Autos

Car Brands with the Worst Dealers

10. Chevrolet
> PSI score: 98
> YTD sales growth: 5.6%
> Days to turn: 83
> Market share: 13.0% (2nd highest)

Chevrolet cars sold in June sat on the lot for an average of 83 days, higher than all but six other makes. Nevertheless, consumers have not expressed too many complaints about the cars. The ACSI satisfaction placed Chevrolet in line with the automotive industry average. Meanwhile, J.D. Power placed Chevrolet among the top five mass market vehicles in terms of customer satisfaction. Sales of many of Chevrolet’s top models have improved considerably since 2012. For instance, Chevrolet has sold 24.7% more Silverados in the first six months of 2013 compared to the same time in 2012.

9. Land Rover
> PSI score: 98
> YTD sales growth: 9.5%
> Days to turn: N/A
> Market share: 0.3% (7th lowest)

Among car brands, Land Rover has one of the smaller market shares at just 0.3%. Not only does the make command a small portion of the market, but demand may be waning as well. In June, Land Rover sales fell by 3.7% from the year before, while U.S. cars sales rose more than 9%. Limiting their appeal, Land Rovers rated below-average in both initial quality and sales satisfaction than the majority of other luxury brands.

Also Read: Car Brands With the Most Loyal Drivers

8. Nissan
> PSI score: 98
> YTD sales growth: 9.4%
> Days to turn: 68
> Market share: 7.3% (5th highest)

Nissan sales rose 9.4% in the first six months of 2013, compared to the same time in 2012, above the 7.7% growth across the country. Sales of the Altima, Nissan’s best-selling car, are up 6.8% from the same time in 2012. J.D. Power placed Nissan below the market average for sales satisfaction. In addition, Nissan ranked fourth from the bottom for J.D. Power’s initial quality assessment. Nissans had 142 problems for every 100 cars sold during their first 90 days off the lot, compared to 113 problems across the industry.

7. RAM
> PSI score: 98
> YTD sales growth: 23%
> Days to turn: 80
> Market share: 2.2% (13th highest)

Driven almost entirely by sales of the RAM pickup, one of the nation’s best-selling cars, RAM’s sales were up almost 23% in the first six months of year. Still, many customers had problems with their RAMs, and the brand ranks among the nation’s worst in initial quality. This means that very soon after buying their cars, owners encountered design-related, difficult-to-fix problems. It took an average of 80 days to sell a RAM, longer than the industry average for most cars.

6. Fiat
> PSI score: 96
> YTD sales growth: 4%
> Days to turn: 87
> Market share: 0.3% (6th lowest)

The Harvard Business Review last year touted Fiat’s ability to build a small, independent dealer network as a potential positive for the brand’s future expansion. However, there are few signs that the Italian brand could grow its market share via the limited dealer network. Sales in the first half of 2013 were up just 4% from the year before, while across the industry sales were up 7.7%. Just one car brand, Scion, ranked worse in initial quality than Fiat, which had 154 problems in the first 90 days for every 100 vehicles sold, according to J.D. Power. These sorts of problems likely make selling the brand more difficult for dealers — it took an average of 87 days to turn over a Fiat, versus 62 days for the auto industry on average.

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