Automotive Google Review Study 2026
The stars look healthy.
The reputation does not.
The Dutch car retail market averages 4.40 stars on Google. That sounds healthy. Yet across the 30 largest dealer groups, 12,147 complaints are sitting online right now without a reply. Publicly visible, to every car buyer and every AI system that looks a dealer up.
600,000+
data points
3
sources
204,976
review texts
853
locations
Every number is counted, not estimated, and traceable to its source. How we measured →
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The study in eight numbers
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1
4.40
The average Google score of the Dutch dealer market (weighted, 2,481 profiles)
1
53.1%
Of all complaints (1-2 stars) at the 30 largest dealer groups went unanswered (full history)
1
12,147
Unanswered complaints are publicly visible on Google today
1
26h / 48h
Median response time to praise versus criticism: the angry customer waits longest
1
61% / 49%
Complaint gap premium versus mainstream: the most expensive brands reply the least
1
47%
Of the 2,105 customers who publicly announce they are leaving never got a reply (the farewell gap)
1
2%
Complaint gap at dealer groups that manage it systematically (Repmanager customer data)
1
9 hours
Their median response time, against 39 hours for the rest of the market
Concept 1 of 6
What is the complaint gap?
The complaint gap is the share of negative reviews (1 and 2 stars) that never receive a public reply from the dealer. It is the fairest measure of reputation management there is: not how satisfied your customers are, but what you do when they are not.
Across the 30 largest dealer groups in the Netherlands, that gap sits at 53.1 percent over their full history. Of 22,867 complaints, more than half went unanswered; 12,147 of those are still open on Google today. The market is improving: in 2019 a quarter of all reviews got a reply, by 2025 almost three quarters. But on complaints specifically, progress stalls at around a third. Dealer groups that manage this systematically show it can be done differently: they sit at 2 percent.
The complaint gap visualised: 53.1% unanswered
All 22,867 complaints across the 30 largest dealer groups. Each dot represents ten. The amber ones never received a reply: 53.1 percent.
Concept 2 of 6
The premium paradox: the most expensive brands reply the least
You would expect the brands where customers pay the most to do the most with what those customers write in public. The opposite is true. Premium dealers reply to 29 percent of their reviews, mainstream dealers to 62. The complaint gap at premium is 61 percent, against 49 at mainstream.
At brand level it gets sharp: BMW leaves 66 percent of complaints unanswered, Dacia 14. Three of the four largest complaint gaps belong to premium brands. And the difference is not in the service itself, but in what happens with it publicly: premium measures satisfaction rigorously in private, while the public review, the one every buyer and every AI does see, often has no owner.
Concept 3 of 6
The farewell gap: public resignation letters nobody answers
In 2,105 reviews a customer literally announces they are leaving. “Never again.” “Last time.” “I am going to another dealer.” These are not ordinary complaints but public resignation letters, on average more than three and a half times longer than a normal review. The customer explains exactly what went wrong.
Almost half of them (47 percent) never get a reply. Those who do wait a median of 48 hours, while the loyal fan already has a thank you within 24. Value those announced departures against average workshop revenue and roughly 1.5 million euros a year walks out of the door across the 30 largest groups. And that is only counting the customers who said it out loud.
Concept 4 of 6
The response time gap: the market replies in exactly the wrong order
When the market does reply, it does so in the wrong order. Praise gets answered faster than criticism: a median of 26 hours on a 5 star review, 48 hours on a 1 star. And that only counts the reviews that get a reply at all; half of all complaints are still waiting for one.
That this is a process problem rather than a capacity problem shows in the spread: within one and the same dealer group we found locations replying to 100 percent of reviews next to locations at 0 percent. Dealer groups that run the process centrally sit at a median response time of 9 hours, against 39 for the rest of the market.
