betting a Lamborghini buyer is taken care of no matter where he purchases his ride.