Are you being served? - Renault to Volkswagen

Renault
It's clear the French companies have a lot to learn in terms of customer satisfaction.

Like Peugeot and Citroen, Renault has a very poor score, with even the best aspects rated as merely average (and those scores came mostly from Clio owners).

Maintenance costs were too high, the staff were dreadful and three of the worst 15 scores for the standard of work came from Renaults.

Good for Clio owners
Bad for Dealer staff and quality of work
League table Joint 22nd

Saab
Saab customers, and 9-3 owners in particular, are really not happy with the service they get from their dealers.

Above all, the work simply wasn't good enough - the scores from both 9-3 and 9-5 owners were in the bottom 10.

Worse still, there are no real positives here. It wasn't easy booking in and collecting the car and, when the bill came from the unhelpful staff, it was too large.

Good for Facilities
Bad for Standard of work
League table 27th

Seat
If Seat was a football team, it would have only just escaped relegation.

Although the bills weren't too large and it wasn't a great problem to book the car in, the staff left a lot to be desired, and the facilities came in for some very heavy criticism.

Good for Reasonable prices
Bad for Dealership facilities
League table 20th

Skoda
Skoda is up with the very best here.

The low costs were the most impressive thing, but owners also liked the easy booking-in system and the high standard of work.

However, it wasn't a perfect showing: Superb owners gave consistently lower scores, and everyone agreed the facilities could be a bit better.

Good for Friendly, helpful staff
Bad for Superb owners
League table Joint 2nd

Smart
If ever a car brand was mis-named, it's Smart.

The only thing outstanding about the company's showing here is just how bad it is.

No other make had such a low rating for its booking system, and owners of only one other car gave a worse rating for the staff.

The facilities also fell short of what was expected and - no surprise - the bills were much too high.

Good for Nothing
Bad for Booking a car in
League table 32nd

Subaru
The only real problem with Subarus is that they cost too much to service.

Otherwise, apart from thinking the dealers' facilities could be a bit smarter, owners were reasonably impressed, saying the work was good, they had no problem getting the car booked in or collected, and the staff were above average, if not the very best.

Good for Standard of work
Bad for High costs
League table Joint 15th

Suzuki
Suzuki is very like Skoda, in that it needs to work harder to impress owners of its biggest, most expensive car.

Across the board, Grand Vitara owners were unhappy: the work was below par and too expensive, they said.

However, the story from other owners is very different: booking a car in was easy, the work was good, and the staff were fine.

Good for Booking in and collecting the car
Bad for Grand Vitara owners
League table Joint 15th

Toyota
Toyota has a fine record in JD Power surveys, and its classy dealers are just one of the reasons.

The generally small bills proved easy to stomach, the work was excellent, and the staff were helpful and efficient.

The complaints - although that's too strong a word, really - were few and far between: RAV4 owners found the bills steep and Prius owners found booking their car in tricky.

Good for Staff and service
Bad for Booking in a Prius
League table 4th

Vauxhall
Vauxhall owners are a mixed bunch, with mixed feelings.

The most unhappy were Tigra owners, who complained about everything.

Vectra and Astra owners were also hard to please, but Zafira, Agila and Meriva owners said the bills were okay, and the work done to a reasonable standard.

Good for Agila, Zafira and Meriva owners
Bad for Tigra owners
League table 26th

Volkswagen
There's a certain prestige to the Volkswagen badge, and VW owners certainly appreciate the high class of their dealers' facilities.

However, they were less impressed with the people employed there and the quality of the work they did.

It also wasn't easy to book the car in, they said, and picking it up was no better.

At least the bills on most cars weren't too bad.

Good for Classy facilities
Bad for Booking in and collecting cars
League table 13th

Volvo
Volvo owners said the work their dealers did was pretty good, if not the best, but that it certainly wasn't good value.

XC90 owners, in particular, said it was much too dear.

At least there was no problem with the processes for booking in and collecting the cars, and the staff were generally well liked, although (again) it was XC90 owners who were the least happy.

Good forStandard of work
Bad forHigh bills
League table10th

• To see the full table of results, click
here.