84% of Customers Said Reviews Factored Into Their Choice of Dealership in 2023, With 93% of Gen Z Using Reviews to Make Purchasing Decisions

Reputation, the global leader in reputation experience management, today released its annual automotive industry report, analysing 5.5 million car buyers and service reviews to reveal insights into the evolving sentiment of auto consumers, the power of reviews to drive car sales, and what it takes to be a top dealership globally.

Using data analysis from Reputation’s AI-powered platform, as well as an annual survey that analyses consumers’ purchasing preferences, the report found that consumer reviews are the single most important factor for vehicle buying decision making.

• Customer Feedback Drives Business: 84% of consumers deem dealership reviews crucial, and 74% insist on a minimum 4-star rating. Meanwhile, 40% of consumers are likely to provide feedback in a public forum like a review site.
• Review Volume is Soaring: Year over year, review volume increased by 11%, and 2023 marked peak review volumes across all major sources of review locations when compared to the last three years.
• Interest in EVs: There is a 60% increase in review volume for EVs over the past two years, and in the UK, 29% of EV buyers have made their purchase decision after engaging with a dealership.
• The Gen Z Factor: 93% of Gen Z use reviews to make purchasing decisions, and are twice as likely (17%) to have their choice of dealership influenced by social media versus the general population (8%).

The report also includes an annual ranking of brands and dealerships based on Reputation Score, a proprietary, AI-fuelled metric that serves as a leading performance indicator in the automotive industry. Reputation Score goes beyond analysing consumer reviews to rank brands and dealerships using a measurement on a scale of 0 to 1,000 that considers a location’s sentiment, visibility and engagement.

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Online reviews also help drive consumer overall satisfaction at dealerships as businesses work to achieve a 4-star rating by responding to and managing feedback at the local level. Taking a reputation-first approach at the local level leads to a higher Reputation Score, which correlates with higher revenue. In fact, dealerships whose Reputation Score increased by 150 points from 2022 to 2023 saw a 10% sales increase.

“A car is one of the most significant purchases many consumers make, and a highly emotional one. People are willing to pay the higher prices we’re seeing today, but expect a premium experience – which means where they buy their car matters now more than ever,” says Joe Fuca, CEO of Reputation. “With reviews of dealerships spiking and 84% of consumers saying that reviews are a crucial factor in their purchasing decisions, dealerships can build trust and boost sales by listening to customer feedback and acting on it. The OEMs, dealer groups and dealerships that focus on consumer feedback to improve their reputation are all top-ranking organisations in this year’s Automotive Report.”

“Our finishing position as the number-one brand in the mass-market group of the 2023 Reputation Automotive Report is the result of many years of commitment and hard work by everyone throughout our dealer-partner network, in our U.S. and Japanese headquarters, and across our regional teams around the U.S.” says Mark Chaffin, President and CEO, Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. “I simply could not be more proud to see Mitsubishi Motors at the very top of the most influential customer satisfaction indexes in the auto industry, topping all mass-market brands and reinforcing the confidence our owners have in us.”

“Snows Motor Group is the UK’s number one-ranked dealer group for the third year running, an outstanding achievement for the group,” says Stephen Snow, Chairman and CEO of Snows Motor Group. “Snows’ company-wide commitment to delivering exceptional customer experience has allowed us to achieve the highest consumer sentiment among dealerships across the UK. We’re pleased to see a continued steady increase of new/returning customers and this is no doubt a reflection of our focus on online reviews.”

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