BMW Motorrad Dealers Top-Ranked in 2025 Powersports Study for Providing Quick and Easy Service Appointments

Business Wire

2 days ago

MONTEREY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BMW Motorrad dealerships ranked highest in the 2025 Pied Piper PSI ® Service Telephone Effectiveness ® (STE ®) Powersports Industry Study, which measured the efficiency and quality of customer attempts to schedule service appointments by telephone. Following BMW were Kubota, Triumph, Polaris Off-Road and Harley-Davidson.
'Well-run service departments focus on building customer loyalty, and the first opportunity to drive that loyalty is a customer's phone call to schedule an appointment.'
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Pied Piper submitted service calls to 1,531 powersports dealerships representing 27 brands, then evaluated the telephone interactions. Each brand's overall STE Score is a combined average of its individual dealer performances. Scores range from 0 to 100 and include over 30 differently weighted measurements tracking the best practices most likely to generate service revenue and customer loyalty.
BMW Ranked Highest: Consistency in Challenging Conditions
'BMW has consistently been ranked among the top three performing brands during the three years this annual study has been conducted,' said Cameron O'Hagan, Pied Piper's Vice President of Metrics and Analytics. ' This year they have achieved the top position due to that consistency.'
BMW led the 2025 STE study with an average STE score of 50 – the same score BMW achieved in both 2023 and 2024. The following are examples of behaviors which set BMW dealers apart from the industry average when customers call for service:
Higher Rate of Setting Appointments – 65% of BMW service calls resulted in an appointment being set, compared to only 52% for the industry overall.
More Likely to Ask About Other Issues – BMW customers were asked if they had any other issues or needed any additional service 35% of the time on average, compared to only 22% of the time for the industry overall.
More Likely to Ask if Visited Before – On average, BMW dealers asked service customers whether they had visited the dealership before 44% of the time, compared to 28% of the time for the industry overall.
Reach Service Advisor Quickly – BMW customers on average reached a service advisor within one minute 84% of the time, compared to 78% of the time for the industry overall.
Why Should We Care About a Customer's Service Telephone Experience?
' Well-run service departments focus on building customer loyalty, and the first opportunity to drive that loyalty is a customer's phone call to schedule an appointment,' said O'Hagan. ' Powersports customers who struggle to schedule service vote with their feet by moving to another dealership or independent shop. In extreme cases, due to most powersports purchases being discretionary, if ownership becomes frustrating, many customers will begin to question whether it's worth the effort and may sell the vehicle and become sour with the brand. '
The industry's average STE score improved one point over the past year, reaching an average score of 44, one point higher than 2024 but trailing the 2023 high watermark average score by two points.
Performance varied substantially from dealership to dealership, with a minority of dealerships clearly benefiting from their superior processes. 16% of dealerships nationally achieved STE scores over 70, by providing an interaction with their service customers that was speedy, efficient and proactively helpful. In contrast, customers for 11% of the dealerships hung up their phone having completely failed in their attempt to schedule service. The business implications between those two extremes are substantial.
Powersport Industry Performance Lacking in Key Areas
Customer expectations for scheduling service aren't set by the powersports industry. Nearly all powersports customers also schedule service for their cars and trucks, and over the past few years the auto industry has significantly improved the service scheduling experience for their customers.
Fail to Live up to Expectations – Today, half of all auto service appointments for basic needs like oil changes are quickly booked online, and with the help of AI-powered chat, 87% of auto customers who phone to schedule service end their call with an appointment—compared to only 52% of the powersports customers.
Too Many 'Just Drop it Off' Demands – 41% of the time powersports customers were told to 'just drop it off' and wait an undetermined amount of time, rather than the dealership committing to a specific date and time. In comparison, this unfavorable behavior occurs only 2% of the time in the auto industry.
Rarely Ask About Additional Services – Across the industry, only 22% of customers were asked if they had other issues or needed additional services—significantly lower than the 40% rate seen in the auto industry.
Industry's Greatest Opportunities for Improvement
' The cliché is true: sales sells the first; service sells the rest,' said O'Hagan. ' Dealerships that prioritize a superior service experience gain in both sales and service.'
Turn 'Just Drop it Off' Into a Positive – 41% of powersports customers are told to 'just drop it off,' where the vehicle will wait—often outside in the elements—for an undetermined number of days, before the dealership will get to it. This demonstrates little concern for a customer's time or expectations. However, this 'drop it off' mentality can be transformed from a frustration into a positive experience by also offering an appointment. For example: ' I can schedule you two weeks from today, or if you prefer, you're welcome to bring it in and we'll try to get to it sooner. ' Framing it this way respects the customer's time and shows that the dealership is organized and responsive—turning a traditionally negative interaction into a loyalty-building moment.
Understand What Customers Are Really Experiencing – In the 2025 study there were 14 brands which improved their STE score over the previous year. The brand with the greatest improvement was Kubota, with a six-point gain since last year, moving from a tenth-place ranking in 2024 to second in this year's study. Kubota dealers nearly doubled their rate of setting appointments, occurring 58% of the time in 2025 compared to 31% of the time last year. Kubota dealers also drastically cut the rate of insisting 'just drop it off' from 62% of the time in 2024 to 38% of the time this year. The key to this improvement was showing dealers what their customers actually experienced when calling for service.
2025 Brand Performance Compared
Performance varied substantially by brand, as shown by these examples:
Why Was This Study Conducted?
'The first service interaction that drives loyalty and service revenue is a customer's initial phone call to schedule an appointment,' said O'Hagan. "Because these phone calls often go unnoticed in daily operations, they're frequently neglected — and without clear visibility, improvement becomes difficult."
For more than 15 years, Pied Piper has independently published annual industry studies that rank the omnichannel performance of brands and dealer groups. These studies track how industry performance changes over time and let clients understand how their own performance compares.
Pied Piper clients order ongoing Prospect Satisfaction Index ® (PSI ®) measurement and reporting – internet, telephone or in-person – for their dealerships, as tools to improve and maintain omnichannel sales and service effectiveness. Pied Piper clients have found that the key to driving dealership improvement is showing what sales and service customers are really experiencing – which is often a surprise.
About Pied Piper Management Company, LLC
Monterey, California - based Pied Piper helps brands and national retailer groups improve the omnichannel sales & service performance of their retailers.
Pied Piper's PSI process applies data science analytics to determine the omnichannel sales and service best practices most likely to drive unit sales and loyalty. PSI then uses a combination of artificial intelligence, machine learning and human actors to measure and report how effectively retail locations follow those best practices.
Other recent Pied Piper PSI industry studies include:
Learn more, request a presentation of industry study results, or request PSI measurement and reporting at www.piedpiperpsi.com.
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This press release is provided for editorial use only, and information contained in this release may not be used for advertising or otherwise promoting brands mentioned in this release without specific, written permission from Pied Piper Management Co., LLC.