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Over 1 Million Consumer Reviews Show Responsiveness, Accountability Are Keys to Delivering Excellent Dealership Experience

CHICAGO, March 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Car-shopping marketplace and dealer reputation site Cars.com^® (NYSE: CARS) — home to more than 13 million dealership reviews, the most industrywide — today unveiled the winners of its annual Dealer of the Year Awards (DOTY), presented annually to the top automotive dealers. Out of the more than 50,000 U.S. and Canadian auto dealers with profiles, 987 were honored as Cars.com DOTY recipients based on more than 1 million online consumer reviews submitted in 2023.¹ Winners were selected based on average star rating, total number of reviews and dealer response to those reviews — all key drivers of repeat and referral business.

"Local dealerships are central to vehicle buying, and our DOTY Awards highlight the many local retailers who take pride in their reputation, striving each and every day to provide a five-star experience for their customers," said Jamie Oldershaw, vice president of reputation at Cars.com. "A consumer submits a dealership review every 27 seconds on Cars.com, providing dealers with valuable real-time feedback and shoppers with firsthand information about a dealership's customer experience."

Award-winning dealers earned 21x more consumer reviews than non-winning dealers, highlighting the importance of online reputation and how it helps build long-term, trusted relationships between a customer and dealer. Year after year, high levels of responsiveness and individual dealership employee accountability are the most reliable predictors of dealer success in the DOTY Awards. Eighty percent of honorees respond to consumer reviews compared to only 41% of non-winning dealers, and about half respond to 90% or more of their reviews.¹

Furthermore, nearly two-thirds of DOTY winners leverage Employee Profile Pages for their dealership staff, which allows car shoppers to ask questions and connect directly with salespeople before ever stepping foot on the lot. More than 195,000 dealership employees received over 1.4 million individual ratings last year, an 8.5% increase from 2022.¹

This year's Cars.com Dealer of the Year Award winners include:

Regional Winners

• Mid-Atlantic: Mercedes-Benz of Edison - A Ray Catena Dealership
• Midwest: Phillips Chevrolet
• New England: Herb Chambers Lexus of Sharon
• Plains: Dean Team Subaru Volkswagen
• Rocky Mountain: EchoPark Automotive Thornton
• Southeast: Hendrick Toyota of Wilmington
• Southwest: D&M Leasing - Fort Worth
• West: Gosch Toyota

National Brand Winners

• Acura: Acura of Wappingers Falls
• Alfa Romeo: Alfa Romeo Fiat of Strongsville
• Aston Martin: Orlando INFINITI/Aston Martin/Lotus
• Audi: Audi Atlanta
• Bentley: Foreign Cars Charlotte
• BMW: Hendrick BMW Northlake
• Buick: Four Stars Auto Ranch
• Cadillac: Gold Coast Cadillac
• Chevrolet: Phillips Chevrolet
• Chrysler: Taylor Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram
• Dodge: Taylor Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram
• Ferrari: Boardwalk Ferrari
• Fiat: Maserati of Naperville
• Ford: Arlington Heights Ford
• Genesis: Allen Turner Hyundai
• GMC: Sun Buick GMC
• Harley-Davidson: Manchester Harley-Davidson
• Honda: Honda of Concord
• Hyundai: Allen Turner Hyundai
• Infiniti: Orlando INFINITI/Aston Martin/Lotus
• Jaguar: Jaguar Land Rover Charlotte
• Jeep: Taylor Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram
• Kia: Preston Superstore
• Lamborghini: Lamborghini Dallas
• Land Rover: Land Rover Princeton
• Leasing Company: D&M Leasing - Fort Worth
• Lexus: Hendrick Lexus Northlake
• Lincoln: Bozard Ford Lincoln
• Lotus: Orlando INFINITI/Aston Martin/Lotus
• Maserati: Foreign Cars Italia
• Mazda: Tustin Mazda
• McLaren: Newport Beach Automotive Group
• Mercedes-Benz: Mercedes-Benz of Edison - A Ray Catena Dealership
• Mini: Mall of Georgia MINI
• Mitsubishi: Elder Mitsubishi - Killeen
• Nissan: Mike Rezi Nissan
• Polaris: California Custom Trailers & Powersports
• Porsche: Jackie Cooper Imports
• Ram: Taylor Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram
• Recreational Vehicles: Dodd RV of the Peninsula
• Subaru: Subaru of Jacksonville
• Toyota: Hendrick Toyota of Wilmington
• Used Car Dealer: Dallas Lease Returns
• Volkswagen: Street Volkswagen of Amarillo
• Volvo: Smythe Volvo

A full list of winners can be found here.

Empowering Dealers to Optimize the Customer's Car-Buying Journey

As the largest dealership review platform in automotive, Cars.com empowers shoppers and dealerships with data-driven insights about the car-buying journey. For dealers, customized tools like the Cars.com Experience Report, AutoResponse and ReviewBuilder enable them to stay competitive and better understand how every stage of the sales cycle — from lead follow-up and price transparency to trade-in valuation, service and financing — is affecting the bottom line.

Cars.com Dealer of the Year Award Methodology

The Cars.com Dealer of the Year Awards are presented annually to the top automotive dealers with 25 or more reviews based on the dealership's average star rating and the total number of reviews written about the dealership during the 2023 calendar year, as well as management response rate to those reviews.

¹ Review statistics and winner selection is based on data from DealerRater, a leading reputation management and car-dealer review platform that is part of the Cars.com Inc. portfolio.

ABOUT CARS.COM^®

Cars.com is the No. 1 most recognized automotive marketplace visited by nearly 30 million in-market consumers each month. Launched in 1998 and headquartered in Chicago, Cars.com empowers consumers with data, content and digital tools driven by AI technology to make informed car buying and selling decisions and seamlessly connect with thousands of local dealerships nationwide. Cars.com is the flagship offering from Cars.com Inc. (d/b/a Cars Commerce, Inc.), an audience-driven technology company empowering automotive that simplifies everything about buying and selling cars. Learn more at www.carscommerce.inc.

SOURCE Cars.com Inc.