Dealer satisfaction relating to the competitiveness of manufacturers’ finance programmes fell slightly in the National Franchised Dealer Association’s Winter 2015 Survey on Dealer Attitudes.
Dealers were asked to rank their satisfaction out of 10, and the average score was 7.3, down slightly from 7.5 recorded in the 2014 summer survey.
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There was disappointment among Ford dealers, whose satisfaction in the competitiveness of Ford Credit fell from 8.3 to 7.2 between winter and summer. Vauxhall and Volkswagen dealer satisfaction ratings fell from 8.2 at both to 7.7 and 7.5 respectively, while BMW also saw a drop from 8.0 to 7.3.
However, not all dealers were dissatisfied. In the same period, Volvo satisfaction grew from 5.9 to 6.9, and Hyundai dealer satisfaction with finance grew from 6.5 to 7.4.
There was also a small drop in how satisfied dealers were with the reasonableness of the finance penetration and renewal targets set – from 7.1 in the summer to 7.0 in the winter.
Volvo was again one of the big winners in this question, rising from a 5.5 rating in the summer to 6.7 in winter. Volvo finance is provided by Santander. Honda dealers rated their satisfaction at 6.7, up from 5.7 in the winter.
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By GlobalDataOn the other end of the spectrum, Volkswagen dealer satisfaction fell from 7.8 to 6.3 and Skoda dealer satisfaction fell from 6.6 to 5.7.
There was a similar response to the question "how satisfied are you with the earnings potential of your manufacturer’s finance programme," which fell from 6.9 in the summer to 6.7 in the winter.
When it came to earnings potential, Mitsubishi and Subaru lagged behind the average, at 4.8 and 4.6 respectively.
A final question on the reasonableness of the underwriting stance and customer service aspect of manufacturer finance programme showed the familiar slight dip from 7.4 to 7.3.
Louise Wallis, NFDA business development consultant, said: "Finance Penetration did grow steadily over the period of the survey, however dealer satisfaction with finance fell. This is in part down to dealers finance houses harder to deal with because of new FCA lending requirements and issues over customer affordability tests. Also dealers have been finding their relationship with their finance house more difficult particularly with contract negotiations.
In conclusion dealers remained more satisfied with the finance offerings than they were overall with manufacturers: when asked "How would you rate your manufacturer overall on a scale of 1 to 10?" the average response was 6.5, a lower number than in any of the specifically finance related questions.
