I’m recently learned that some members think we expect multiple responses to the Car Reliability Survey each month, so they haven’t been responding. Apparently, things have gotten twisted entirely around. Hopefully this post will help untwist them.

The reason for the misperception: these members have been receiving three or four emails each month that say, “Response needed even if there have been no repairs.” What hasn’t been sufficiently clear: this only happens when there hasn’t been a response in recent months (or ever). So these members have come to believe that they’d be getting just as many emails needing a response even if they had been responding to the survey.

This isn’t the case. Instead, members who consistently and promptly respond to the surveys when a response is needed get just four such emails per year. Other months they get a single email asking them to report a repair, if there was one. They never see the reminders that are sent to those who haven’t responded.

In contrast, those who don’t respond do receive the reminders, because some people forget about the intial email and need one. These bump the response rate from about 23 percent to about 36 percent.

Think of it this way: you badly need an answer to a question. So you call the person who can answer it. They don’t pick up the phone, and they don’t call you back. So you call again, and again after that, because you really need this answer. They might think you want to talk to them all the time, and they don’t have the time to talk so often, so they start ignoring your calls. In fact, you just need one quick answer. You’ve only called multiple times because they’ve never picked up the phone.

So, if it seems like you’re being asked to respond to the survey too often, it’s because you haven’t been responding at all in recent months. It’s never too late to sort this out. Respond to the survey when this is needed, and within a few months (it takes the system a little while to “learn” who doesn’t need the reminders) you’ll find yourself receiving far fewer emails.

You can contact us if you have some catching up to do.