Cars.com Updated Rating Calculation
The automotive customer experience is constantly evolving, and at Cars.com we’re committed to providing trust and transparency in the dealership research process. Unlike other marketplaces, we enable your dealership to compete for business based on customer experience, not just the lowest price. In order to maintain this commitment, we’re making an important upgrade to our Dealer Rating calculation which is scheduled to go live on October 11, 2022.
Why Make a Change?
Dealers work hard to collect reviews and it’s important that the way in which we calculate Dealer Ratings on our site is the most accurate and up-to-date reflection of a dealership’s customer experience. We understand the importance of Dealer Ratings in customer decision-making and only make changes to our calculation after significant qualitative and quantitative research.
What’s Changing?
Update #1:
All dealership reviews on Cars.com will still be factored into the Rating calculation; however, more recent reviews will have a heavier weighting in the score.
Consumer research behavior indicates that customers primarily focus on recent reviews when deciding on a business or product. In addition, according to recent data from NADA, the average tenure of a dealership employee is 2 years. As a dealership staff turns over, the overall customer experience may change, so putting greater weight on more recent review content ensures that we more accurately reflect the current customer experience. We believe this is most fair for both dealers and consumers.
Update #2: A dealership must have earned at least 5 reviews during the prior 24 month period in order for a Dealer Rating to be calculated. Dealers that do not meet this minimum qualification will show as “Not Yet Rated”.
We do not believe that just one or two recent reviews provide the most accurate or fair reflection of a dealership experience. When we display a Dealer Rating on our site, we want to ensure we have confidence in that score. Data has shown that achieving this rating confidence requires a minimum of 5 reviews written within the prior 24 month period.