I Bought my Car, What’s Next? Perception and Importance Analysis Attributed by Costumers to After Sales Services

Abstract

The objective of this research is analyzing the consumer perception and importance gave to after-sales service strategies at the car dealers market, in Florianópolis, SC. The study arose from a curiosity to discover if after-sales practices would be associated to a product/service or to a consumer, as well as how do consumers evaluate those practices. In order to, an exploratory descriptive and quantitative was made, by applying a survey with 400 vehicles owners of brands JAC, GM, Fiat and Toyota. Results points that consumers firstly associate after-sales practices to services/product aspects (31,4% associate to maintenance review) and then to consumer relationship (9,8% associate to complaining channels). Besides, some practices are perceived as high importance, although demonstrate low satisfaction – for example the “quick response to complaining” (high importance issue to 66%, but low satisfaction to 62%) and “equal treatment during all consumption process” (high importance issue to 62%, but low satisfaction to equals 62%). The study also shows that consumers perceive differently after-sales treatment from those made on purchase moment. This statement is based on 2,15 media, the lowest among the analyzed variables, with standard deviation of 0,759 and negative asymmetry of -0,249. The present research rises questioning about after-sales importance on both relationship to consumer and loyalty. Besides, incite a deep look to aftersales theme, both on academicals and managerial environment.