QUESTION: The manufacturer of my current car was ranked low in the latest J.D. Power survey, though I have had no problems with it. Will this damage the resale value of my vehicle when I get ready to sell it?
--Ali, Orlando, Fla.
ANSWER: It's hard to say whether a low-quality rating from J.D. Power will have any effect on resale, but we can safely assume a good rating is better than a bad rating, right?
Here is how these ratings work: J.D. Power and Associates, a firm owned by McGraw-Hill, has been around since 1968. They are best known for auto rankings, but they survey consumers on a huge variety of products and services, ranging from health care to homebuilders.
The Initial Quality Study is hugely important to automakers, because it gives near-term feedback. Most other surveys, like some from Consumer Reports, deal with longer-term reliability -- if a manufacturer makes an improvement today, it could take two or three years to show up on surveys like that.
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The Power IQS deals with current-year products, this year surveying 82,000 owners of 2010 model vehicles, and listing the number of problems they had in their first 90 days (the owners select from a list of 228 possible issues). The study ranks the manufacturers from first to 33rd, by the average number of problems seen per each 100 cars.
This year's winner, Porsche, averaged 83 problems per 100 vehicles. In 33rd, Land Rover averaged 170 problems found per 100 vehicles.
Worth noting: Domestic brands led imports this year in cars and trucks, while imports led in SUVs and vans.
