• by Karl Greenberg , December 8, 2009

Domestic automakers dominated this year's J.D. Power & Associates Sales Satisfaction Index. Among luxury brands, Jaguar took top honors for the second year in a row. Following Jaguar are Cadillac, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz (in a tie) and Land Rover. Mercury ranks highest among mass market brands in the study, an analysis of the new-vehicle purchase experience based on dealership facility; salesperson; paperwork /finance process; delivery process; and vehicle price.

The firm says Mercury performed well in all five of those factors. After Mercury came Smart, Buick, Pontiac and Chevrolet. The firm says all seven Ford and GM mass-market brands rank above the segment average. Of the above-industry average mass-market brands, only Mini, Subaru and Suzuki are imports.

Chrysler's three brands are the only domestics below industry average at retail. BMW's Mini unit is the most-improved brand in the study, rising 16 rank positions from last year to sixth place for 2009.

In the study, the entire industry did better this year than last at retail, with automakers improving by 11 points this year versus 2008. Of the 38 brands included in the study, 29 have improved from 2008.

Jon Osborn, research director at J.D. Power, tells Marketing Daily dealers are more sensitive and are spending more time with buyers. "There are so few buyers out there in the market that when you have qualified buyers in the store, you are going to do everything to please them and close the sale," he says, adding that dealers are spending 15% more time with buyers.

He adds that domestics have moved up. "In the top ten there used to be just Mercury and Buick." He says that non-luxury brands have also moved up, with five of the top ten brands now mass-marketing brands. Toyota moved slightly down, from 25th to 29th place this year.

The firm also found that more than one in five shoppers who leave a dealership without purchasing a vehicle do so because they experienced poor treatment or dealer performance issues such as pricing games and sales pressure tactics. Of those who leave, 43% finally purchase from the same brand, albeit from another dealership, and 57% depart the brand. The firm says those auto apostates constitute 12% of total new vehicle sales.

The study -- based on 48,000 new-vehicle buyers who purchased or leased in May or June this year -- found that on average, new-vehicle buyers shop at fewer than three dealerships, and that nearly half visit only the dealership where they end up buying a vehicle.

Also, customers who have a particularly satisfying experience at the first dealership they visit are less likely to shop other dealers. Per the firm, 35% of buyers on average previously purchased from the same dealer from which they purchased this most recent vehicle. But Osborn says that number comes with caveats. "It isn't necessarily their previous vehicle. It could have been 10 years ago they bought from this dealer; it could have been a used vehicle they purchased previously; and many dealers sell multiple lines of vehicles, so this should not be interpreted as a measure of brand loyalty," he says.

A bad experience can have bad results for dealers, says Osborn. "You tend to tell a lot more people about a bad experience than a good one," he says. "Word of mouth for dealerships is very powerful." While the greater the satisfaction, the greater the positive word of mouth and vice versa, more people are told negative comments when the experience is unacceptable than positive recommendations when the experience is "outstanding," per Osborn.