Honda leads Toyota in new-vehicle retention survey

While it may not be a major lead, Honda gathered enough points in the latest J.D. Power and Associates survey to beat Toyota as the brand that does the best job of retaining its U.S. customers. According to the 2008 Customer Retention Survey released today, 64.7 percent of Honda buyers came back to the brand.

Toyota came in at 63.2%, falling from the 64.7 percent in 2007. Lexus came in third with 60.4 percent. Overall customer retention fell slightly to 48 percent in 2008 from 49 percent in 2007.

For those patriots looking to see where our American made automobiles came in – the survey said that Ford, Chevrolet and Cadillac were three U.S> brands that placed above average.

The 2008 Customer Retention Study is based on responses from 147,238 new-vehicle buyers and lessees, of which 88,971 replaced a vehicle that was previously purchased as a new car.