DETROIT – Chevrolet ranks highest in medium-duty truck dealer service satisfaction, while Peterbilt ranks highest in customer satisfaction among conventional cab medium-duty trucks, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2006 Medium-Duty Truck Customer Satisfaction Study. The study, now in its 14th year, analyzes customer satisfaction across a number of important areas, including vehicle performance, product quality, dealer service, dealer parts, and manufacturer image. In the dealer service segment, overall satisfaction is determined by six factors (in order of importance): dealer facility, service quality, service delivery, service initiation, service advisor, and price. Chevrolet ranks highest, performing particularly well in service initiation, service advisor, and cost. Chevrolet’s counterpart GMC follows in the dealer service rankings, receiving the highest ratings from customers in service delivery and service quality. International and Kenworth follow GMC in the dealer service segment rankings. Additionally, in the overall service experience, customers are particularly dissatisfied with the price they pay for service — specifically the cost of labor and cost of parts. Within the conventional truck segment, four factors are used to determine overall satisfaction: vehicle performance, quality, cost of ownership, and warranty. Peterbilt ranks highest in the segment, performing well across all four factors that determine overall satisfaction. In particular, Peterbilt receives the highest ratings from customers in vehicle performance and cost of ownership. Kenworth, GMC Truck, Freightliner, Sterling, and Chevrolet follow Peterbilt in the conventional segment rankings. The study measures customer satisfaction with 2004-model-year trucks, the second model year impacted by the 2002 Consent Decree mandating lower emission levels. As automotive companies continue to adjust their compliant engines to meet regulation standards, the mix of new emission technology engines has increased from the 2003-model year when compared to 2004. While the study does not discern which engines include new or old technology, or which engines meet the emission regulations and which do not, there has been a significant increase in the overall number of engine-related problems. Engine problems account for 29 percent of all problems reported in the study, compared to just 21 percent in the 2003 study, which was based on 2001-model-year trucks that were not affected by the new emission standards. The study also finds that loyalty among medium-duty truck owners has declined for a second consecutive year. In 2006, just 35 percent of customers indicate that they “definitely would” repurchase the same truck brand. This is a decline from 40 percent of customers who indicated the same in the 2005 study, and 45 percent of customers in 2004. The 2006 Medium-Duty Truck Customer Satisfaction Study is based on responses from more than 1,447 primary maintainers of two-year-old, medium-duty trucks (Classes 5, 6, and 7).