AM’s recent poll highlighting the frequency that dealership staff face unreasonable or abusive customer behaviour should give the industry pause for thought.
The findings point to growing pressure on frontline teams and an increasingly difficult environment for managing customer interactions, online reputation and manufacturer-driven performance measures, writes Fraser Brown of MotorVise.
Most situations escalate over time
While wider societal factors may be at play, the reality is that most abusive situations don’t start out that way – they escalate over time.
In my experience, escalation is often driven by frustration fuelled by poor communication, not the original issue. Previous research consistently shows that more than half of customer complaints stem from communication failures, not product faults.
In dealerships, around 70% of complaints start with a vehicle issue, but this alone is rarely enough to trigger anger.
What causes situations to deteriorate is what happens next: unclear explanations, missed callbacks, a lack of updates or the sense that noone has taken ownership. A technical problem quickly turns personal when a customer feels ignored or unheard.
This is compounded by the environment many retailers now operate in.
Customers are more aware than ever of the impact that reviews, CSI scores and manufacturer feedback channels can have. In some cases, it encourages escalation as customers believe it’s the fastest route to a response or resolution.
Empathy rather than logic, process
One of the most common mistakes in handling a complaint is moving too quickly into logic and process. When a customer raises an issue, they are often emotionally charged.
Trying to resolve the technical elements before acknowledging how the situation feels for them can inflame matters rather than calm them. I often compare it to opening a shaken bottle of lemonade, unless the pressure is released first, the situation will spill over.
Time spent listening, empathising and acknowledging concerns is not wasted. On average, it takes around 12 minutes of focused listening before it’s appropriate to move into problem-solving, in some cases longer. Only once the emotion has been removed can a constructive conversation about solutions begin.
Distinguish between a fault and a complaint
It’s also important to distinguish between a vehicle fault and a customer complaint. A fault is a technical issue, whilst a complaint is an emotional response to how the issue is handled.
Those customers experiencing a problem – but who feel supported, are kept informed and taken seriously – will often leave with a positive view of the dealership, sometimes more favourable than if nothing had gone wrong at all.
Conversely, even relatively minor issues can quickly escalate when communication breaks down.
Abusive behaviour faced weekly
The scale of the issue is underlined by the AM poll itself, which found that more than four in 10 dealers report that staff face abusive behaviour at least once a week.
More than 40% encountering it weekly and almost a quarter monthly. By contrast, fewer than 14% said incidents hardly ever occur, and around a fifth experience them a few times a year.
There’s a clear operational and financial impact to how complaints are handled. The earlier an issue is resolved and the closer that resolution happens to the front line, the lower the cost to the business. Once complaints reach senior management, they tend to consume disproportionate time and resources and are far more likely to result in goodwill gestures or reputational damage.
Frontline needs professional training
Across dealer groups, MotorVise consistently sees that frontline staff want to resolve issues quickly and fairly but are not always equipped to manage the emotional side of complaints.
Technical knowledge alone is not enough. Effective complaint handling relies heavily on emotional intelligence – recognising frustration, defusing tension and agreeing a clear way forward. When teams are professionally trained and confident in those skills, issues are dealt with earlier, escalation reduces and staff feel better supported.
Abusive behaviour should never be accepted as inevitable. But reducing it requires a shift in how complaints are approached – from something to be avoided or defended against, to something to be understood and managed early.
When emotion is addressed first and communication is handled well, many complaints never become conflicts at all.
Author: Fraser Brown, founder and managing director, MotorVise
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