mobile.de introduces dealer ratings

More transparency for car buyers: The major German automobile exchange mobile.de has announced the introduction of dealer ratings. A public evaluation, as is already common in other industries, has rarely been possible for customers of car dealerships online until now.

One of the aims is to give prospective buyers a more secure feeling when buying vehicles - and this already during the decision-making process via the Internet. Through the growing transparency, mobile.de also sees great advantages on the part of car dealerships and explains that a fair evaluation system can strengthen consumer confidence in the providers and could even increase sales in the long term.

VALUABLE FEEDBACK & PROTECTION AGAINST COUNTERFEITING

Users who contact the dealers via the contact form will receive a questionnaire by e-mail. The dealers will then receive the feedback. Afterwards there is the possibility to react to the received feedback. At a later date (currently not yet communicated by mobile.de with binding effect), all ratings will be visible online. The questionnaires focus on the trustworthiness of the car dealerships and on some service points.

Only those who have actually been in contact with a dealer before can evaluate. If ratings are unjustified, there should be an opportunity to report them directly to mobile.de. In addition, filters are to automatically recognise suspicious ratings.

The roll-out phase has already begun in a test group. It is currently not yet known when the valuations will be used across the board and when the dealers will be able to display them. However, implementation is planned by the end of 2015.