Almost half of new car buyers unclear of auto financing products
KUCHING: About 43 per cent of Malaysia new-car buyers do not fully understand the terms of their auto finance products.
According to the inaugural JD Power 2017 Malaysia Auto Consumer Finance Study, with less than half of auto finance customers claiming the finance arrangement actually met their requirements, there is a clear need for the industry to become more customer-centric.
The study measures customer satisfaction with their automotive finance provider by examining six key factors (in order of importance): interaction; onboarding; billing and payment; finance deal; origination; and finance advisor.
“Auto finance is a long-term commitment and it’s crucial that dealership salespeople spend sufficient time to clearly explain the services, terms and fees related to each customer,” said Anthony Chiam, practice leader of service industries at JD Power.
Satisfaction levels during the purchasing process vary greatly between customers whose finance application was handled by a finance advisor versus a car salesperson.
On a 1,000-point scale, a finance advisor has an average score of 777, compared with a salesperson’s average score of 735.
Among customers who selected an Islamic auto finance product, more than 30 per cent say they ‘definitely would’ use the same finance provider for their next purchase, compared with 22 per cent among customers who purchased a conventional auto finance product.
“Malaysia’s Islamic finance industry has been growing rapidly over the past 30 years,” Chiam said. “Higher customer satisfaction levels from within Islamic auto financing underscore the industry’s impressive and continuous expansion.”
Meanwhile, CIMB Bank ranks highest with an overall satisfaction score of 772. CIMB Bank performs highest across all six factors.
Maybank ranks second (759), performing particularly well in the onboarding and billing and payment factors. AmBank ranks third (757), performing well in the finance advisor factor.