How to Check a Car Dealer's Ratings and Reviews

When negotiating with a dealer, they sometimes say or do things that sound suspicious. Knowing what kind of reputation they have can go a long way in determing if they're telling the truth.

In recent years, there's been a growth of online dealer rating sites. Many of the large automotove portals have also added dedicated dealer review sections.

This is great news for car shoppers who oftentimes need to be protected from unscrupolous dealers.

The largest dealer review site is DealerRater.com. They have around 1 million user-generated reviews and also provides a way for dealers to respond to the reviews.

The dealers that are actively involved on DealerRater.com care about their reputation and are usually ones that will treat customers right.

Another stand-alone dealer review site is CarDealerCheck.com. They don't carry as many reviews as DealerRater, but they're certainly worth checking out.

Some of the large automotive portals have also added user-generated dealer reviews recently.

Cars.com provides dealer reviews including ratings on Customer Service, Buying Process, Quality of Repair, and Overall Facilities.

Edmunds.com also provides useful dealer ratings.

Another avenue for car shoppers is to contact their local Better Business Bureau or the State Attorney General's Office to see if the dealership has a history of complaints.

Keep in mind that reviewing a dealer's reputation through ratings and reviews doesn't guarantee you won't have any problems.

A dealer may have a good reputation overall, but they may also have a couple of bad employees that you could get stuck dealing with.

Always keep your guard up regardless.