Ford trumps for brand loyalty

Ford has the strongest levels of brand loyalty among UK drivers, according to research from insurer Admiral.

The organisation asked 16,000 of its insurance customers whether they would be keen to replace their car with a model from the same brand after a write-off.

Ford came out on top of the survey, with a strong 40.3 per cent of the American manufacturer's customers replacing their old model with a new one from the same brand.

Focus drivers were the most likely to stick by their model.

Volkswagen also performed well when it came to retaining its customers, coming second with a 39.9 per cent loyalty rate.

For Volkswagen drivers, the Golf was the most popular vehicle when it came to replacing a wreck with the same model.

Mercedes came third, beating its German counterparts BMW and Audi with a 35.9 per cent loyalty rate.

"These figures show that Ford and Volkswagen are making an excellent impression on their owners as they are the most loyal when it comes to replacing their cars," commented Admiral managing director, Sue Longthorn.

At the opposite end of the scale, the brands retaining the least customers after a write-off were Seat and Hyundai.

The Spanish and South Korean manufacturers scored loyalty rates of 14.8 per cent and 15.3 per cent respectively.

"It looks like some manufacturers need to start pulling out the stops to keep their customers. Seat and Hyundai are big names and you'd expect them to be making more of a positive impact on drivers than they seem to be," concluded Ms Longthorn.