Customer Satisfaction Index
CSI stands for Customer Satisfaction Index — a survey score, administered by the manufacturer (not the dealership), that measures how satisfied customers were with their sales or service experience. It's one of the few metrics that follows a dealership from the OEM's side rather than being generated internally.
CSI scores are frequently tied to real financial and operational consequences: manufacturer incentive payouts, priority on popular vehicle allocation, and a dealership's overall standing with the OEM. A dealership with strong sales numbers but weak CSI can still lose out on allocation or incentive money that a lower-volume, higher-CSI competitor gets instead.
CSI damage rarely comes from the big, obvious failures — it usually comes from small moments: a customer who felt rushed at delivery, a surprise on the final numbers that wasn't clearly explained earlier, or a service visit where nobody followed up on a concern. These are also the exact moments most within a rep or advisor's control to get right.
DealerSim's CSI Rescue practice scenario puts a rep in front of a customer at delivery who's already primed to leave a bad survey score — a small paint chip noticed, a rate that came in higher than quoted — and scores the recovery on de-escalation, expectation reset, and follow-up commitment.