Cars.com Dealer Awards Highlight Growing Importance of Online Reputation
Event summary
- Cars.com announced its 2026 Dealer of the Year (DOTY) awards, recognizing top-rated dealerships in the U.S. and Canada.
- Nearly 1.3 million consumer reviews were submitted in 2025 to determine the award winners.
- Award criteria include average star rating, total review volume, and dealer responsiveness to reviews; 90% of winners actively respond to reviews.
- Cars.com’s platform hosts approximately 16 million consumer reviews, highlighting its significant influence on dealer reputation.
The big picture
The Cars.com Dealer of the Year awards underscore the increasing importance of online reputation in the automotive retail sector. With over 90% of car shoppers researching dealerships online, these awards serve as a powerful marketing tool and a key differentiator for dealerships striving to improve customer experience. Cars.com's platform, hosting 16 million reviews, provides a significant data advantage, and the adoption of AI-powered tools like Smart Response suggests a broader trend toward data-driven reputation management within the industry.
What we're watching
- Dealer Adoption
- The pace at which dealerships adopt Cars.com’s ‘Smart Response’ AI tool will indicate the industry’s willingness to embrace automated reputation management.
- Review Integrity
- How Cars.com addresses potential review manipulation or inauthenticity will be critical to maintaining the credibility of the DOTY awards and the platform’s overall value proposition.
- Competitive Landscape
- Whether competing review platforms can successfully challenge Cars.com’s dominance in the automotive dealer review space will depend on their ability to offer comparable data and tools.
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