KINGSTON, Jamaica — ATL Automotive’s Honda Division has won the HACE (Honda Automobile Customer Experience) “Best in Customer Service” Award for the Caribbean region for the fifth consecutive year.

American Honda presented the award to the ATL Automotive executives at a recent regional meeting in Miami.

ATL Automotive beat 12 other countries in the Caribbean region.

ATL Automotive general manager and Honda dealer principal, Sam McKenzie, said he especially proud of his team.

“Customer satisfaction is made that much easier when a team understands and appreciates the value of a happy customer. Earlier this year our service advisor won the Customer’s Choice award and The Service department won the Department of the Year award at a staff awards function. Our team members have done exceptionally well in adapting the service culture developed by our chairman 45 years ago when he founded ATL and our CEO further instilled that culture by launching Unbeatable,” he said.

McKenzie also pointed out that the company was recognised as the only dealership in the Caribbean with three master technicians — Steve Chin, Carlton Watson and Courtney Hedge.

“This is without a doubt the best team; three master technicians backed by an outstanding team of technicians who are undergoing consistent training both here and abroad. There is no better place in Jamaica to service a Honda,” said McKenzie.

Honda Brand Manager, Petrena Purser, said good customer relationships are built on trust and reliability.

“Once you have established an excellent relationship, they’re not going elsewhere. I treat everyone as a customer once they walk into this dealership. I have customers whose parents bought Hondas from me. We go above and beyond to gain their trust. It is important that they see us as their extended family,” she said.

The company continuously implements measures to improve the level of service offered, including the Voice of the Customer (VOC) programme. In this programme, managers, sales consultants, service advisors and call centre agents speak with service customers and use the information they receive to enhance the overall quality service delivery and build loyalty.

HACE is the Honda programme that measures customer satisfaction. The voice of the customer through an online survey validates a job well done or identifies areas for improvement. The survey is independent of the dealership and is administered by global marketing information services firm JD Power & Associates and sent to American Honda and scores tabulated for each dealership in the Latin America and Caribbean region.

The participants in the survey are both new car purchasers and service customers. For Jamaica, the report is done for both regular market (ATL Automotive Imports) and grey market.