Car Dealer's CSI

In the past fifteen years customer satisfaction has heavily influenced the new car retail market.  "C.S.I." stands for "Customer Satisfaction Index". Every new car manufacturer has an index that rates the performance of their dealers. This index is a score of the customer's buying experience and it is calculated by responses to a survey that is mailed to the customer.

What is important to remember is that the dealer's allocation, “Hold-Back” and bonuses can be influenced by this score.

For example, a dealer may receive more new cars from the manufacturer if they have a good CSI score. Conversely, if the dealer has a bad CSI score they may receive fewer vehicles.  There are even cash bonuses paid to dealers from the manufacturer for good CSI.  Or dealer “hold-back” payments would be eliminated or reduced for bad CSI.  In other words it will cost dealers significant income if enough customers submit bad surveys.

The manufacturers would like to have their surveys answered honestly so they can improve their brand and customer service. However, because these scores are tied to financial benchmarks for the dealers, most dealers would prefer to have these surveys not necessarily to be answered honestly but rather just "completely satisfied".  This can result in the dealer "coaching" the score. In other words, salesman will essential tell the customer how to complete the survey.

As a car buyer, it is necessary to know the potential importance that CSI may play before beginning the negotiation process. For example, many dealerships will pay the salesmen an extra commission for every "completely satisfied" survey they receive.  A salesperson generally won’t discuss CSI during the negotiation.  Because if they infer that the CSI survey has value to the dealership, the customer could use it as a negotiation tool. 

 

...the dealers would prefer to have these surveys not necessarily to be answered honestly but rather just "completely satisfied".

Often, after the terms of deal have been negotiated, the salesmen will display a sample of the survey and stress the importance of “Very Satisfied” response on every question. Since the price has already been negotiated, they know this "coaching" won't affect the outcome of sale. Obviously, the manufacturers do not approve of this "coaching" behavior.

 

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