Cars.com Dealer Reviews: A Guide for Dealerships

By the Expert Reputation team · Updated September 30, 2026

Cars.com shows dealer reviews and a star rating right next to your inventory, so shoppers see your reputation while they compare cars. For most dealers, those reviews are managed through DealerRater, a Cars.com company: reviews from both sites feed one rating, and you reply to and report Cars.com reviews in the DealerRater Dealer Panel.

Why Cars.com reviews matter for dealerships

Cars.com is a car-shopping marketplace, and its dealer reviews are read by people already looking at your vehicles. Reviews cover both sales and service experiences, so your service department's reputation shows up on the same page as your inventory.

Reviews also count toward Cars.com's annual Dealer of the Year awards. For the 2026 awards, Cars.com required at least 25 reviews on Cars.com or DealerRater in the previous calendar year, at least one review in each quarter of that year, and an average rating above 4.0. Winners were ranked by a PowerScore that factors in average star rating, total review count and your response rate on reviews received.

Repair and body shops: Cars.com's current review guidelines and the dealer tools described here are written for dealerships and their service departments. Cars.com announced a Service & Repair feature with service-center reviews back in 2017, but we could not find current official documentation of a review program for independent repair shops, collision centers or detailers. If you run one of those, focus on Google, Yelp and other general review sites.

How Cars.com dealer reviews are collected

Reviews reach your Cars.com page two ways:

1. Directly on Cars.com. Cars.com's dealer reviews section lets shoppers review a dealership under Cars.com's review guidelines.
2. Syndicated from DealerRater. If you have a Cars.com package, DealerRater reviews appear on Cars.com automatically. DealerRater's FAQ says existing reviews transfer within 24 hours of enrollment and new ones sync through a daily feed. Each keeps its source label, so a review first posted on DealerRater says so.

Anything that grows your DealerRater reviews (see our DealerRater guide) therefore also grows what shoppers see on Cars.com. DealerRater employee profiles can also appear on Cars.com vehicle pages through its Salesperson Connect feature.

How your Cars.com rating is calculated

DealerRater's syndication FAQ says the overall average rating on Cars.com is based on the last 24 months of combined Cars.com and DealerRater ratings. Older ratings do not count toward that average, so a steady flow of recent reviews matters more than a large archive.

Cars.com review guidelines (what reviewers must follow)

Cars.com's published guidelines say:

• All reviews must be written and submitted by the consumer.
• The review must be written on the reviewer's own device, not one supplied or owned by the business being reviewed.
• Reviews cannot come from dealership employees, their immediate family members, or anyone who works with dealerships in a way that presents a conflict of interest. They cannot be submitted on someone else's behalf (caretakers or family may post for someone unable to).
• Reviews should describe an experience from the past 12 months, and only one review per dealership experience is accepted.
• If Cars.com suspects a review was written by anyone other than the consumer, it will be rejected.

Cars.com may remove or modify reviews that contain:

The right-hand column is our summary of what the guidelines do not cover, not Cars.com wording.

How to get more Cars.com reviews the right way

• Ask every sales and service customer. Don't screen out unhappy customers before they reach a review site (review gating). The FTC's Q&A on its review rule warns that asking only customers you think are happy could violate the FTC Act.
• Send a link the customer opens on their own phone or computer. A showroom tablet breaks Cars.com's own-device rule.
• Don't pay for positive reviews. The FTC's Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials (16 CFR § 465.4) prohibits compensation or incentives conditioned on a review expressing a particular sentiment.
• Never have staff or relatives post reviews. Cars.com bars them, and 16 CFR § 465.5 restricts undisclosed insider reviews.
• Use your DealerRater process. Because DealerRater reviews syndicate, a consistent DealerRater request program feeds your Cars.com rating too.

Our guide on how to ask for reviews by email, SMS and receipts covers the mechanics.

How to respond to Cars.com reviews

Replies are handled in the DealerRater Dealer Panel, where Cars.com reviews appear automatically:

1. Log in with an account that has admin access.
2. Open Reviews in the header and choose All Reviews.
3. Find the Cars.com review and reply.

Public replies you post to DealerRater reviews also publish on Cars.com, so one reply reaches both audiences. Replies also count toward your response rate for the Dealer of the Year awards.

Example reply to a negative review:

[First Name], thank you for the feedback, and I'm sorry the paperwork took as long as it did. That isn't the standard we hold ourselves to. I'd like to hear more and make it right. Please reach me at [Phone] or [Email]. [Name], General Sales Manager, [Dealership Name]

Example reply to a positive service review:

Thanks for trusting us with your [Model], [First Name]. We'll pass your note along to [Advisor First Name] and the shop team. See you at your next visit! [Dealership Name] Service

Keep replies short, factual and free of the customer's personal or deal details. Don't threaten legal action or accuse a reviewer of lying: 16 CFR § 465.7 bars using groundless legal threats, intimidation or knowingly false public accusations to get a review taken down. For more, see how to respond to negative reviews.

How to report or dispute a Cars.com review

DealerRater's help center says Cars.com dealer reviews can be reported when you think they violate the review policy:

1. Log in to the Dealer Panel with an administrative account.
2. Go to Reviews > All Reviews.
3. Scroll to the review and click report.
4. Complete the required fields and submit. The request goes to the DealerRater Moderation Team.

No turnaround time is published. Stick to reasons the guidelines actually cover (for example, a reviewer who is an employee or relative, a review that includes contact information, threats or harassment, or a review of the wrong dealership) and include specifics such as employee records or the correct dealership. Nobody, including us, can promise that a reported review will be removed.

If a report is rejected

No formal appeal process is documented. Your options:

• Reply publicly with a calm, factual response.
• Reach out to the customer, fix what you can, and ask whether they would like to update their review.
• If you find new evidence, such as confirmation that the reviewer worked for you, report the review again with it.
• Keep asking every customer for reviews. Your rating uses only the last 24 months, so recent reviews carry the most weight.

Anyone who promises to remove Cars.com reviews for a fee, or threatens negative reviews unless you pay, is a red flag. See review removal scams and extortion.

Common mistakes on Cars.com

• Treating Cars.com and DealerRater as separate projects. Ratings, replies and reports run through the same system.
• Letting reviews go unanswered. Response rate is part of how Dealer of the Year winners are ranked.
• Collecting reviews on dealership devices. It breaks the own-device rule.
• Reporting reviews simply because they are negative.
• Assuming old five-star reviews protect your rating. Only the last 24 months count.
• Offering a discount or free service if a customer changes a review. That's an incentive tied to sentiment, which 16 CFR § 465.4 prohibits.