Mercedes-Benz Financial Services rated with Top Scores from Dealers
Mercedes-Benz Financial Services ranks highest among lenders in the prime retail credit segment for a second consecutive year, with a score of 961, according to the J.D. Power 2016 U.S. Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study
Mercedes is followed by BMW Financial Services (959); Alphera Financial Services (941); Lincoln Automotive Financial Services (936); and Infiniti Financial Services (930).
Retail leasing segment
Mercedes Financial ranks highest (982) among lenders in the retail leasing segment for a second consecutive year, followed by BMW Financial, Ford Credit (913), Volvo Car Financial Services (912); and Subaru Motors Finance (911).
In floor-planning satisfaction
Mercedes-Benz Financial ranks highest (986) for a sixth consecutive year, with a score of 986. That’s followed by BMW Financial (975), Huntington National Bank (969); Hyundai Motor Finance (945) and Kia Motors Finance (945).
The 2016 U.S. Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study captures more than 20,000. These evaluations were provided by 3,100 new-vehicle dealerships.
Speed of a loan or lease approval remains critical, but there are other factors related to how dealers feel about lenders.
“Speed has been king and the area lenders have traditionally focused on, but as the market gets tougher, lenders need to center their attention on their relationships with dealers, or they are going to lose business,” says Jim Houston, senior director- automotive finance practice at J.D. Power.
“Lenders need to move beyond a transactional relationship with dealers to a richer consultative partnership. Lenders with a dealer-centric culture across their organization – not just in various pockets of the business – are the ones that are most likely to excel.”
The study identifies three areas of opportunity for lenders that will help them enhance their dealer relationships:
- Consistent performance among dealer relationship managers.
- Identification of their best dealers and a prioritization of those relationships.
- Efforts that focus on areas most important to dealers.
Falloff is swift when satisfaction declines: When satisfaction scores are 900 points or higher, 62% of dealers say they are likely to increase the amount of business they send to the lender over the next year.
When satisfaction falls to between 800 and 889, only 37% of dealers indicate they intend to do that. When satisfaction dips to 700-799, only 22% of dealers intend to increase business with that lender. – WardsAuto
