By Jeffrey Zygmont
Staff writer
May 04, 2008 04:01 am BMW of North America granted its highest award for dealer achievement to BMW of Stratham. The prize puts the Stratham, N.H., dealership in the upper echelon of BMW outlets across America. This year, BMW awarded its Center of Excellence Award to 31 of its 338 U.S. dealers. The 2008 Center of Excellence Award recognized the performance of BMW of Stratham through 2007. It is based primarily on customer satisfaction, determined by surveys of both sales and service customers. "It's all about taking care of people and having good people here to take care of customers," said Joel Ginsburg, general manager of BMW of Stratham. Another measure of the dealer's success is its growth in an car market that is falling elsewhere in the U.S. "We've just expanded," Ginsburg said. For customer convenience, BMW of Stratham will soon open a new, drive-through service area that enables people to drop off cars indoors, he noted. The expansion also includes four new service bays. Next, the dealership will redo is customer waiting area, the manager said. The Boston-area Ira dealer group purchased BMW of Stratham in 2005. Under its new management, the dealership also won the 2007 BMW Center of Excellence Award for its performance in 2006. "That was the first year we were eligible for the award," said Ginsburg. "To get it back-to-back is very difficult,"he stated. "We're the only dealership in New England to win it in '07 and '08."
Area pump prices top $3.50
After jumping more than 10 cents per gallon over seven days, the average price of gasoline topped $3.50 per gallon in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire last week. It was the fifth straight week in which regional pump prices rose, and the second straight week of substantial increases. According to figures compiled by the auto club AAA, Massachusetts drivers paid an average of $3.562 per gallon of self-service unleaded regular on Wednesday. That represented an increase of nearly 12 cents from the prior Wednesday's average, which AAA put at $3.446. Last Wednesday's price was 68 cents higher than the Bay State average on the same day of 2007, which was $2.879 per gallon. The New Hampshire statewide average rose just under 11 cents in one week, hitting $3.520 on Wednesday, compared to $3.414 reported by AAA seven days earlier. On the same date last year, the Granite State average of $2.838 was 68 cents lower than Wednesday's figure. Nationally, the U.S. average climbed a little more than 8 cents. AAA put the coast-to-coast average at $3.617 on Wednesday. One week earlier, the nationwide average was $3.533 per gallon for self-service regular. Wednesday's national average was 63 cents above its level on the same day last year, when AAA put the figure was $2.985 per gallon.
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