For Ford corporate
The executive intelligence brief on 2,700+ Ford dealerships.
This page is the briefing itself, built from the live record rather than a sales summary. Read the numbers below, then book the 45-minute session where the FordRatings research team walks the evidence rooftop by rooftop.
The PDF carries every figure on this page plus a district-by-district breakdown, built for forwarding to leadership.
- Ranked dealerships
- 2,783
- Mean Enhanced Score
- 4.50★
- Consumer reviews analyzed
- 4,034,977
- Low-star reviews on record
- 492,952
Across ranked rooftops
Board published October 16, 2026. Intelligence layer computed October 16, 2026.
Session agenda
Seven sections, 45 minutes, every figure sourced.
The working session follows the order below. Each line already carries the current number, so nobody spends the meeting waiting for data.
- 01
Where the network stands
Mean Enhanced Score of 4.50★ across 2,783 ranked rooftops, and the spread behind that average.
- 02
Score distribution
1,021 rooftops (37%) sit below the GOOD band today.
- 03
What customers are saying
Communication or no callbacks leads the low-star record with 49,257 reviews.
- 04
Response discipline
58% of low-star reviews on record carry a dealership reply.
- 05
Brand exposure
26,639 low-star reviews name a Ford product, warranty or corporate issue rather than the store alone.
- 06
Regional outliers
48 states with enough ranked rooftops to compare on the same score.
- 07
Where to intervene first
The rooftops that move the network most per hour of field attention, with the review evidence attached.
Section 02
How the network splits across the five score classifications.
1,021 rooftops sit below the GOOD band. That is 37% of the ranked network.
- EXCELLENT4.66 and above640 (23%)
Consistently strong consumer experience across sales and service.
- GOOD4.45 to 4.651,121 (40%)
Solid experience with a manageable pattern of complaints.
- WATCH4.20 to 4.44862 (31%)
Recurring friction shows up often enough to notice before you visit.
- CONCERN4.00 to 4.19128 (5%)
Repeat complaints. Ask direct questions before committing.
- CAUTIONBelow 4.0031 (1%)
Frequent unresolved consumer complaints on the public record.
Classification comes from the Enhanced Scoring band the rooftop lands in on the published board.
Rooftops rated
2,783
Enough public reviews to rank
Below 4.0 stars
53
Google star average on the public listing
At or above 4.6 stars
1,250
The bar the strongest stores hold
Section 03
What customers write when the experience goes wrong.
Categories are assigned to each low-star review in the ledger. 263,392 reviews are classified today.
- Communication or no callbacks49,257
18.7% of the classified record. Last 90 days: 3,257 reviews (+0.1 pts of share against the prior 90)
- Service delays or appointments38,845
14.7% of the classified record. Last 90 days: 2,188 reviews (+0.6 pts of share against the prior 90)
- Poor treatment or pressure25,142
9.5% of the classified record. Last 90 days: 1,382 reviews (-0.7 pts of share against the prior 90)
- Pricing, add-ons, bait and switch20,390
7.7% of the classified record. Last 90 days: 1,098 reviews (+0.1 pts of share against the prior 90)
- Finance, contracts, warranties12,587
4.8% of the classified record. Last 90 days: 722 reviews (+0.2 pts of share against the prior 90)
- Explicit warnings to avoid10,250
3.9% of the classified record. Last 90 days: 673 reviews (+0.1 pts of share against the prior 90)
Share comparisons are suppressed when either 90-day window is too thin to be meaningful.
Rising fastest
- Service delays or appointments+0.6 pts
- Finance, contracts, warranties+0.2 pts
- Communication or no callbacks+0.1 pts
Change in share of classified low-star reviews, not raw volume.
| Complaint category | Reviews | Share of the record | Last 90 days | 90-day change in share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Communication or no callbacks | 49,257 | 30.4% | 3,2573,637 in the 90 before | +0.1 ptsPersistent |
| Service delays or appointments | 38,845 | 24.0% | 2,1882,390 in the 90 before | +0.6 ptsPersistent |
| Poor treatment or pressure | 25,142 | 15.5% | 1,3821,622 in the 90 before | -0.7 ptsPersistent |
| Pricing, add-ons, bait and switch | 20,390 | 12.6% | 1,0981,217 in the 90 before | +0.1 ptsPersistent |
| Finance, contracts, warranties | 12,587 | 7.8% | 722784 in the 90 before | +0.2 ptsPersistent |
| Explicit warnings to avoid | 10,250 | 6.3% | 673745 in the 90 before | +0.1 ptsPersistent |
| Safety or reliability | 5,495 | 3.4% | 235305 in the 90 before | -0.4 ptsPersistent |
Built from 263,392 classified low-star reviews after duplicate removal. A review can carry more than one category, so shares add past 100 percent. Change is measured in share of the record, not raw volume, so collecting more reviews does not read as getting worse.
