摘要：The retail motor industry in South Africa is characterised by a number of franchise dealership networks representing all brands. These dealerships are responsible for the servicing of new vehicles while under warrantee or full maintenance agreements. Service quality is an important aspect of the dealership network as it is the basis for their retention of the franchise. The importance is seen in the collection and use of customer satisfaction indices (CSIs). The purpose of this paper is the investigation of the recognised dimensions of service quality within a dealership (or one franchise unit). The study is an exploratory one as no published research has been undertaken in this environment in South Africa. The research made use of a SERVQUAL instrument (in the form of self-completion questionnaire) and a convenience sample. The findings of the research indicate the identification of four factors that are regarded as important to customers in the vehicle service environment, namely employee / commitment quality, tangible quality, promise / delivery quality and communication / interaction quality. The managerial implications of the findings indicate that the factors identified affect long-term customer satisfaction and hence require the attention of management, especially in the light of record motorcar sales in 2004 and 2005. This involves managing the actual maintenance of the vehicle within the service facility and the management of the service employees. Furthermore, there is the management of the service experience, which is necessary to generate loyalty and satisfaction benefits as well as long-term relationship development.
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