JD Power's CSI survey is out - Nothing to see here, again

[umbertob]

Same as always, Land Rover ranks dead last (by a mile and a half) among luxury brands in the annual US Customer Service Index survey.

http://www.jdpower.com/press-releases/2014-us-customer-service-index-csi

 

[jptruck]

Same as always, Land Rover ranks dead last (by a mile and a half) among luxury brands in the annual US Customer Service Index survey.

http://www.jdpower.com/press-releases/2014-us-customer-service-index-csi

I will say that my 2012 is MILES better than the 2005 LR3. There seems to be a lot less ******** about issues with the vehicle, too. The engineers are doing better at removing the bugs. It'll be just about perfect when the go next-gen.

 

[epiclr4]

I will say that my 2012 is MILES better than the 2005 LR3. There seems to be a lot less ******** about issues with the vehicle, too. The engineers are doing better at removing the bugs. It'll be just about perfect when the go next-gen.

Ha, let's hope so with the issues I have had! Only had mine for 4 months!

 

[jptruck]

Is yours a V8 or V6? The V8 seems pretty damn reliable at this point.

My 05 was a mess, all around. Bad tires, brake module caused brakes to lock at 70 mph, new exhaust system, bad suspension issues, etc., etc. All in less than 30K. My new one has 22K and nothing of the sort has happened.

 

[gamh2001]

16 months as first owner with my LR4 and no problems unless you consider your first service an inconvenience. It is our preferred daily driver and travel vehicle. I am just happy for my decision. It was way more versatile even and (surprise!) cheaper than a similarly equipped Tahoe/Denali, X5, ML350, Audi, Porsche (which is a hugely overpriced VW Touareg), Lincoln (did not bother to check such ugly car). All these cars are very good but the LR4 sure feels way more solid and safer than any.

 

[umbertob]

I think the survey (if I understand it correctly) is more focused on the quality of service you get from the dealership when something does break down than on the quality of the vehicle itself. Of course, if our vehicles were as reliable as a Lexus we probably wouldn't have to ***** about our dealers' service dept. so much... But I kinda agree with the survey that, among luxury brands and speaking in general - I am sure there are exceptional dealers out there somewhere, although I have yet to find one here in SoCal - Land Rover dealerships are the lowest common denominator when it comes to quality of service, customer friendliness, parts and service prices, loaner policies, etc. They would be doing OK among mainstream brands such as Chevy, Toyota, Ford, etc. But, as a luxury brand, with prices to match, Land Rover dealers just are not in the same league as the other brands in that list.

But, as long as people keep lining up on waiting lists to get a new Land Rover, I guess that's all that matters, they probably don't care much about silly surveys... Maybe when sales of new Land Rovers aren't so red hot anymore, their customer service will improve.

Personally, I steer clear of local Land Rover dealers for any services that don't involve warranty work or recalls. Around here they act like they are doing you a favor when you ask them for a loaner, their prices for garden variety stuff such as brakes and oil changes range between ridiculous and outrageous, and in the past it took at least a couple of visits to fix issues that they should have fixed the first time. No thanks, I trust my local indy shop 100 times more, even though I may need to get a rental for a day or two.

 

[danrhiggins]

I think the survey (if I understand it correctly) is more focused on the quality of service you get from the dealership when something does break down than on the quality of the vehicle itself. Of course, if our vehicles were as reliable as a Lexus we probably wouldn't have to ***** about our dealers' service dept. so much... But I kinda agree with the survey that, among luxury brands and speaking in general - I am sure there are exceptional dealers out there somewhere, although I have yet to find one here in SoCal - Land Rover dealerships are the lowest common denominator when it comes to quality of service, customer friendliness, parts and service prices, loaner policies, etc. They would be doing OK among mainstream brands such as Chevy, Toyota, Ford, etc. But, as a luxury brand, with prices to match, Land Rover dealers just are not in the same league as the other brands in that list.

But, as long as people keep lining up on waiting lists to get a new Land Rover, I guess that's all that matters, they probably don't care much about silly surveys... Maybe when sales of new Land Rovers aren't so red hot anymore, their customer service will improve.

