Why This Matters

These four metrics are the foundation of a good reputation strategy. To gain a basic understanding of what's good, you can start here. Reputation metrics are considered part of the digital marketing side of reputation. Is your dealership getting reviews? Are they good? Hitting and surpassing these benchmarks will help your dealership rank high in local search and attract new customers. Of course, these numbers are just a starting point. While the median (we prefer median in this content) dealership generates 11.7 Google reviews monthly, 571 dealers in 2024 generated 100+. Widewail dealership clients average 42. 

How the Numbers look this year

As an industry, automotive had an exceptionally strong reputation in 2024. The industry continues to adopt a proactive approach to reputation, and the results are clear. Volume is up over 18% monthly, with negativity falling 21%. Whereas at the beginning of 2023, dealers only had to generate 9 reviews each month to be average, today, the number is approaching 12. Along with that, ratings continue to rise. In 2023, the industry averaged 4.44 stars, which has since been left far behind. Dealership experiences and reputation strategy continue to improve, and so do ratings. It's fair to take a moment of recognition here: the industry average rating is 4.56 stars. That number is impressively strong, and we share our congratulations with the industry.

What's in the 2024 Report

Welcome to the 2nd annual Widewail Voice of the Customer Report. Each year, we collect over 4 million Google reviews from 18,000 US car dealerships to learn about today's dealership experience. For the first time in the report's history, we can now trend the data year-over-year (YoY), and with that comes some fantastic insight. We've learned that negative feedback about staff grew in 2024, but dissatisfaction with wait times has fallen.

How Dealers are using AI today

Reviews are an incredible source for voice of customer research. With Widewail's AI, measuring customer experience is more accessible than ever. Allow this report to act as a guide, showing you how free text customer feedback and AI can work together for your dealership, instructing you on what's working and what's not. When you walk into next year's annual operating meeting, bring with you the perspectives of your customers. 

How to read this report

For this study, we've collected 8.1 million Google reviews from 18,000 US dealerships from Q1 2023 - Q3 2024. We've analyzed each review with Widewail's AI technology, tagging each review with up to 27 commonly discussed customer experience topics. To start, we hit the highlights: 5 key insights you need to know going into 2025. From there, we divide the dataset further, analyzing each topic in sales, service, and regional contexts. Additionally, we've assembled some fantastic research specific to the EV customer experience. Thank you for reading, and please enjoy the 2024 edition of the annual Voice of the Customer Report for the automotive industry.

Methodology

Over the past two years, Widewail has collected 8.1 million Google reviews across 18,000+ new car dealerships in the U.S. Widewail’s data science team, using state-of-the-art machine learning techniques, performed topic and sentiment analysis on 4.5M of these reviews to understand better what customers are saying about their experience. 

Mentioned in 25% of negative reviews, the negativity surrounding STAFF is up 19.6% in 2024.

Staff moves up 2 spots to become the #2 driver of negative reviews, behind communication. Remains #1 driver of positive reviews in 2024.

Insight

• Staff remains the #1 driver of positive reviews in 2024, mentioned in 75.8% of positive reviews.
• When filtering the dataset to identify the topics with the biggest increase in negativity from 2023 to 2024, staff is #2 behind the financing department, followed by professionalism, which grew 17.4% in 2024.
• The limits of the “pandemic-hire” — dealer staff that has only known the post-COVID era of constrained supply, low incentives, and high profitability — are coming into sharp relief in 2024. As the industry returns to an environment resembling 2019, we see that the customer experience offered by staff is viewed less favorably by shoppers.

What the Data Says

To give key insight #1 more detail that you can take back to the dealership and act on, we researched this scenario further.

How We Researched This

To learn more about staff, we isolated the other topics in the study in the context of staff. First, we filtered by negative reviews (1-3 stars). Then, we isolated all reviews with a staff tag associated with them. It’s important to remember that any review in this study can be, and in most cases is, tagged with multiple topics. Depending on what the customer writes about, reviews can be tagged with anywhere from 1 to 27 topics. Once that filtering process was complete to isolate negative reviews tagged with staff, we looked at the YoY change in topic mentions. We’ve picked out four topics with the highest negativity growth this year, led by the finance department (shown above).

Negative Reviews Mentioning Staff + Finance Department Grow 31.5% YoY

When filtering by negative staff reviews, negative mentions of the financing department grew the most in 2024. This type of review is common and could read something like: “I absolutely love my vehicle. Joe was fantastic in the sales process. When I got into finance, they weren't sure which incentive would apply for this vehicle, they tried to sell me too many F&I products. I don't want GAP. I wish there hadn't been such a high-pressure finish to the sale.” 

Recommendations to Dealers

2024 has been a year of increasing complexity. Incentives are back, and with that, there is negotiation. Salespeople are expected to have substantial knowledge of three unique powertrains: internal combustion engines, electric vehicles, and hybrids. Customers are coming in more informed, and they expect their salespeople to be equally knowledgeable. In this environment, transparency and clear communication are critical.

