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Dealer attitudes towards their franchises have dropped, according to a new survey from the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA).

Its summer 2014 Dealer Attitude Survey received an all-time record response, with more than 40% of dealers from 29 participating dealer networks taking part. It shows an average recorded score of 6.6 in the overall value of the franchise – the lowest score for this question since the summer of 2012 and was 0.6 points down on both surveys carried out in 2013.

The results show that Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Kia, Audi and Suzuki are the top five franchises., while the least valued franchises are Skoda, SEAT, Toyota, Volvo and Honda.

The downward trend towards dealer/manufacturer relationships, highlighted in the summer 2014 Dealer Attitude Survey, continued. When dealers were asked about their ability to do business with their manufacturer on a day to day basis, the all dealer average decreased from 7.6 to 7.1.

Profit and profitability ratings also saw a decline. The result suggests dealers are less optimistic about future profit returns than they were previously.

Commenting on the findings, NFDA director Sue Robinson said: “Dealers have found that there has been a slight decline in the overall franchise value in this year’s survey results with the average score down from 7.2 to 6.6.

“Land Rover remained the top performing franchise in this question with a score of 8.8. However, the score is 0.8 points lower than for the survey last winter and the lowest score in the past 2 years. Honda was the lowest scoring brand with a score of 4.6. This is a whole point lower than for the winter 2013 survey and suggest dealers have some significant concerns with their manufacturer in this network.

“With the declines in scores for certain key questions, there is still scope with certain manufacturers to develop their relationships with their dealer networks as some still fall well below average in many areas of the survey.”

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