Why I am Passionate about Honda

I have been buying Honda cars for over twenty years. Frankly I buy Honda's because of their reliability. They may not be the cheapest car to drive off of the lot. But because they are so darn reliable, I have personally found the long-term cost of ownership to be quite low. Also I just like the fact that as long as I peform the scheduled maintenance, there are few surprises.

On a recent trip over the Christmas holidays, we developed transmission trouble with our Honda van. It is quite unusual to have unscheduled repairs on a Honda based on my experience. However, I was going to get my first taste of how Honda handles unusual problems. Unfortunately, the diagnosis was not good. We would need a new transmission at a cost of $3,500. The irony in the situation was that my 100,000 mile warranty had expired just the week before.

In part because of the frustration of having car trouble on a holiday trip and in part because I was having some significant back pain, I have to admit that I was not the most congenial customer. Frankly, if we played back the tape, I would not be proud of my attitude. Then I met Olivia.

Olivia was the Honda customer service representative assigned to review my issue. I have never been more impressed with how a company has taken a potentially bad customer experience and completely turned it around to create an even more loyal customer.

First of all, Olivia called me back immediately after I contacted Honda. She did all the things customer service professionals are coached to do. She allowed me to vent. She empathized with my situation. But here is where the story is different from most customer service experiences. It was obvious that Olivia had been empowered to satisfy the customer and she proceeded to do that. Also, she did not try to figure out the minimum response that Honda could make and still get me to calm down. Olivia immediately said that Honda would replace my transmission at no charge because I was such a loyal customer and because I was so close to the cut-off for the warranty. She then went on to offer me a free rental car and a hotel room. I did not need a hotel since I was staying with relatives, but I took her up on her offer for a rental car. When I picked up the rental car it was not the usual subcompact (go kart) that one receives when receiving a loaner. It was actually a very nice mid-sized car with only 500 miles.

Since I had my car in the shop anyway I asked them to go ahead and peform some other scheduled maintenance at my expense while it was there. Olivia didn't try to just get me off the phone and hope I never called back. She called me several times to give me updates on my van and ask if there was anything else that she could to help me. Because there wasn't a transmission available in Tulsa, she also had one 'overnighted' to the dealer. My van was ready to pickup within a day and a half of when I dropped it off. When I picked up my van, I was surprised to find out that American Honda had also picked up the tab on my other scheduled maintenance. I would add that although it was scheduled maintenance, the cost would have otherwise been pretty significant to me.

I am not going to tell you that if your Honda needs repairs, that Honda will eat the cost. I will tell you that Honda values loyal customers and that they know satisfied customers are loyal customers. Next summer I am going to be shopping for either a new pickup or SUV. You can bet that when that time comes, I will be buying my sixth Honda. I believe that Honda is passionate about customer service. Because of that, I am passionate about Hondas!