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Despite recession, price not critical in vehicle acquisition
As part of the WesBank-sponsored Focus on Excellence Awards, a recent survey was conducted on factors that influence the purchase of both medium and heavy commercial vehicles. Surprisingly, price was only listed as the sixth most important factor amongst buyers of medium commercial vehicles and an astonishing ninth most important factor affecting purchase decisions in the heavy commercial segment. Reliability was the biggest factor.
"Most people think that because we are in a recession, companies are obsessed with reducing their capital spend. It would appear however, that in the commercial vehicle segment, the focus is rather on spending money more efficiently, due to the critical importance of the operational productivity of these assets. Thus factors such as reliability and after sales service are of greater importance when considering which commercial vehicle brands are to be bought," says Chris de Kock, head of sales and marketing at WesBank.
Scott Byers conduct the survey and results are verified by PricewaterhouseCoopers to guarantee the complete integrity of the programme.
Sales in the medium and heavy truck segments continue to decline, with new medium commercial vehicles plunging 35.8% year on year last month and new heavy commercial vehicles plummeting 48.6% according to October's National Association of Automobile Manufacturers South Africa (NAAMSA) results.
Results
Factors influencing the acquisition of HCVs - expressed as a percentage of total votes
• Reliability: 34.95
• After-sales service: 16.12
• Product quality: 9.66
• Low CPK: 6.98
• Ideal for specific application: 6.48
• Loyal to brand: 4.92
• Parts availability: 4.83
• Head office decision: 4.31
• Price: 3.23
• Longevity of product: 2.15
• Performance: 1.61
• Value for money: 1.58
• User-friendly product: 1.38
• Dealer network: 1.29
• Driver comfort: 0.51
Factors influencing the acquisition of MCVs
• Reliability: 29.58
• After-sales service: 23.94
• Low CPK: 19.2
• Parts availability: 12.68
• Value for money: 2.83
• Price: 2.81
• Longevity of product: 2.79
• Head office decision: 2.12
• Product quality: 1.41
• Dealer network: 1.01
• Loyal to brand: 0.82
• User-friendly product: 0.81
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