This complexity is beginning to take a toll on customer experience. Don’t get us wrong: 89% of customer reviews were positive last year. 9/10 customer experiences meet or exceed expectations. However, the 10% of negative experiences are still a cause for concern. When customers have a negative experience, it is often due to issues with staff, with large growth in finance staff negativity in 2024.

We recommend that dealers take a proactive approach to improving the customer experience. This means investing in staff development, improving communication, and prioritizing the customer experience at every step of the process.

Where to Focus

The Financing Department

The financing department is a key area of concern for customers. Dealers should work to improve the transparency and efficiency of the financing process.

Address Warranty Concerns

Customers are increasingly concerned about warranties. Dealers should clearly explain warranty coverage and address any customer concerns.

Pay Attention to Deals and Incentives

Customers always seek a good deal. Dealers should make sure they are offering competitive pricing and incentives.

What is talked about in positive reviews that mention staff?

Typically, when customers mention a member of the dealership staff in a Google review, they mention great customer service, particularly being taken care of and being guided through the process step-by-step.

Peeling back the onion, the idea of customers "valuing the clarity provided” is often mentioned in positive reviews.

Clarity of Features and Options

Customers appreciate when sales representatives clearly explain the features, benefits, and options of different car models. This helps customers feel informed and confident in choosing the best vehicle for their needs. Detailed guidance on available trim levels, optional upgrades, and specific technologies (such as safety features, infotainment, or fuel-efficiency) enhances their understanding and makes the decision-making process smoother.

Transparency in Financing and Costs

Positive reviews often highlight when sales representatives provide transparent breakdowns of financing options, total costs, monthly payments, and any additional fees. Clear, upfront explanations about the financial aspects prevent unexpected costs and help customers make financially sound decisions.

Minimal Jargon

Customers value easy-to-understand language. Clear communication simplifies the sales process and makes it feel less intimidating, which can be especially reassuring for first-time buyers or those unfamiliar with the nuances of the process or the vehicles themselves.

Consistency and Honesty

When information is consistently clear from the start to the final paperwork, it builds trust. Customers feel reassured when the details they hear in initial conversations match the information presented at signing, reinforcing the dealership’s reliability and integrity.

Setting Realistic Expectations

Positive reviews frequently mention when representatives set clear, realistic expectations about delivery times, maintenance schedules, or follow-up services. When customers are well-informed and prepared for the next steps, they feel more comfortable and satisfied with their purchase.

Negative mentions increase 6.4% YoY. Remains #1 Negative Topic.

Mentioned in 41% of negative reviews, poor feedback on communication systems has increased by 6.4% across the industry YoY.

Insight

• Communication remains the #1 cause of negative feedback in 2024.
• Although the rise between the averages in 2023 and 2024 is only 6.4%, the growth from the 2023 low to the 2024 high is a much more substantial 18%.
• In 2023, poor communication was a more substantial issue in service. It remains a key issue, mentioned in 44% of negative service reviews, slightly above the 41% in sales, but sales negativity grew faster in 2024. While negativity around service communication is only up 4% YoY, sales is up 8%.
• When comparing negative reviews for luxury dealers with the industry benchmark, we observe no difference. Communication is a problem at luxury dealerships just as often as anywhere else in the industry. That said, luxury dealers did outperform industry benchmarks for positive mentions of communication by 14% in 2024.

Sales department performance experienced a negativity increase and a positivity decrease in 2024, faring worse than service.

Sales department positivity is down 3% YoY, and negativity is up 8.5% YoY.

Insight

• 8% growth in negativity in 2024 puts sales squarely in the middle of the topics this year, but the negativity jump is over double that of service, which only increased 3% YoY.
• Within sales, we see a large negativity increase in the financing department. Industry-wide, 7% of negative reviews mention finance. In the context of sales reviews, that jumps to 15%, a 124% increase. Industry-wide, the negativity of the financing department is up substantially in 2024, up 20% over 2023.

2024's wait time experience trends represent a substantial victory for the industry.

Negative mentions of wait time declined 8.5% YoY.

Insight

• No topic decreased in negativity more in 2024 than wait time.
• This change is primarily due to improvements in the service department. While negative mentions of wait time in sales departments only dropped 1% YoY, service departments dropped a full 7%.

Rising vehicle age = more expensive services.

Overall, positive mentions of price/cost increased 0.3% YoY, 1.6% decrease in negativity. Looking at the trends, we see sales trending in the right direction and service trending in the wrong direction.

Insight

• JD Power reports the percentage of vehicles sold above MSRP is down 27% YoY, amounting to just 12% of new vehicle sales. While higher inventory and manufacturer incentives mean lower dealership profitability, it has had a significant positive impact on customer experience in 2024.
• Positive reviews mentioning DEALS increased by 6.5%.
• Cost of service positivity dropped, decreasing 3%.
• The average age of vehicles on the road is up by 33% over the last 20 years, now 12.5 years, according to S&P Global.  People are hanging onto cars for longer, which means more expensive services. 
• We reviewed mentions of three common expensive services: brakes, engines, and transmissions. Each topic was mentioned in reviews over 30% more often in 2024 when compared to 2023.