Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), the apex national body of Automobile Retail in India announced the outcome of Dealer Satisfaction Study 2024 results which was undertaken in association with PremonAsia, a consumer-insight led consulting & advisory firm based out of Singapore.
Commenting on the release of the study, FADA President, Mr. C S Vigneshwar said, “I extend my sincere gratitude to the over 1,500 Dealer Principals, representing nearly 4,500 outlets across India, who contributed to this year’s DSS study. Their invaluable feedback underscores the continued need for deeper collaboration between OEMs and Dealers to address key areas of concern. The 2024 findings highlight critical areas for improvement, particularly in the support for buy-back policies on unsold spare parts and the implementation of more dealer-friendly inventory management norms for new vehicles—both of which are essential to ensuring the financial stability of dealerships.
Despite these challenges, Dealers have expressed strong satisfaction with the reliability and diversity of OEM products, which continue to serve as key strengths in the Dealer-OEM relationship.”
PremonAsia Director and COO, Mr. Rahul Sharma said, “The Dealers continue to assign higher importance to After-sales and Business Viability related issues. While there have been improvements made by OEMs in all the areas, the expectations on ensuring Dealer viability, particularly related to OEMs buyback / deadstock inventory and understanding the dealer cost structure are still flagged as concern areas across the industry. Addressing these concerns through involving dealers in the policy making and hearing them will certainly go a long way in managing dealer expectations better.”
Segment-wise Performance:
In the four-wheeler mass market segment, JSW MG Motor emerged as the top performer with a leading score of 866 points, the highest across all segments. This shows the brand’s commitment to maintaining strong relationships with its dealers and addressing key concerns effectively. Mahindra & Mahindra followed with 837 points, and Hyundai Motors India came in third with 834 points. Notably, Tata Motors showed the most significant improvement in this segment, increasing its score by 98 points from the previous year, ending at 826 points.
In the two-wheeler segment, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) maintained its position as the leader for the fourth consecutive year, scoring 805 points. Despite a slight decline in the overall dealer satisfaction score for this segment, HMSI continues to set the benchmark. Other significant players include Royal Enfield, with a score of 711, and Hero MotoCorp and TVS Motor, both tied at 670 points.
The commercial vehicle segment saw Ashok Leyland taking the top spot with 817 points, surpassing its previous performance. Bharat Benz made its debut in the top three with a score of 784 points, indicating its growing presence and dealer satisfaction in this market. VE Commercial Vehicles (Eicher Motors) slipped to third place with 757 points, while Tata Motors’ commercial vehicle division ranked fourth with 686 points.
While 4-wheeler mass market dealers are more satisfied compared to last year, Dealer satisfaction in the 2-wheeler and CV segments has declined.
Opportunities for enhancement:
- Provide support in clearance of above 60 days ageing vehicle stock
- Provide support in clearing unsold vehicle stock at change of calendar year
- Increase in warranty labour rates for better gross margin in workshops
Segment specific observations:
- In 4-Wheeler Mass Segment, dealers expressed concerns about the buyback or write-off policy for unsold spare parts inventory and the need for support in covering the carrying costs of stocks in transit. They also highlighted the importance of ensuring dealership viability, overall profitability, and greater involvement in OEM policymaking. However, dealers expressed satisfaction with the OEM’s extended warranty policy, as well as the reliability and range of products offered to customers.
- In Commercial Vehicle Segment, dealers emphasized concerns regarding vehicle sales margins, overall dealership profitability, ensuring long-term viability, and a stronger desire for involvement in OEM policymaking. Dealers were quite happy with the overall product range and quality of fully built vehicles, and expressed satisfaction with the responsiveness of the OEM sales team
- In 2-Wheeler Segment, the biggest concern which the study highlighted was OEMs were not supportive on buy back of dead stock of parts and they were not open to dealer inputs in terms of policy making and multi-brand outlets point of view. On the positive side, the study found that OEMs were fair in acceptance and rejection of warranty claims, product reliability & range as well as the training program for customer facing team.
