Commitment To Service Quality In Automotive Dealerships: Results From An Australian Pilot Study | Kym Fraser, Chihiro Watanabe & Hans-Henrik Hvolby

Automotive dealerships play an integral role in the initial and on-going relationship between the purchaser and vehicle manufacturer. Evidence, mostly anecdotal, suggests that the buying and servicing experience of the paying public in regards to automotive dealerships is far from ideal. With continuous improvement systems such as TQM firmly embedded into the supply side of the car industry, questions still exist surrounding the level of service quality being adopted by car dealerships. The purpose of this paper is to establish if service quality is a pursued culture within new car dealership operations and determine if key quality principles such as top management support, customer focus, process management, and employee involvement are practised factors. Results indicated a reasonably high level of commitment to service quality within dealerships, including the factors considered important to the success of quality outcomes. Questions still remain about quality endorsement, the type of quality systems being used and the depth of penetration of quality at the ground level.