Groupe Renault UK handed ‘Dealer of Excellence’ status to 17 of its UK sites as it announced the winners of its annual ‘Auto Express Driver Power – Dealer of Excellence’ award programme.

Paul Flanagan, managing director, Groupe Renault UK, presented the ‘Dealer of Excellence’ awards at the manufacturer’s national dealer conference held yesterday in Central London.

Each nominated dealership was shown to be performing within the top-tier of dealers across eight Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that rate sales and aftersales procedures and service.

Driver Power then sought to independently verify each nominated dealership’s highly-rated levels of care and service by contacting its customers and conducting an in-depth customer satisfaction survey.

The winning dealerships were: Bristol Street Motors Gloucester; Bristol Street Motors Nottingham; Bristo’s Limited Ipswich; Harwoods Ryde; Holden Norwich; Lifestyle Eastbourne; Mackie Motors Brechin; Martins Basingstoke; Mitchells Garage Lowestoft; Motorline Ashford; Renault Bolton; Renault Cardiff; Renault Manchester; Renault Romford; Renault Wirral; S.M.C Weybridge; and Smiths of Peterborough.

Congratulating the winning dealerships, Mark Crockett, Total Customer Experience director, Groupe Renault UK, said: “The winning dealers can feel very proud of their teams’ achievements.

“Our commitment to improving quality and standards across the board has never been higher, and we established this unique partnership and initiative with Auto Express and Driver Power to offer customers a transparent, independent verification of the customer experience our dealer partners are delivering.

“Customers of the 17 winning dealers can rest assured that they will receive the very best service and their motoring requirements are in the safest of hands.”

Brian Walters, director of research and insight at Driver Power, said: “For consumers seeking a trustworthy and satisfying sales and service experience, the Dealer of Excellence accreditation is a powerful, independent seal of approval.

“But consumers aren’t the only ones who benefit from the programme; accredited dealerships benefit from increased customer loyalty and word-of-mouth recommendations.”

In 2016, Groupe Renault achieved its best ever performance in the Auto Express Driver Power survey for Dealer Aftersales Service Satisfaction, with Renault topping the survey for the first time and Dacia following in second.

Across the whole Renault range, customers were on average 94.4% satisfied with their overall aftersales experience at a Renault dealership in the latest survey.

The significant success in customer satisfaction at dealer level follows Renault vehicles posting their best ever results in the Auto Express Driver Power survey, which is determined purely by the feedback of owners and is the UK’s largest automotive customer satisfaction studies.

Out of 183 models from 32 brands, the Renault ZOE and Renault Kadjar finished in second and third overall respectively.

The all-electric ZOE, Kadjar crossover and previous generation Scénic/Grand Scénic also won the Supermini, Off-road/SUV and MPV categories respectively, while the Clio took third place in the Supermini sector.

Dacia also scored strongly in the annual survey, the manufacturer being voted the fourth best manufacturer overall and the Logan MCV – the UK’s most affordable new estate car – winning the Family Car category.