Last updated: 6 October 2026
TL;DR
- In a review audit, the importer mainly wants to see three things from a dealership: that every review got a reply, that the reply came on time, and how a complaint was resolved afterwards.
- Audit-proof review management means every reply, owner and internal agreement sits per review in one central place, not scattered across inboxes and separate Google accounts.
- Dealer groups record their reply policy in fixed AI guidelines per organisation and dealership, so they can show how replies are written, including when AI helps draft them.
- In Repmanager the dashboard shows response rate, response time and replies on time per dealership, while owners, internal notes and Rep Shield record the follow-up.
What is a review audit by the importer?
A review audit is a check in which the importer verifies whether a dealership handles its reviews as agreed: replying within the deadline, meeting a minimum response rate, and following up complaints in a way that can be proven. Public reviews are the starting point. Evidence of follow-up has to come from the dealership.
A marketing manager at a VW and Audi dealer group put it plainly: "We are audited on our reviews too. We have to be able to show what we reply." That is the shift. The rating used to be what counted. Now the importer wants to see a process behind it. How the importer KPIs themselves work is covered in importer KPIs for reviews.
Exact standards differ by brand and by contract. What we do see everywhere: a reply deadline, a minimum share of answered reviews, a floor for the rating per dealership, and the question of how a complaint was handled.
What do you need to be able to show in an audit?
Five things: that you reply, how quickly, what you said, who picked it up and how it was resolved. The first three are largely public on Google. The last two live in your own process, and that is usually where an audit goes wrong.
Anyone can see on Google whether a review has a reply, so the unanswered ones stand out straight away. According to Repmanager's Automotive Google Review Study 2026, 53.1 percent of complaints (one and two stars) at the 30 largest Dutch dealer groups went unanswered across their full review history. An importer running an audit often starts exactly there. More on that figure in the complaint gap.
| What the importer asks | Where the evidence lives | In Repmanager |
|---|---|---|
| Does every review get a reply? | Response rate per dealership | Dashboard location table with response rate and unanswered |
| Does it happen on time? | Time to the first public reply | Average response time against SLA, replied on time |
| What was said? | The public reply on each review | Reviews overview with the reply per review |
| Who picked it up? | Owner per review | Assign owner, Unassigned quick tab |
| How was the complaint resolved? | Internal agreements and contact with the customer | Internal notes, email from the review with a reply thread |
| Under which policy? | Recorded reply rules and tone | AI guidelines with current settings overview, Rep Shield |
Why do audits so often go wrong?
Because the evidence is scattered. One dealership replies from its own Google account, another through marketing, a complaint gets passed on by WhatsApp and the outcome is recorded nowhere. When the audit comes, someone has to reconstruct what happened, and that rarely works completely.
The second source of trouble is the definition. What counts as a response: seen, replied or resolved? Do calendar days or working days count, for example for a review posted on a Friday evening? Agree the definition with the importer in advance. Repmanager measures response time as the time to the first public reply, and also shows whether you replied on time against the deadline you set yourself.
The third point is policy. If AI helps write replies, an importer wants to know which rules it follows. "The tool does it" is not an answer. A recorded policy is.
How do dealer groups set this up?
They put everything in one place and make one person responsible per review. The model varies. In one group marketing answers everything centrally; in another the branch manager is the first responder and marketing owns the settings. For an audit that matters little, as long as the handling is visible in one place.
This is how dealer groups working with Repmanager do it. Every Google Business Profile and Klanten Vertellen feed comes into one overview. Negative reviews get an owner, follow-up goes into an internal note, and the branch manager is emailed from the review itself. Which role model fits your group is covered in who replies to which review in a dealer group.
They also record the reply policy in the AI guidelines: tone, form of address, contact details for low ratings, what never goes out automatically. That is the very document you show in an audit. How the AI reply generator uses those guidelines is explained on the feature page.
How do you set this up in Repmanager?
You set up Repmanager so the evidence builds up during normal work, not in a rush when the audit is announced.
- Connect every dealership under Settings, Locations, so you work with multiple locations in one account and nothing stays out of sight.
- Invite colleagues through Settings, Members with the right organisation role, plus a location role for anyone who only works for one dealership. More on roles is on the team management page.
- In Reviews, assign an owner to every negative review. Use the Unassigned and Open too long quick tabs to find gaps.
- Record the outcome in an internal note, and email the branch manager from the review. Their reply stays in the thread on the review. That is how the review manager works.
- Fill in the AI guidelines at organisation level and only deviate per dealership where needed. The current settings overview shows what applies.
- In Rep Shield, switch on holding reviews about management, reviews with a legal or media threat, and reviews mentioning injury or discrimination, and let urgent negative reviews escalate. That way you can show sensitive reviews always go past a person. Read more about Rep Shield.
- Use the Dashboard with the period filter, for example the last 12 months, and save the filter. The dashboard shows response rate, average response time and unanswered reviews per dealership.
What usually goes wrong?
Four mistakes come back again and again, and all of them only surface once the audit is under way.
Dealerships replying outside the system. A reply posted directly in Google is visible, but the follow-up is recorded nowhere. Agree that everything goes through one place.
A complaint without an owner. A review nobody was assigned to has no outcome to show either.
Resolved, but not recorded. The branch manager called and it worked out, but it only exists in their head. One line in an internal note is enough.
Missing an edited review. Some importers count an edited review as a new one. Check edited reviews, or the audit will show an unanswered review you did not know about.
Frequently asked questions
Do you have to reply to every review for an audit?
That depends on your agreements with the importer, but many dealer groups aim for 99 to 100 percent. A short reply to a five-star review without text counts just as much.
Can AI write replies if you are audited?
Yes, as long as you can show which guidelines it follows and that sensitive reviews always reach a person. The reply is still the dealership's reply.
What about reviews answered before you connected the tool?
Those replies are on Google and they count. Only the internal follow-up from back then is not in the tool. Start recording from the moment you connect.
How long should you keep the follow-up?
That is up to the importer. Either way, keep it with the review itself, so you can find it later without searching.
Ready to set it up?
Want to see how to show, per dealership, what you replied, how fast and who picked it up? In a 15-minute demo we show it with your own dealerships.