Personally, I steer clear of local Land Rover dealers for any services that don't involve warranty work or recalls. Around here act like they are doing you a favor when you ask them for a loaner, their prices for garden variety stuff such as brakes and oil changes range between ridiculous and outrageous, and in the past it took at least a couple of visits to fix issues that they should have fixed the first time. No thanks, I trust my local indy shop 100 times more, even though I may need to get a rental for a day or two.

I agree that it is about service. I have taken a couple of these surveys. They are not reliability surveys but service quality surveys though as umberto points out they are related. I drove 3 Lexus over a 10 year period up until this time last year. They are very good though they could not solve every issue I had. Still, I have never seen anything as close. A year ago I bought an Acura. The service department truly wanted to help with the various issues that showed up in this first model year MDX but to be hones they didn't have answers and Acura corporate was still trying to sort them out. After 9 months I finally was able to get a video of the errors I was seeing and send them to the corporate customer care people who in turn decided it was worth replacing the guts of the voice/nav system - which the service department did well. Now everything works. But I can tell you that over that 9 months it was painful - for a lot of people. (Notice that their scores in this survey aren't exactly stellar.)

One of the reasons Lexus does better is that they layer a great, customer-centric attitude on top of the most reliable (though boring and expensive) of vehicles. If Lexus had a vehicle that had as much capability as the LR4 and a few less oddities they would have me back in a minute. But they don't. Not for me. So I will accept the level of service I find at the two LR dealers in town and hope that it is good. I don't need Lexus' level of pampering. Just good, quality service.

 

[ougrad1]

I agree that it is about service. I have taken a couple of these surveys. They are not reliability surveys but service quality surveys though as umberto points out they are related. I drove 3 Lexus over a 10 year period up until this time last year. They are very good though they could not solve every issue I had. Still, I have never seen anything as close. A year ago I bought an Acura. The service department truly wanted to help with the various issues that showed up in this first model year MDX but to be hones they didn't have answers and Acura corporate was still trying to sort them out. After 9 months I finally was able to get a video of the errors I was seeing and send them to the corporate customer care people who in turn decided it was worth replacing the guts of the voice/nav system - which the service department did well. Now everything works. But I can tell you that over that 9 months it was painful - for a lot of people. (Notice that their scores in this survey aren't exactly stellar.)

One of the reasons Lexus does better is that they layer a great, customer-centric attitude on top of the most reliable (though boring and expensive) of vehicles. If Lexus had a vehicle that had as much capability as the LR4 and a few less oddities they would have me back in a minute. But they don't. Not for me. So I will accept the level of service I find at the two LR dealers in town and hope that it is good. I don't need Lexus' level of pampering. Just good, quality service.

I agree 100% with your thoughts on Lexus. If they even remotely made the GX more offroad focus or even designed it better than the soccer mom look, I would totally go that direction. My wife has an RX and the dealer bends of backwards to take care of everything. That said, I've been lucky to have a good experience with my local LR dealer but I think that's because I'm part of the local LR club that they support and got to know the GM and a specific service guy really well. They do take care of me in reason but it's definitely still not to the considerate levels that Lexus was willing to go(pick up and drop off my wife's car to her).

I have an extended warranty on my LR4 but when that runs out in 2016, I'll be trading it in for something else. Maybe a new Disco or Defender. I'll take a look at the GX at that time too because the quality and reliability is hard to pass up.

 

[eljefe]

i agree the land rover is pretty crappy when you take your 50,000 plus vehicle in for service or repair and you get a chevy impala or something not even close to what you own.

 

[Soda]

i agree the land rover is pretty crappy when you take your 50,000 plus vehicle in for service or repair and you get a chevy impala or something not even close to what you own.

My dealer is a Jaguar Land Rover dealer. They told me they give Jags to Land Rover owners and Land Rovers to Jag owners. They apparently get a lot of sales that way. I guess I'll find out if they really do that when I take my LR4 in for service for the first time.