Section 03b
How the network sounds, not only what it names.
Two stores can carry the same complaint mix and lose customers at different rates. What separates them is the wording: a delay written up as an inconvenience costs less than the same delay written up as being cheated.
Loudest register
Matter of fact
42.7% of scored reviews. States what happened with no emotional wording.
Written in anger
19.9%
Enraged, cheated, alarmed or frustrated wording.
Tone damage index
38.0
0 to 100, weighted by how much each register costs a reader.
Say they will not return
4,771
1.8% of 263,392 scored reviews state it outright.
| Register | Reviews | Share | Last 90 vs prior 90 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matter of factStates what happened with no emotional wording. | 112,590 | 42.7% | +0.3 pts |
| No wording leftA low star rating with no written review to read. | 82,726 | 31.4% | -0.1 pts |
| FrustratedCalls the experience unacceptable, ridiculous, rude, or the worst they have had. | 31,367 | 11.9% | +0.2 pts |
| Feels cheatedSays they were lied to, overcharged on purpose, or taken advantage of. | 16,151 | 6.1% | -0.3 pts |
| DisappointedExpected better and says so without heat. | 14,659 | 5.6% | -0.3 pts |
| EnragedProfanity or a flat refusal to come back. The angriest wording in the record. | 3,023 | 1.1% | +0.2 pts |
| AlarmedDescribes a safety or reliability risk to themselves or their family. | 1,839 | 0.7% | 0.0 pts |
| Given upStopped chasing it and took their business elsewhere. | 1,037 | 0.4% | 0.0 pts |
| Complaint category | Scored | How it sounds | Angry wording | Tone damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other | 101,427 | Matter of fact in 12.8% of them | 4.3% | 24.3 |
| Communication or no callbacks | 49,257 | Matter of fact in 58.4% of them | 32% | 47.8 |
| Service delays or appointments | 38,845 | Matter of fact in 64% of them | 25.3% | 44.4 |
| Poor treatment or pressure | 25,142 | Matter of fact in 55% of them | 38.8% | 50.9 |
| Pricing, add-ons, bait and switch | 20,390 | Matter of fact in 73% of them | 19% | 41.1 |
| Finance, contracts, warranties | 12,586 | Matter of fact in 62.7% of them | 27.5% | 46.5 |
| Explicit warnings to avoid | 10,250 | Matter of fact in 48.9% of them | 45.3% | 55.4 |
| Safety or reliability | 5,495 | Matter of fact in 79.9% of them | 12.4% | 37.6 |
Tone is assigned once per unique review text by a fixed rule set over the wording, then held on the deduped record. Last 90 days holds 12045 scored reviews against 12909 in the 90 before it.
Section 04
Who answers an unhappy customer, and who does not.
A reply is the cheapest signal a rooftop controls. It is also the one corporate can audit without a store visit.
Low-star reviews reviewed
197,931
2,546 rooftops in the sample
Carry a dealership reply
58%
114,273 replies on record
Reply rate, last 90 days
60%
2,572 low-star reviews in the window
Rooftops replying rarely
531
Out of 2,404 with enough sample
Replies are counted from the publicly visible owner response on each collected review.
Section 05
When the complaint is about Ford, not the store.
26,639 low-star reviews across 2,546 rooftops name a product, warranty, safety or corporate issue. Those land on the Ford oval, whoever sold the vehicle.
Warranty disputes
448
Product problems named
2,331
Safety concerns raised
35
Corporate handling cited
188
Say they are leaving the brand
512
Name a competing brand
118
Categories come from classification of the review text. A single review can carry more than one category.
Section 05b
Concentration, velocity, attribution and priority.
The same four measures every dealership sees in its portal, run across the whole network so field teams and stores argue from one methodology.
Network review intelligence
Built from the classified low-star reviews in the network ledger. Concentration shows whether the complaints cluster, velocity shows what is moving over the last 90 days, attribution separates product and brand blame from store execution, and priority ranks where an intervention pays back first.
Complaint concentration
0.20
Baseline 0.20 · 161,966 classified complaints · Solid
- Communication or no callbacks30.4%
- Service delays or appointments24.0%
- Poor treatment or pressure15.5%
- Pricing, add-ons, bait and switch12.6%
1.00 means every complaint lands in one category. A higher number than the baseline means the problem is narrow enough to fix with one change.
