BMW Motorrad Dealers Take Top Honors in 2025 Powersports Study for Fast and Reliable Service Scheduling
BMW Motorrad dealerships have emerged as the top-ranked brand in the 2025 Pied Piper PSI® Service Telephone Effectiveness® (STE®) Powersports Industry Study, a comprehensive analysis of how well powersports dealers handle incoming service calls. The study evaluated 1,531 dealerships representing 27 brands across the United States, scoring each based on over 30 weighted criteria designed to reflect best practices for driving service revenue and enhancing customer satisfaction.
Following BMW in the 2025 rankings were Kubota, Triumph, Polaris Off-Road, and Harley-Davidson. Pied Piper’s STE scoring system—ranging from 0 to 100—measures dealership responsiveness, efficiency, and helpfulness when a customer attempts to book a service appointment over the phone.
BMW Tops the Rankings with Consistency and Customer Focus
BMW Motorrad earned the top overall STE score in 2025 with an average of 50, maintaining its performance level from 2023 and 2024. According to Cameron O’Hagan, Vice President of Metrics and Analytics at Pied Piper, “BMW has consistently placed in the top three since we began this annual study three years ago. Their continued focus on process and customer experience earned them the number one ranking this year.”
Several key behaviors distinguished BMW dealerships from the industry average in the 2025 evaluation:
- Appointment Conversion Rate: 65% of BMW service calls resulted in a scheduled appointment, significantly higher than the industry average of 52%.
- Proactive Service Inquiries: BMW service representatives asked if the customer had additional issues or needed other services in 35% of calls—well above the 22% industry average.
- Return Customer Verification: BMW dealers asked whether the caller had visited the dealership before in 44% of interactions, compared to just 28% across all brands.
- Speed of Advisor Contact: In 84% of BMW service calls, customers reached a service advisor within one minute, outperforming the industry average of 78%.
Why the Service Phone Experience Matters
“The customer’s first interaction with a dealership’s service department typically happens over the phone,” said O’Hagan. “That moment plays a huge role in shaping customer loyalty and future service revenue. If customers face friction or indifference when scheduling service, they often turn to a different dealership—or worse, abandon the brand entirely.”
He added that since most powersports purchases are discretionary, unlike daily transportation vehicles, a poor service experience can prompt customers to give up ownership altogether, sell their vehicle, and sour on the brand.
Industry Averages and Dealer Disparities
The overall industry STE score improved marginally to 44 in 2025, one point higher than the previous year but still below the 2023 high of 46. However, performance varied dramatically from one dealership to the next.
- Top Performers: 16% of powersports dealerships achieved scores over 70, indicating efficient, customer-focused service interactions.
- Poor Performers: At the other end of the spectrum, 11% of dealerships failed to secure any appointment or effective interaction—customers hung up without progress.
Such variability suggests that many dealerships lack consistent processes, even as competitors set higher service benchmarks.
Powersports Industry Lags Behind Automotive in Key Areas
Customer expectations around service scheduling are shaped largely by experiences in the automotive sector, which has seen major improvements in recent years.
- Conversion Disparity: In the auto industry, 87% of phone calls to service departments result in an appointment—compared to only 52% in powersports.
- Online Booking: Nearly half of auto service appointments are booked online, often aided by AI chat systems—a capability still rare among powersports dealers.
- Commitment Avoidance: 41% of powersports dealers told customers to “just drop it off” without committing to a specific date or time. In contrast, only 2% of auto dealers used this approach.
- Neglected Upselling: Just 22% of powersports reps asked customers if they needed additional services, compared to 40% in auto dealerships.
Turning Weaknesses into Opportunities
O’Hagan believes powersports dealers can close this gap. “The saying is true—sales sells the first unit, but service sells the rest,” he said. “An excellent service experience builds long-term customer relationships and dealership profitability.”
One major opportunity lies in how dealerships handle the “just drop it off” directive. While this phrase often frustrates customers, it can be reframed into a respectful, customer-centric offer. For instance:
“We can schedule you for two weeks from today, or you’re welcome to drop it off sooner and we’ll do our best to get to it earlier.”
This phrasing maintains flexibility while also communicating professionalism and empathy.
Kubota Shows the Biggest Year-Over-Year Improvement
Kubota made the most dramatic leap in 2025, rising from tenth place in 2024 to second overall. The brand’s average STE score jumped six points due to improvements in two critical areas:
- Appointment Scheduling: The rate of calls that resulted in an appointment surged from 31% in 2024 to 58% in 2025.
- Reduced “Drop it Off” Rate: Kubota dealers dropped the “just drop it off” response from 62% of calls last year to 38% this year.
The secret to their progress? Giving dealers direct insight into what their customers were experiencing during these service calls.
Brand Performance Comparisons
Here’s how different brands performed across several key STE metrics:
“Set an Appointment” Frequency (Specific Date & Time)
- Over 60%: Triumph, BMW, Royal Enfield, Moto Guzzi
- Under 25%: Husqvarna, Cub Cadet, John Deere
“Just Drop it Off” Frequency (No Appointment Offered)
- Under 25%: Triumph, Ducati, Moto Guzzi
- Over 50%: Husqvarna, Cub Cadet, John Deere
Average Days Until Earliest Appointment
- Under 5 Days: Kubota, Triumph, Harley-Davidson, Yamaha
- Over 10 Days: Suzuki, Zero, HiSun
Inquiring About Additional Services
- Over 35%: Ducati, Husqvarna, BMW, HiSun
- Under 15%: Yamaha, Segway, Arctic Cat, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, CFMoto, Triumph
Communication Failures (Voicemail, Hold, Phone Trees)
- Under 5%: Segway, Husqvarna, Cub Cadet, Kubota, Polaris
- Over 15%: Kymco, Zero, Ducati, Tracker
The Purpose Behind the Study
According to O’Hagan, the goal of the STE study is to shine a light on the customer’s initial service experience—an interaction that’s often overlooked in daily operations. Without visibility into this touchpoint, it’s difficult for dealerships or brands to improve.
Pied Piper has spent more than 15 years conducting independent studies on how automotive and powersports dealerships perform across in-person, internet, and telephone interactions. Their PSI® and STE® evaluations help manufacturers and dealers benchmark their performance and implement data-driven improvements.
Ongoing mystery shopping, benchmarking, and reporting services from Pied Piper offer clients a transparent view into what customers are really experiencing—and that reality is often a wake-up call.
BMW Motorrad’s consistent excellence in handling service calls helped it top the 2025 Powersports STE rankings. But perhaps more importantly, the study reveals a broad opportunity for the powersports industry to elevate customer experience through better communication, appointment scheduling, and responsiveness. As the lines between customer expectations in auto and powersports continue to blur, dealers who rise to meet these expectations will likely win customer loyalty—and business—for years to come.