Concept 5 of 6
The aftersales leak: the showroom wins the customer, the workshop loses them
Complaints in car retail are almost never about the car. They are about waiting, the workshop, the invoice and not being called back. Reviews about sales average 4.27; reviews about the workshop 3.95. That 0.4 star gap is newer than you would think: it did not exist in 2019, and the sales experience has been rated better year after year since, while the workshop stood still.
There is a calendar in it too. Reviews about tyres are the lowest rated topic of the year at 3.35, and tyre mentions double in November and December. Your reputation is under the most pressure exactly when the workshop is busiest.
Concept 6 of 6
Reviews and AI: your review profile has become your shop window
Car buyers see your website less and less. They see your Google profile, and increasingly an AI summary of it. 68 percent of searches now end without a click (US data), 82 percent of consumers read AI summaries of reviews, and 80 percent are more likely to choose a business that replies to every review.
We measured it. In July 2026 we asked ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini the question a car buyer asks, 540 times. 65 percent of the answers contained review information: scores, volumes or customer verdicts. So AI does not only read your reviews. It reads your silence too, and summarises whatever is there.
Three sources, one yardstick
This study combines three datasets that check each other. The market data shows the problem, our own customer data shows it can be done differently. We never blend them into a single figure: every number states its source.
1
2,481 dealer profiles
The public Google scores of the entire Dutch dealer market: 403,316 reviews, weighted by review volume.
1
204,976 review texts
All public reviews of the 30 largest dealer groups (853 locations), including every dealer reply.
1
55,103 customer reviews
Repmanager's own data from connected dealer groups, including every reply. For comparisons we use a clean set of 46,046.
50+
Trusted partners
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5.0
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"With three locations and growing brands like Omoda and Jaecoo, Repmanager saves us 30 minutes every day. That time goes back to customers in the showroom."
Robin Jongerius
Hans Jongerius
Curious where your dealer group stands?
We will place your locations next to this benchmark free of charge: score, response rate, response time and complaint gap, per location. One overview, no strings attached.
Bob Pieterse
Co-founder Repmanager
Strategy, sales and partnerships. Bob is often the first face you see from Repmanager. He builds the relationships with dealer groups and partners, and makes sure what customers need flows back into the product and the roadmap.
Frequently asked questions
About the numbers, the sources and the method behind this study
What is the Automotive Google Review Study 2026?
The largest study of Google reviews in the Dutch car retail sector, carried out by Repmanager: over 600,000 data points from three sources, including 204,976 full review texts from the 30 largest dealer groups (853 locations).
What is the main finding?
53.1 percent of complaints (1 and 2 stars) at the 30 largest dealer groups went unanswered. Right now 12,147 complaints sit publicly unanswered on Google, visible to every car buyer and every AI system.
What data is the study based on?
Three sources: the public Google scores of 2,481 dealer profiles (403,316 reviews), 204,976 review texts from the 30 largest dealer groups, and 55,103 reviews from Repmanager's own customer data. Every number states its source.
How reliable are the numbers?
Every number is counted, not estimated. For groups appearing in two sources the scores differ by less than 0.1 point, and the complaint gap came out identical across three independent calculation routes. The full method is documented in the methodology.
What is the complaint gap?
The complaint gap is the share of negative reviews (1 and 2 stars) that never receive a public reply from the dealer. Across the 30 largest dealer groups in the Netherlands that is 53.1 percent over their full history.
What is the premium paradox?
The more expensive the brand, the larger the complaint gap. Premium dealers reply to 29 percent of their reviews, mainstream dealers to 62 percent.
What is the farewell gap?
The share of public departure announcements that go unanswered. Of 2,105 customers who publicly announced they were leaving, 47 percent never received a reply.
How do I get the full report?
The complete report (PDF) is free to download through the form on this page. All headline figures are also openly available on this page and in the in depth articles.
Will the study be repeated?
Yes, this is an annual measurement. The next edition is due in 2027, using the same method, so the trend per dealer group and per brand can be tracked.