ANN ARBOR, Mich.–Given volume and market share, members clearly like financing their vehicles at credit unions.
But which vehicles do those same Americans regret buying and financing? According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, the least favorite car brand is Fiat, produced by Fiat Chrysler. The dissatisfaction comes even though two other Chrysler brands, Dodge and Jeep, finished high in the same survey.
Meanwhile, despite the surge in overall vehicle sales in 2014 and so far in 2015, the same survey found that overall Americans are less in love with their cars than they were just a year ago, perhaps due to rising prices and recalls that have involved nearly 64 million vehicles (including Fiat).
The American Customer Satisfaction Index found that across the board consumers rated their satisfaction with their cars at 79 points out of 100, or a decline of three percentage points from a year earlier. Among the brand names that saw declining consumer satisfaction were Honda, GM's Chevrolet, and Fiat Chrysler's Jeep.
The cars that held up best among consumers' perceptions are, perhaps not surprisingly, the luxury brands, with Toyota's Lexus holding steady at 84 points and Honda's Acura rising to 83 points from 77 a year earlier, making those brands the first and second most-liked high-end cars with consumers.
Below is a list of the ACSI's 2015 ratings for car brands, ranked from top to bottom, with their parent company and customer-service scores.
1. Lexus (Toyota) -- 84
2. Acura (Honda) -- 83
3. Lincoln (Ford) -- 83
4. Mercedes-Benz -- 83
5. BMW -- 82
6. Subaru -- 82
7. Toyota -- 82
8. Hyundai -- 81
9. Buick (GM) -- 80
10. Cadillac (GM) -- 80
11. Honda -- 80
12. Mazda -- 80
13. Volkswagen -- 80
14. Chevrolet (GM) -- 79
15. Ford -- 79
16. Volvo -- 79
17. Audi (Volkswagen) -- 78
18. GMC (GM) -- 78
19. KIA -- 78
20. Infiniti (Nissan) -- 77
21. Dodge (Fiat Chrysler) -- 76
22. MINI (BMW) -- 76
23. All other brands -- 75
24. Jeep (Fiat Chrysler) -- 75
25. Chrysler (Fiat Chrysler) -- 74
26. Fiat (Fiat Chrysler) – 73