How these rankings are built

Every figure starts as a publicly visible Google Business Profile listing: the star rating, the lifetime review count, the 1-5 star distribution, and the review text itself. Nothing is surveyed, modeled, or supplied by a manufacturer.

Two review sets sit behind the site. The first holds each dealership's most recent reviews and drives the rolling 30, 60, 90, 180, and 365 day windows. The second holds every 1-3 star review in a dealership's history, which is what removal and dispute work runs against.

Ranking on raw star average rewards low volume. A 5.0 built on nine reviews is not a stronger reputation than a 4.9 built on eleven thousand, so each dealership's rating is pulled toward the field average in proportion to how little evidence supports it.

score = (reviews x rating + 250 x field average) / (reviews + 250)

The field average is computed on the same board being ranked, so a state board uses that state's average and the national board uses the national one. Ties break on review volume. Public best-and-worst lists require at least 50 reviews.

Boards are computed on a schedule and stored as immutable snapshots. A page view reads a finished snapshot, which is why every number on the site carries a build date and why the same number can be reproduced later from the same inputs.

Ratings move as dealerships collect new reviews. A figure published here reflects the listing on the collection date shown, not the listing at the moment you read it.