The industry was ranked joint second along with the food sector, following a survey of 6,000 people by the Institute of Customer Service.

The Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI) asked consumers to rate 12 key public and private sectors on consumer priorities such as professionalism, complaint-handling, quality and competence and friendliness of staff.

With a customer satisfaction index of 75, the automotive industry was only beaten by the services sector, which includes small and medium enterprises. Local government was the lowest ranked sector of the 12. The top organisation within the automotive sector was Audi, which received a ranking of 87. Mercedes Benz was second with a score of 82 and BMW/Mini was third with a score of 80. "The automotive sector has scored consistently well across the board with customers thinking highly of all aspects,” said ICS executive director Robert Crawford. "This means that even the lowest scoring organisations within the sector are still higher than the best in some other sectors."