WALTHAM, Mass., Jan. 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- DealerRater, a
leading car dealer review and reputation management platform and
company of Cars.com Inc. (NYSE: CARS), today announced the winners
of its annual Dealer of the Year Awards (DOTY). Award
winners are recognized for their outstanding dealership experiences
according to the more than one million reviews posted by car
shoppers on DealerRater in 2020. See the full list of winners
U.S. and Canada.
"Delivering a customer experience that meets shifting shopper
expectations — especially in today's stay-at-home economy — is
critical to a dealership's success. And we saw overwhelmingly
positive consumer reviews on our platform over the past year as
dealers transformed into digital-first car sellers," said
Jamie Oldershaw, general manager of
DealerRater. "Our Dealer of the Year Award winners represent local
dealers across North America who
strived for excellence in 2020 and leveraged their superior
customer experience in the form of reviews as a differentiator to
get ahead of the competition."
Top-Reviewed Dealers Prioritized Digital-First Services and
Covid-19 Safety Protocols
Features such as online and video chat, at-home delivery and
virtual walkarounds were significant drivers of positive reviews.
Forty-eight percent of winning dealers were badged on Cars.com and
DealerRater.com for Home Delivery and Virtual
Appointment.1
The Dealer of the Year Awards indicate the value car shoppers
place on dealers' adaptability to pandemic realities. Dealers who
implemented Covid-19 health and safety protocols, such as masks,
social distancing, and sanitization, received more positive reviews
at a rate of nearly 30 to 1.2
Strong Dealer Engagement and Review Response Rate Critical
for Success
The digital engagement of employees at dealerships proved
especially critical this past year as car shoppers conducted the
bulk of their research and vehicle purchase online. A shared habit
of recognized dealers is review response rate, with 80% of
award-winning dealers responding to customers at double the average
response rate.1 Dealers that go above and beyond
traditionally respond within 24 hours.
Additionally, about 75% of winners provide their staff with
Employee Profile Pages on DealerRater, which allows car shoppers to
ask questions and connect with individual salespeople at a
dealership before ever stepping on the lot.1
DealerRater Dealer of the Year and Consumer Satisfaction
Award Methodology
The DealerRater Dealer of the Year Awards are presented annually
to the top U.S. and Canadian car dealers with 25 or more reviews
based on categories such as customer service, quality of work,
friendliness, pricing and overall experience, key drivers of repeat
and referral business. The scoring algorithm considers the
dealership's average DealerRater star rating as well as the total
number of reviews written about the dealership during the 2020
calendar year.
Consumer Satisfaction Awards are given to the top 10% of U.S.
new-car dealers as well as independent and Canadian dealerships
that earn at least 25 reviews and maintain a minimum average review
rating of 4.0 out of 5.0 during the 2020 calendar year.
See the full list of winners U.S. and
Canada.
1 DealerRater Internal Data, January 2021
2 DealerRater Internal Data, October 2020
ABOUT DEALERRATER
DealerRater, a Cars.com company, is a leading car dealer
review and reputation management platform that empowers dealerships
to efficiently grow their brands by accelerating, automating and
amplifying positive review generation across digital channels. By
offering a product suite that allows qualified dealerships to
manage their digital presence and build and maintain their online
reputation, DealerRater helps dealers drive new customer
connections every day, achieve higher SEO rankings and, ultimately,
generate higher-quality leads that close, faster.
Founded in 2002, DealerRater reviews cover 44,000 U.S. and
Canadian dealerships, including a network of more than 5,000
Certified Dealers, that reaches an audience of more than 34 million
consumers each month.
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SOURCE DealerRater