Issue velocity
Nothing rising
Last 90 days: 9,555 complaints · prior 90: 10,700 · share change, not raw count
- Service delays or appointments+0.6 ptsPersistent
- Finance, contracts, warranties+0.2 ptsPersistent
- Explicit warnings to avoid+0.1 ptsPersistent
Brand attribution
8.3%
26,639 attributed reviews · direct blame counts full, a passing mention counts half
- Ford product problem named2,331 · 8.8%
- Warranty or coverage dispute448 · 1.7%
- Safety or reliability claim35 · 0.1%
- Ford corporate blamed188 · 0.7%
The remainder, 88.7%, is store execution rather than product or corporate.
Intervention priority
41
Top action: Communication or no callbacks · Solid
- 1. Communication or no callbacks49,257 of 161,966 classified complaints, fixable in-store41
- 2. Service delays or appointments38,845 of 161,966 classified complaints, fixable in-store30
- 3. Poor treatment or pressure25,142 of 161,966 classified complaints, fixable in-store20
- 4. Pricing, add-ons, bait and switch20,390 of 161,966 classified complaints19
Method: concentration is a Herfindahl index of theme shares, pulled toward the baseline mix when the sample is small. Velocity compares share of complaints across two 90-day windows. Attribution is severity weighted. Priority multiplies frequency, damage, velocity, baseline gap, concentration and how fixable the category is, then discounts thin evidence. Derived figures, not guarantees.
Section 06a
District-by-district.
Ford's internal field district map is not public, so each district below is a fixed group of states. Every column sums the same state rows the board publishes, and the PDF carries this table in full.
| District | Rooftops | Avg rating | Reviews | Low-star | Reply rate | Top 100 | Bottom 100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West North CentralIA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD | 371 | 4.54 | 350,744 | 36,589 | 57% | 16 | 6 |
| East North CentralIL, IN, MI, OH, WI | 551 | 4.52 | 669,365 | 77,667 | 58% | 17 | 14 |
| Mid-AtlanticNJ, NY, PA | 305 | 4.51 | 348,899 | 37,443 | 57% | 16 | 10 |
| West South CentralAR, LA, OK, TX | 368 | 4.51 | 655,550 | 82,051 | 59% | 15 | 12 |
| New EnglandCT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT | 128 | 4.50 | 134,270 | 15,146 | 54% | 1 | 1 |
| East South CentralAL, KY, MS, TN | 190 | 4.48 | 248,928 | 28,368 | 50% | 12 | 3 |
| South AtlanticDE, FL, GA, MD, NC, SC, VA, WV | 470 | 4.48 | 917,806 | 114,742 | 60% | 19 | 17 |
| MountainAZ, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, UT, WY | 176 | 4.42 | 333,956 | 48,097 | 63% | 2 | 21 |
| PacificAK, CA, HI, OR, WA | 224 | 4.40 | 375,459 | 52,849 | 53% | 2 | 16 |
Ratings are weighted by rooftop count. Districts follow US Census divisions, not Ford field boundaries.
Section 06
The states carrying the most and the least pressure.
Same score, same collection window, so a regional team is measured against the same bar as every other region.
Weakest state averages
- Hawaii7 rooftops4.27★
- Arizona34 rooftops4.36★
- Colorado34 rooftops4.37★
- California140 rooftops4.38★
- Utah25 rooftops4.38★
- Kentucky46 rooftops4.39★
Strongest state averages
- Vermont13 rooftops4.62★
- Iowa78 rooftops4.60★
- North Dakota17 rooftops4.58★
- Idaho18 rooftops4.56★
- New Hampshire19 rooftops4.56★
- Wisconsin103 rooftops4.56★
Most low-star volume
- TexasLeading theme: Communication or no callbacks19,484
- CaliforniaLeading theme: Communication or no callbacks13,744
- FloridaLeading theme: Communication or no callbacks11,964
- MichiganLeading theme: Communication or no callbacks9,774
- PennsylvaniaLeading theme: Communication or no callbacks9,097
- OhioLeading theme: Communication or no callbacks8,698
States with fewer than five ranked rooftops are held out of the average comparisons.
Book the session
Take the briefing with the rooftop-level evidence attached.
The page above is the network view. The session adds the named rooftops behind each number, the review text supporting them, and a first intervention list for your regional teams.
- 45 minutes, scheduled within one business day
- Regional cut prepared for the markets you name
- Every figure traceable to a collected public review
Sources and independence
Figures come from publicly visible listings collected on the dates shown and change as dealerships receive new reviews. Dealer-level diagnostics stay behind authenticated access. Independent research. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Ford Motor Company.
Board published October 16, 2026. Intelligence layer computed October 16, 2026.