Customers Are the Real Winners in Dealer of the Year Awards

CUSTOMERS ARE THE REAL WINNERS IN FIAT CHRYSLER’S DEALER OF THE YEAR AWARDS

· Customers reap the real benefit of Fiat Chrysler New Zealand Dealer Awards lifting customer service across the country

· Two Awards for Andrew Simms Newmarket in Auckland

· Tauranga’s Farmer Autovillage best small Alfa Romeo Fiat dealer

· Dunedin’s Armstrong Prestige is the best small Chrysler Jeep Dodge Dealer

Fiat Chrysler New Zealand has handed out its awards to the top dealers in the country for some of the best known car brands in the world, from the off road legend that is Jeep to Alfa Romeo, the epitome of sports cars, but says Fiat Chrysler New Zealand, the real winners are its customers.

“The winning dealers may have got the trophy at the end of the year, but the real winners are our customers who benefit from every Fiat Chrysler dealer lifting the quality of their customer service in a bid to win the top prize,” says David Smitherman, Chief Executive Officer of Fiat Chrysler New Zealand. “We set every dealer goals that they had to reach in every aspect of their business and they only became eligible for the top prizes when they exceeded those goals – and did so across every area of providing the best customer service. They could not excel in one area and not others – to win they had to excel in all areas.”

“Of course we want our dealers to be successful, but it’s now just about how many cars they sell or the numbers of cars they service because to be successful in the long term, customers have to keep coming back to dealership and it’s the quality of the customer service that brings customers back to a dealership for servicing, parts and, ultimately, another car,” says Mr Smitherman.

The Fiat Chrysler New Zealand dealer awards assess every Fiat Chrysler dealer throughout the year. Customers are surveyed and followed up through the ownership performance. Given the range of its brands across the market and different sizes of businesses, Fiat Chrysler New Zealand breaks up the awards up into award for its European brands, Fiat and Alfa Romeo, separate from the North American brands of Jeep, Chrysler and Dodge, as well as having separate awards for the large and small dealers.

“This is to ensure that every dealer knows they are in with a chance for an award and therefore it motivates them to lift their customer care performance,” says Mr Smitherman.

Auckland’s Andrew Simms dealership in Newmarket took out both Large Dealer of the Year Awards, taking home the trophy for both the best large Fiat Alfa Romeo dealer and the best Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealer. Tauranga’s Farmer Autovillage took the prize for best small Alfa Romeo Fiat dealer and another trophy is heading to the South Island with Dunedin’s Armstrong Prestige the nation’s best small Chrysler Jeep Dodge Dealer.

“These three dealers may have collected the prizes for 2016, but there’ll be no resting on their laurels because the judging for 2017’s awards starts immediately and every dealer will be out to topple this year’s award winners,” says David Smitherman. “So that means the biggest group of winners are our customers who will be benefitting from continuously improving customer service every time they visit a Fiat Chrysler dealer.”

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About Fiat Chrysler New Zealand

Launched on 1 May 2013, Fiat Chrysler New Zealand is the new national importer that has, for the first time, brought together Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge together under one importer to maximise the strengths of the brands and offer New Zealand consumers a better deal and a better ownership experience. The new company, which is based at Mt Wellington in Auckland, is a wholly owned subsidiary of New Zealand businessman, Neville Crichton’s company, the Ateco Group.

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