Brian Joss – The annual National Automobile Dealers’ Association (NADA) Dealer Satisfaction Index Survey Awards took place at WesBank’s head office in Fairlands, Gauteng, last week, NADA Thursday which represents franchised passenger and commercial vehicle retailers in South Africa, brought under one roof dealers, manufacturers and significant industry stakeholders to the event.
The Nada DSI survey, which marks its 24th anniversary this year, is carried out annually to monitor the health of the relationship between dealers and their respective manufacturers. It provides the dealer body with a platform to provide manufacturers and importers with robust feedback. Over the years, the outcomes of the survey have been used by dealer councils and manufacturers as an effective management tool to address areas of concern and improve service delivery throughout the entire value chain to the ultimate benefit of the consumer.
“Dealers and OEMs are both faced with industry and business challenges alike and the survey forms a vital link in the relationship between the two parties in opening up channels of dialogue. It is encouraging to see that, over the past 24 years, the Nada dealer survey has become a reliable and respected tool to identify any potential issues affecting the working relationship between retailers and respective manufacturers,” says chair, Mark Dommisse.
“This year, we listened to our dealers’ input and changed some of the questions in the survey, in order to focus on the things that dealers notice and find important. Even with the changes, the purpose of the study remains the same.
“The steady upward movement of the average dealer satisfaction level is encouraging,” Dommisse adds.
“This year’s results saw an upward shift from many of last year’s bronze award winners to silver, and from silver award winner to gold, clearly demonstrating the strengthening of relationships between dealers and OEMs. In addition, this year two Platinum Awards were presented, last year there were none,” concludes Dommisse.
The results for the awards are calculated from a scorecard with questions given various weightings. Bronze winners score between 65 and 69.9 points, Silver between 70 and 74.9, and Gold between 75 and 84.9. Platinum winners score greater than 85 points.
Toyota Motor Company of South Africa won two Platinum Awards this year following outstanding ratings in both Passenger/LCV and Commercial Vehicle categories.
The Most Improved Passenger/LCV Award went to GWM, which went from Silver to Gold this year with an overall improvement of 9.2 points.
Most improved Commercial Vehicle OEM award went to Tata Commercial Vehicles, showing an upward movement of 7.5 points and catapulted them from a Bronze to Silver this year.
Summary of results:
| Passenger/ LCV | |
| Award | Manufacturer or Importer |
| Most Improved | GWM |
| Platinum | Toyota Motor Company of South Africa |
| Gold | Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Mazda, Mini, Lexus, Volvo, Kia, Haval, Datsun, Suzuki, Mahindra, Ford, BMW, Renault, Volkswagen |
| Silver | Nissan, GWM, Audi, Subaru, Isuzu, Mitsubishi |
| Bronze | Opel |
| Commercial Vehicles | |
| Award | Manufacturer or Importer |
| Most Improved | Tata Commercial Vehicles |
| Platinum | Hino |
| Gold | UD Trucks |
| Silver | Mercedes-Benz Trucks, Fuso, Tata Commercial Vehicles |
| Bronze | FAW, Isuzu Trucks, MAN |
CAPTION: From left: Gary McCraw, director, National Automobile Dealers’ Association; Ghana Msibi, WesBank, executive head of Motor, Mark Dommisse, chairperson, National Automobile Dealers’ Association and Mike Mabasa, executive director and CEO of NAAMSA
