Warranties under the online microscope

Online reviews are making warranties central to dealer reputation management. This is according to the RAC Dealer Network.

Sean Kent, RAC sales director at Assurant, the Fortune 500 company which partners with the RAC in this sector, said: “Online reviews can make or break the reputation of a dealer – a fact which, in a highly competitive used car sector, can have a dramatic effect on their business.

“Dealers are therefore becoming much more concerned about how they are perceived through these reviews and are taking their reputation management much more seriously as a whole. Part of this process is undoubtedly considering how the warranty experience translates when it is part of an online review created by a customer.

“A good warranty experience can really help to underline the dealer’s commitment to customer service and the strength of their overall proposition. A bad warranty experience can have a negative effect. That’s why the warranty is so important in this respect.”

Kent added: “Dealers are increasingly interested in the optics of not just whether a claim is resolved but the speed and manner in which that is done. We are having more and more conversations where car retailers want to know about the way in which we look after customers in considerable detail.

“Once upon a time, a warranty was seen as much more of a financial product. How a claim was handled didn’t necessarily matter as long as it paid out where appropriate. Now, the soft skills side of claims handling is something in which there is a great deal of interest. Dealers have a strong awareness of how these elements can impact on their online reviews.”