After presenting the meatiest part of our 38th Annual Dealer Survey in the October issue, it’s time for dessert: dealer ratings of their A3 and A4 OEMs, leasing partners, production print vendors, software partners, and OEM dealer meetings. We also identify dealers’ biggest concerns, which continue to be extremely relevant in capturing the pulse of the industry.
But how about those ratings? Dealers and vendors love seeing the ratings, even though most dealers do not sugarcoat their comments when explaining their ratings. We doubt you will find many surprises here. Ratings are usually fairly consistent in these categories year over year, but it is still interesting to review the results.
After a five-year hiatus, we have asked dealers to rate their OEM dealer meetings again. This is a tricky category because few OEMs schedule a national dealer meeting every year, which means dealers are either voting on a meeting from two years ago or a regional meeting. That’s okay. We are simply looking to gauge how these national or regional meetings meet the needs of the Big Six OEMs’ dealers.
We think you’ll find the ratings and the comments particularly enlightening. On the subject of comments, for the past three years, we’ve been including representative comments from dealers to explain their ratings of their A3 and A4 providers, as well as their primary leasing partner. Don’t miss this commentary.
What we find particularly interesting and sometimes amusing is the differences of opinion that dealers have about their OEMs. One dealer may say that their OEM does a terrific job in a certain area, while another slams their OEM for the same area.
If you have any suggestions for additional questions or areas that we should explore in our 39th Annual Dealer Survey next year, we’d love to hear from you. We’ll update our Survey questions in January, so now’s the time to send suggestions. You can email me at scullen@cannatareport.com. This industry is constantly evolving, and our Survey must evolve right along with it. And one of the best ways for us to do that is with your help.
