New Dot-Com Rating Dealers

Date: April 19, 2005

By Jim Stickford, Used Car News Staff Writer

Dealers looking to find out just what the public thinks of their lots might want to check out www.mydealereport.com. The consumer-oriented Web site is aimed at providing buyers with information about the quality of car dealerships.

Founders John Isaac and Vincent Peckham were both in the car sales business and lamented the fact that good dealers had their reputations hurt by the actions of a few bad dealers. We asked ourselves what was the difference between a car salesman and a Realtor, Isaac said. On the surface, one perceived as a consumer's friend and the other as the consumer's enemy. Yet it's the friend, the Realtor, that sells the much more expensive item. That makes no sense.

The result of those discussions was the creation of www.mydealerreport.com. The Atlanta-based company started about 18 months ago. Consumers can log onto the site and see if there are any reports on dealers with whom they wish to do business. We have reports on close to 10,000 dealerships, Isaac said. Most are franchise dealers, but we have reports on independents as well.

Consumers pay for on file reports on the dealership made by customers who have taken the time to write about their experiences. When we looked at the business model, we asked what if someone were jest teed off by a dealer even if a dealer did nothing wrong, so we put in a security measure in place so that no one can rate a dealership more than once in a 30-day period of time, Isaac said.

There are three kinds of reports. One is a detail rating, which breaks down how well the sales process went and how the staff treated the customer. Another is amenities, which lists all the amenities a dealership has, such as special financing or courtesy vehicles. The third report gives a dealership's legal status, listing any liens, lawsuits and judgments going back four years, Isaac said.

The amenity report costs 99 cents per store. The full package is $29.99, Isaac said. The company has placed ads on consumer-oriented Web sites that cater to car buyers. The full package also gives consumers access to all comments from those who posted reports. When we first started, we were afraid that the only people who would file reports would be disgruntled car buyers, Isaac said. That, thankfully, has not turned out to be the case at all. Our reports are closer to 50-50 between positive and negative. We get a lot of long comments from people about how well they were treated at dealerships. That puts a smile on my face. We're not here to bash dealers.

Right now, Isaac said, they are working on a system that will allow dealers to receive feedback reports so that they know how they're doing with the public. On average, the number of people visiting the site is increasing 83 percent a month.

Pete Gordon, general manager of Jolly John Auto City, a Chrysler dealership in Saco, Maine, received an overall rating of five out of five for his store. The dealership scored well in the buying process category, as well as sales associate, vehicle selection, finance department and the trade-in process. The service department rating was left blank, meaning the buyer didn't have any work done.

The dealership also rated a five out of five on the sales pressure scale. Gordon said he didn't know anyone had rated his dealership. He was pleased to learn that they scored so highly. Being on the high end of the quality scale, I think this is a good idea, Gordon said, as long as the site is monitored so that the scores are a fair assessment of what happened. I do believe there should be some sort of forum that gives the dealers an opportunity to respond to complaints.