tachyon

What makes this thread so interesting is the diversity of our experiences with BMW: some dealers are great at both sales and service, some our poor at both, and some dealers show mixed results.

This inconsistency probably is what keeps BMW from achieving Lexus-like overall sales and service satisfaction figures. I'm sure there are many BMW dealers that are just as good as the best Lexus dealers, but BMW has too many bad ones while Lexus does not.

All of this adds up to why Lexus retains 63% of customers and BMW "only" 50%. BMW ranks about the same as MB in retention and much, much better than Jaguar and Audi (37%). And since BMW sales are way up, they must be attracting a lot of new customers.

Overall, BMW ranks very well with customers on most aspects of buying and owning an automobile. Here's what U.S. customers told JD Power this year:

1) BMW ranks 3rd best in initial quality in 2005 behind Lexus and Jaguar.

2) BMWs rate near the top (#7) in overall vehicle performance, execution and layout - slightly trailing Lexus (#3) and Jaguar (#4). Porsche is #1 and Land Rover is #2.

3) BMW dealers rate much better than average in sales satisfaction. Jag was #1 and Lexus #2. BMW (#12) rates about the same as MB and is way ahead of Audi.

4) BMW's long-term dependability is slightly better than average. Lexus and Porsche are #1 and #2. BMW ranks #12. Jaguar, MB, and Audi are way below average on this.

5) BMW dealers rate average in service work. Lexus (#4) and Jaguar (#6) are near the top, while MB, Audi and BMW are all about the same - OK but not great. This is BMW's worst relative ranking.

So much hinges on initial quality, and BMW has done very well on this recently. Fewer initial problems result in fewer service calls and in a more dependable long-term vehicle. This has been the Lexus formula. Jaguar has figured this out, and MB has learned it's lesson and is rebounding. BMW is in good shape but needs to keep improving to stay with the best brands

SolanNo1

Interesting thread. Excellent responses and they seem objective too.

For me, the Sales experience was very good, except for the Sales Manager trying to use scare tactics to get me buy one of their dent removal offerings.

My Service experience has been way short of good, though. The Service dept stinks big time, from the Service Advisors upto the Service Manager. My latest peeve is that they charged me for 3 days for loaner for my car that they kept for 6 days. The SA had told me over the phone to keep the loaner for the additional days. My phone messages and emails went unanswered until the time the SM chose to respond to one of my emails in which he described the dealership's loaner policy. Apparently, the dealership only pays for 1 day for the loaner. But they should have infirmed me of the policy when I got the loaner. Not after they'd already charged me for 3 days

mr_grinche

I think these guy's forget that if you have a bad experience you tell at least 12 other people about it. Maybe thats why BMW sales in Ireland are well down in 2005, even though they are selling loads of 1'ers.

The JD Power survey ranks the E60 at No 49. Not good when the E39 is at no 30 and there is a whole host of japanese cars in the top 10 and loads of skodas ranked higher. A lot to do with the arrogant dealers and the known gremlins in the E60.

Freewilly

I had few Mercedes before. Overall Mercedes dealer and service center are much better than BMW in Southern California.
For Example Penske Mercedes:
Free car wash anytime you bring the car in (although they canceled the service this year)
Free coffee, soft drink, cookie.... all day
Free lunch with sandwishes
Free 10-15 Massage (yes, free)
Nice and friendly service people (most important)

znod

If they are that great,why don't you mention there name???????
cheers
vern
[/quote]Mine is great as mentioned, and I have mentioned my dealer by name before. Not doing so currently is part of my annonymity.