J.D. Power and Associates Reports: Fountain Tire Ranks Highest in Overall Customer Satisfaction With Auto Service in Canada

TORONTO: 2 August 2006 – Fountain Tire ranks highest in overall customer satisfaction amongst automotive service provider brands, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2006 Canadian Customer Commitment Index StudySM released today.

The study, now in its ninth year, measures the service satisfaction and loyalty of owners of 2- to 12-year-old vehicles. Overall satisfaction and loyalty with the service provider is determined by examining five key factors: appointment/check-in, service advisor, work quality, after service and customer orientation.

Fountain Tire improves by 12 rank positions to lead the rankings with an index score of 876 points on a 1,000-point scale. Fountain Tire posts improvements across all aspects of the service experience, particularly in the after-service factor. Autopro (873) and Petro-Canada Certigard (869) follow Fountain Tire in the rankings. �Independent Repair Shops� achieved a higher satisfaction score than Fountain Tire, but is not included in the ranking because it is a channel as opposed to a branded provider.

�Tire stores have always had very good relationships with their customers, and this is the third time a tire facility has been the top-ranked service provider in the study,� said Rohan Lobo, senior manager of automotive research at J.D. Power and Associates in Toronto. �While Fountain Tire�s relationships with customers often begin with a tire purchase, in many cases, it eventually becomes the facility the customer goes to for all service activity. In fact, customers report that more than 60 percent of the service activity performed at Fountain Tire has been non-tire work.�

Customer satisfaction has improved for the industry as a whole by 8 index points�the largest recorded increase since the study was redesigned in 2003. The service station channel shows the strongest improvement, increasing 17 points from 2005, followed by tire specialists with an 11-point gain.

The study finds that after five consecutive years of losing market share to dealerships, aftermarket service providers have stabilised their share of service occasions. Over this time period, dealerships have steadily increased their share of the service market, hitting a high point in 2005 at 45 percent�up from 40 percent in 2002. In 2006, dealerships lost 1 percentage point of service share to aftermarket brands, creating a 44 percent/56 percent mix between dealers and aftermarket providers. This loss was confined to vehicles that were 2 to 3 and 8 to 12 years old, with dealerships being able to defend their share among vehicles in the 4- to 7-year-old bracket. Each percentage point of share translates into almost $90 million in service revenue annually for dealerships in Canada.

�The peak selling years of 1999 through 2003 produced a bulge in the number of vehicles that until recently were under warranty,� said Lobo. �The tendency of owners to gravitate to dealerships for service while in the warranty period contributed to the steady increase of service share for dealers. We see that most of this increased share captured by dealerships over the last five years came from owners who bought new vehicles. Now that most of these vehicles are beyond their basic warranty, owners have begun to drift back to the aftermarket for service.�

The study also finds that customers of mass merchants (Canadian Tire, Wal-Mart and Costco) and quick lubes are becoming more price sensitive. While cost is increasing in importance as a selection criteria for these providers, the number of mass merchant customers who say they would �definitely� return or recommend their facility is the lowest of any channel.

�Mass merchants and quick lubes typically run on a volume-based business model, rather than the relationship model that characterises most of the other channels in the aftermarket,� said Lobo. �Although this model can create increased service traffic, it can also negatively impact retention and advocacy.�

The 2006 Canadian Customer Commitment Index Study is based on responses from 16,258 owners of 2- to 12-year-old vehicles. Owners were surveyed in December 2005 and April 2006.

About J.D. Power and Associates

Headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., J.D. Power and Associates is an ISO 9001-registered global marketing information services firm operating in key business sectors including market research, forecasting, consulting, training and customer satisfaction. The firm�s quality and satisfaction measurements are based on responses from millions of consumers annually. J.D. Power and Associates is a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies. www.jdpower.com

About The McGraw-Hill Companies

Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies is a leading global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in the financial services, education and business information markets through leading brands such as Standard & Poor�s, McGraw-Hill Education, BusinessWeek and J.D. Power and Associates. The Corporation has more than 290 offices in 38 countries. Sales in 2005 were $6.0 billion. Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com.