Hino has become the first truck manufacturer or distributor to make a clean sweep at the top of all four tables in the Scott Byers Network’s comparative customer satisfaction survey of truck fleetowners in South Africa. These surveys have been conducted since 1986 – for 26 years – and they have told an amazing tale of improving levels of customer satisfaction during this period.

Speaking at the recent Scott Byers & Econometrix Truck Seminar in Johannesburg, the founder of the research company, Ian Byers, said that in the beginning customer satisfaction levels ranged from about 52%-58%. Now Hino has averaged far more than 93% in all four tables: Sales, Service, Parts and Overall and the national average in the overall rankings exceeds 91%.

The annual awards are based on a full year’s results, from October 1 of one year to September 30 of the following year. Each of those companies whose results are included in the comparative evaluation must have had at least 100 interviews conducted per department – Sales, Service and Parts. The final list is made up of those companies with scores greater than the national average.

During interviews the fleetowners are asked to give their ratings of companies that are either their first or second choice supplier and with whom they have had dealings within the past three months, so as to ensure the survey is up to date and relevant.

Ian Byers said there had been slight downturns in the average scores in the Sales and Service categories over the past year, with poor product knowledge and poor diagnosis being the two major failings in these respective categories. The average score in the Parts section has improved slightly and here poor product knowledge – identifying the correct parts for a particular truck – is the main area of concern.

The average overall customer satisfaction score, which peaked at 92,5% in 2011, slipped slightly early in 2012, but has risen to more than 91% by the end of September.

“We are absolutely delighted to be the first company in history to have topped all four tables and I would like to congratulate our dealer network and our own after-sales support teams for these outstanding results on all fronts,” said Hino SA’s vice president, Dr Casper Kruger.

“We are particularly proud that we were able to come out top in the Parts segment of the survey as the research was conducted while we were moving into our massive new parts warehouse in Benoni, which has meant transferring large amounts of stock from our previous warehouse in Sandton and a number of satellite hubs in Gauteng.

“In fact during the parts relocation Hino has topped the Scott Byers Parts category three times in the past five quarters, only placing second in Q3 of 2011 and Q1 of 2012,” added the Hino senior executive.

The rankings of the various companies which have scored higher than the national average for 2011/2012 are:

Overall: Hino, Freightliner, Mercedes-Benz, Isuzu and Volvo.
Parts: Hino, Freightliner, Mercedes-Benz, MAN and Volvo.
Service: Hino, Isuzu, Freightliner and UD Trucks.
Sales: Hino, Isuzu tied with Volvo, Freightliner, International and Mercedes-Benz.