European agricultural machinery dealer network CLIMMAR recently published results of its 10th European Dealer Satisfaction Index (DSI) survey.

Results for 2020 show that for the third year running, Fendt has been ranked the highest in terms of overall dealer satisfaction.

The survey usually targets dealers from across 10 countries, but due to COVID-19, dealers in the UK and Austria were unable to participate this year, reducing the number of respondents. A total of 862 respondents took part in this year’s evaluation, down from 1,077 in 2019, according to CLIMMAR.

Survey

The online survey, which took place from 2 June to 24 July, evaluated the relationship between dealers and manufacturers across 14 different sets of criteria, with dealers awarded a score of 0-20 points for each. Criteria included brand image, sales support for both machinery and spares, service support and the level of warranty reimbursement.

At 14.5%, Fendt ranked the highest in terms of the average across all criteria combined. This is an increase of 0.1% from the 2019 survey. Kubota took second place at 13.8%, down from 14.1% in 2019. Next up was Claas, in third position, at 13.7%, up slightly from 13.2% in 2019.

Valtra and Claas saw a year-on-year improvement across 12 and 13 instances of the 14 sets of criteria surveyed, respectively. Results also show that Case IH and John Deere made no improvements across any of the 14 sets of criteria between 2019 and 2020.

Interestingly, the 2020 results show a one percentage point drop for John Deere, from 13.5% in 2019 to 12.5% in 2020. This drop cost Deere five positions on the leaderboard, going from the third highest to the third lowest ranking manufacturer on the overall average dealer satisfaction table. On the other hand, Claas, Massey and Valtra have all ranked two or more positions higher in 2020 than 2019.