Customers in the automotive sector give it one of the top satisfaction ratings in a unique, twice-yearly UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI) survey carried out by the Institute of Customer Service.
The survey asked more than 6,000 people to rate 12 key public and private sectors on consumer priorities such as professionalism, complaint-handling, quality and competence and friendliness of staff.
Automotive comes joint second from the top, with a customer satisfaction index of 75* along with the food sector, compared with the lowest-scoring local government sector on 58.
The sector has parked itself within the top 5 for staff helpfulness and friendliness and staff competence and loyalty.

has shown a “welcome and encouraging increase”, says ICS.
Companies and organisations overall have shown strong progress in core areas such as keeping customers informed, delivering on time and treating people as valued customers.
It puts much of the improvement down to more and more organisations realising that service excellence is the key differentiator.
“The well-publicised results of the pilot survey perhaps gave a powerful wake-up call to providers by showing a direct link between the effect of service on spend and the bottom line,” says Crawford.
“Higher satisfaction with prices not surprising in view of the growing competition for customers' shrinking disposable income also played a part.”
He claims the index is already proving an important economic indicator and will become all the more so as it gets bigger and establishes a solid track record.
“Despite the much-publicised credit crunch, most