Reputation Management for Car Dealers
By Space Coast Daily // January 14, 2021
Nearly 70% of car buyers always check online reviews before contacting a dealer – which is why you, as a car dealer, should invest some of your time into online reputation management. It can significantly increase your number of customers and improve your overall reputation.
Reputation Management for Car Dealers
Online reputation management for the automotive industry can come from many different tools online. Online reputation management companies can help remove negative online reviews. You will notice a positive difference in the number of people who contact you about cars.
68% of car buyers agree that they rely on customer reviews to make informed decisions. This goes to say for any industry that online reviews are a primary source of information for new customers.
Browsing online is the easiest and most convenient way for people to find services, even when those services are primarily in-person operations. Car dealer reputation management builds on this idea and will help to boost your business.
Before you begin to remove negative reviews online in an attempt to fix your online reputation, keep in mind that there are a few things that could stand in your way. Protections like Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act are a driving force behind websites’ decision to refuse removal requests, and Fair Use can prevent removal due to copyright.
Car dealers can face more difficulty with online reviews because of the frequency of fraud schemes.
How to Remove a Post from DealerRater.com
It may take some time, but you can remove a bad review from DealerRater.com.
What Is DealerRater.com?
DealerRater.com is a website that shows reviews for car dealers and service centers. Real people use the site to type up honest reviews about specific car dealers, and they can include the exact name and location of those dealers. Users of the website can also browse the reviews of other people by searching the make of a car
There are more than 6 million reviews on Dealer Rater, which means that there is a lot of competition for earning the best online rating.
“Car buyers are 90% more likely to visit your website and 5.3x more likely to visit your dealership if you have positive online reviews,” – says dealerrater.com.
And, a lot of those reviews are going to stem from review websites like DealerRater.com, so it is absolutely essential that these reviews are actively paid attention to and do not go without a response. Online reviews can make or break a business, especially if the majority of which are negative, not positive.
How to Remove a Negative Review
The Auto Response tool on Dealer Rater is useful for making sure you respond to every negative review posted on the website about your car dealership services. In general, responses are an effective way to repair relationships with past customers and increase the likelihood of them returning to your business or at least changing their review to be more positive.
To remove reviews from a previous ownership from your Dealer Rater page, you can contact the Dealer Rater content team. You will need documentation verifying the ownership change. Click here to see what else you will need and how it works.
Unfortunately, regular negative reviews that do not break any of the rules of the website cannot be taken down just because you do not want people to see it. However, you can report a negative review if it violates the Terms of Use or Community Guidelines. Reporting a review will make sure that the Dealer Rater team takes a second look at the review to consider it for removal.
How to Remove a Post from Cars.com
“More than 80% of millennials turn to the internet when researching their next car purchase, and over a third are willing to buy a car online.” – Trustpilot
What Is Cars.com?
Cars.com is another review forum for people who wish to share details of the experiences they had with certain car dealers and service centers.
Reviewers on Cars.com can create posts that reflect real-life experiences, and they can also utilize the website as a means for communicating with a new car dealer.
How to Remove a Negative Review
Negative reviews on any website, not just car dealer review websites, can be taken down based on a court order. Cases of online defamation are serious, and it would be a good idea to pursue a court order if you think you have fallen victim to such an act.
Online defamation happens when someone posts a false review that pretends to accuse the business (car dealer in this instance) of fraud, to ruin their reputation intentionally. Defamation does happen frequently, and when it happens online, it can be exceedingly difficult to fight back.
Another reason to remove a bad review from Cars.com is if it violates the community guidelines. Also, in the case of fraud, you can contact the Fraud Prevention Department on Cars.com.
Negative reviews have convinced 94 percent of consumers to avoid a business. Consumers see that other people have had real-life complications with a particular business, and it gives them doubts about going to them for their services.
How to Maintain a Positive Online Reputation
72% of car buyers and 63% of service customers would drive 20-60 miles to a dealership with good reviews. That is why it is important to maintain a positive online reputation. First impressions are everything.
To maintain your positive online reputation in the future, keep up with responding to negative reviews that you see on websites like DealerRater and Cars.com because it will show that your business cares about their customers. You should also continue to use an online reputation management service.
SEO plays a huge part in a business’s online reputation because it helps to reach more online customers. You will want to make sure that once the rank of your business reaches a better rank in search engines, what people see is mainly positive. All automotive marketing plans should include some type of SEO.
