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There are strategies dealers can use to avoid customers' one-star reviews.Getty Images
Dealers that sell EVs may want to take a few extra steps to ensure customer satisfaction and avoid a one-star Google review.
A recent report by Widewail, a reputation management firm based in Burlington, VT, found that those who bought EVs from traditional car dealerships gave twice the number of one-star reviews – 14% – as other dealership buyers. The report found that 25% of those who bought from direct-to-consumer EV automakers, such as Tesla and Rivian, awarded one star.
“Given Tesla’s strong brand, high virality and top marks from trusted consumer media, it was surprising to see that their Google reviews revealed such a high percentage of unsatisfied customers,” says Matt Murray, CEO of Widewail. “More surprising was that even EV buyers from traditional dealerships left substantially more negative reviews.”
The analysis was based on 800,000 Google customer reviews from more than 16,000 new-car dealerships during the first half of 2023.
The auto industry average benchmark is 7% of dealerships receiving one star, so the high volume of negative reviews raises concern about the experience of buying and owning an EV, reports Widewail.
That doesn’t mean all dealers that sell EVs are doomed to poor ratings. Consider these findings from Widewail to understand what buyers want from dealerships that sell EVs:
Customers value staff who are helpful, friendly and professional. Most positive reviews of the sales department mention a staff member by name who met those criteria. Nearly 80% of all reviews cite staff, and 70% of those reviews are positive. In addition, 57% of positive reviews mention individual team members. Customers’ experience with a specific staff member at a dealership is the most commonly mentioned category in Google reviews and has the leading influence on positive reviews.
Most positive reviews of the service department mention a good experience with a specific staff member, an effective vehicle repair and a moment when wait times met expectations.
Experience with staff is 5.2 times more predictive of a positive outcome than pricing topics such as cost, warranty and deals.
The negative review analysis found that buyers mentioned poor communication 37% of the time, leading to negative reviews. Negative reviews also cite wait time as an issue, mentioning it 3.1 times more often in negative versus positive reviews.
Most negative reviews mention poor communication, the service department, unsatisfactory or expensive repairs, long wait times and price surprises.
Experience with staff is 12 times more predictive of a positive outcome than other dealership factors, such as inventory, loaner car or valet.
Price concerns are almost five times more common among unhappy customers than happy customers, likely because of a lack of predictability in costs associated with the service department.
While customers mention pricing in 20.7% of negative reviews, price is mentioned even more often in reviews about a specific service experience, such as brakes, engine and transmission repairs.
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