Company Press Release

Lexus and Hyundai Rank Highest in Dealer-Customer Experience, According to DealerRater

Consumer Rating Index names top-performing automotive brands based on consumer reviews of dealerships.

WALTHAM, Mass. – November 16, 2015 – DealerRater, the car dealer review website for consumers, announced today that Lexus and Hyundai lead their respective segments – “luxury” and “mass-market” – at the mid-year update for its forthcoming 2016 Consumer Rating Index (CRI), which ranks auto manufacturers by customer experience at the dealership level.

DealerRater’s CRI is calculated by averaging consumer ratings of individual dealerships posted on DealerRater.com. It allows manufacturers to gauge the level of customer satisfaction at their dealerships relative to the competition based on feedback across all levels of the buying experience, including customer service, quality of work, friendliness, price and overall experience.

“Leading OEMs now realize that customer experience is the key differentiator when it comes to consumers choosing where to buy and service their vehicles,” said DealerRater CEO Gary Tucker. “Consumers write 60,000 reviews on DealerRater each month and millions of in-market shoppers are using these reviews and ratings to choose their preferred dealerships, as well as the salespeople from whom they want to purchase a vehicle even if they’ve never met or spoken to them before.

“The DealerRater CRI award is an independent, consumer-driven measure of a brand’s performance in customer experience. We are excited to work with our OEM partners to use this information to help them deliver consistently great customer experiences in their showrooms and service-drives.”

Automotive manufacturers within the luxury and mass-market brand categories are ranked separately in the CRI. With a 4.789 average score, Lexus could be a three-peat CRI winner if it continues to hold its rank in the luxury brand segment when DealerRater announces its 2016 winners – Lincoln currently is the runner-up, having advanced 10 positions since the 2015 winners were announced. Hyundai holds the top spot for mass-market brands with a score of 4.788, followed by Subaru, which won the 2015 CRI award.

The mid-year update for the 2016 CRI is based on 438,000 reviews collected on DealerRater.com during the 12-month period ending September 2015 (up from 352,000 collected the previous year). To qualify for DealerRater’s CRI, luxury brands must have received a minimum of 500 reviews and mass-market brands were required to receive 1,000 reviews. The rankings are based on numerical averages of all reviews that are attributed to a specific OEM.

The winners of the 2016 CRI will be announced in April 2016. 

Tags: cri, consumer rating index, oem, dealership reviews