The average satisfaction with the standard of dealer repairs in the latest Auto Express Driver Power survey results has improved slightly from 86% to 86.1%.

The quarterly survey features feedback from 12,000 UK car owners.

Lexus dealers lead the way, heading up the brand table with a 90.2% satisfaction rating.

However, this score has fallen quarter on quarter and, more significantly, has declined over the previous year.

Lexus’ lead also came under pressure from second placed Porsche, which saw satisfaction scores for servicing & repair increase to 89.8%, climbing five places from 7th in the previous quarter.

Porsche dealers can also take credit for receiving highest satisfaction scores from customers when purchasing the vehicle, in addition to having the most loyal customer base of all brands according to its Net Promoter Score.

Overall dealer satisfaction index

1 Lexus 90.2%
2 Porsche 89.8%
3 Honda 89.7%
4 Jaguar 89.2%
5 Subaru 88.9%
6 Skoda 88.8%
7 Toyota 88.5%
8 Dacia 87.2%
9 Kia 87.2%
10 Volvo 87.0%

Steve Fowler, editor-in-chief of Auto Express, said: “Every manufacturer has been targeting customer satisfaction as an area for improvement and differentiation, but few are making a real difference.

“Until recently, Porsche dealers had a reputation for indifferent attitudes towards customers, but clearly much has been done to change that and the turnaround has been swift and sizeable.”

Honda’s dealer satisfaction ratings remained stable quarter on quarter, although the brand did drop one position to 3rd.

Jaguar scores continued to go from strength to strength, demonstrating a significant improvement in ratings, and moving up to 4th place from 7th.  Meanwhile Subaru fell one place this quarter, to 5th, to round off the top five.

Other notable movements this quarter included Dacia, coming in as a new entrant in 8thposition; while Peugeot and Alfa Romeo each experienced rising overall scores of 2.5 percentage points, moving from 23rd to 14th and 26th to 18th respectively.

Decreases in satisfaction scores this quarter came from Nissan, which experienced the largest quarter on quarter decrease of all brands, subjecting it to a drop of nine places to 22nd.

Ford, BMW and Mercedes dealers were also among those to experience declining satisfaction scores this quarter, with some also showing decreases on the previous year.

‘Technical knowledge’ was the most improved (and highest scoring) category as rated by car owners, registering 90.7% on the satisfaction index. This is up by over 4 percentage points on the previous year and is testament to the focus that brands have given to this area.

‘Standard of workmanship’ was rated as the most important to owners when it comes to servicing and repair work, with ‘value for money’ ranked a surprising 4th in terms of importance.

While scores are moving in the right direction for the franchised dealer networks, almost one in five car owners who purchased their vehicle from a franchised dealer still goes to an independent garage for servicing and/or repair work. Overall, franchised dealer satisfaction scores are still only slightly ahead of those for independent garages.