For the second consecutive year, Holiday Rambler tops the list of manufacturers, scoring higher in the five rated areas of the annual Dealer Satisfaction Index (DSI) study conducted by the Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association of America (RVDA. Other manufacturers coming in high were Carriage; Coachmen RV; Newmar; and Winnebago Industries. RVDA honored these five manufacturers with its Quality Circle Award during the National RV Trade Show in Louisville, KY, in December.

The DSI asks RV dealers to rate manufacturers' performance in five major categories: sales agreement quality; product competitiveness; sales support; aftermarket; and management.

Chairman of the board Jim Fogdall of Ace Fogdall, Inc., said, "As the industry works to increase its level of trust, the dealer members of RVDA would like to express their appreciation for these manufacturers' efforts to improve their business relationships with the dealer body.

"This stronger relationship between dealers and manufacturers also builds a stronger bond with the retail customer. It makes for true 'happy campers' and consequently helps all segments of the RV industry."

For the third consecutive year, RVDA has conducted a dealer satisfaction survey which asked dealers to rate their satisfaction with the manufacturers with which they do business. This year, 313 RVDA dealer members provide their perception of this relationship for this year's Dealer Satisfaction Index (DSI). The results reflect nearly 1,200 individual manufacturer evaluations from these dealers.

Although the total level of satisfaction for Holiday Rambler is slightly down this year from 1995 - 83% in 1995 to 81% in 1996 Holiday continues to show improvements within the various areas of the dealer-manufacturer relationship. In particular, sales agreement quality, sales support quality, and management are perceived among dealers to be Holiday Rambler's strongest areas.

Winnebago Industries, whose score consists of Itasca and Winnebago dealer responses, improves from sixth to second place. This year's score reveals an eight-percentage point increase in overall satisfaction, from 72% in 1995 to 80% in 1996. Winnebago is one of the only companies to improve in nearly every individual question on the survey, particularly in aftermarket and sales support quality.

Newmar also moves up over last year's score from fifth to third position, showing modest increases in individual questions. Coachmen RV also improves in nearly every question and receives a higher overall rating than last year, from 77% to 79% total satisfaction. Carriage returns to the DSI this year and places fifth. Although Carriage did not receive enough evaluations to be rated in 1995, it received high scores and continues to do so through 1996. The total satisfaction for Carriage is 78%.

For the most part, satisfaction levels among the top five manufacturers increases over 1995, an encouraging sign of progress by these manufacturers.

Here is a summary of the various categories evaluated:

SALES AGREEMENT QUALITY I

Individually, manufacturers receive their highest satisfaction ratings in this category than in any other. In addition, ratings per question in this category are higher among many individual manufacturers than they have ever been. Holiday Rambler, which topped the list in Sales Agreement Quality I in 1995, again receives the highest overall score in the category at 93% satisfaction, a 4%-point increase in satisfaction over its score last year. Dealers perceive Holiday Rambler's strongest areas to be in having a written sales agreement (100% satisfaction), having an agreement which contains an exclusive territory provision (100% satisfaction), and keeping the agreement current (95% satisfaction).

The next four highest manufacturers--Carriage, Coachmen RV, Newmar, and Airstream--all receive higher satisfaction ratings than those manufacturers making the top five last year. In particular, Newmar improves its satisfaction score by 15 percentage points. Coachmen RV increases its ratings by 11 percentage points over its score in 1995, from 77% satisfaction to 89%. Carriage, which was not rated in 1995, receives an outstanding 90% satisfaction rating. Airstream also was not rated in the 1995 DSI, but places fifth overall in this category at 86% satisfaction.

Individual manufacturer to-tals for Question Seven, which is included in this category, are not factored in to the total for this category this year. For the most part, it is not advantageous for a dealer to have market share requirements in his or her sales agreement. Furthermore, satisfaction ratings over the last three years do not reveal a trend one way or another. Instead, ratings have been up and down, showing no real consensus on this issue. Therefore, ratings for this question were excluded from the totals for Sales Agreement Quality I.

For the first time, overall ratings increase in each of the questions in this category (with the exception of Question Seven which is not factored in to this year's results). Progress appears to be made in the "3 T's:" termination, transfer, and territory.

The biggest jump in overall scores in this category appears with inventory repurchase upon termination (#5). Only 54% of dealers have this provision in their sales agreements, however, this is an increase of nearly 10 percentage points over 1995 and 1994. Continued