What Is Cars.com Dealer of the Year? 2027 Rules for Dealers

How does Cars.com Dealer of the Year work?

Cars.com Dealer of the Year works in 2 stages. Your store first has to meet a set of minimum requirements, and then the PowerScore ranks every eligible store in a category, with the highest score winning.

The PowerScore is the number Cars.com uses to rank dealers on their reviews. The minimums, per the 2026 Cars.com Dealer Awards FAQ, apply to reviews from the previous calendar year:

• At least 25 reviews on Cars.com or DealerRater
• At least 1 review in each calendar quarter
• An average rating greater than 4.0 out of 5.0
• At least 1 "Sales (New)" review in the award category, for Dealer of the Year only

The Dealer of the Year help page adds that the Sales (New) rule applies to national and state brand awards. The same page says the PowerScore uses a Bayesian algorithm and compares each dealer's scores with site averages.

The PowerScore looks at 3 metrics for reviews in each category. The help pages we read list these inputs but not how much each one weighs.

PowerScore input	What counts	How you move it
Average star rating	Stars on reviews in the category during the year	Fix the issues unhappy buyers name and reply to them
Review count	Total reviews collected during the year	Ask every buyer at delivery and again by text
Response rate	"The percentage of reviews submitted for your dealership that has one response by the dealership" (Dealer of the Year Report)	Reply once to every review

Winners reply to reviews more often than other stores. Nearly 90% of 2026 honorees actively respond to reviews, compared with 52% of non-winning dealerships. Jamie Oldershaw, VP of Customer Experience at Cars.com, said: "Our review data clearly shows consumers value fast, quality communication when making that decision."

Who is Cars.com Dealer of the Year for?

Any dealership listed on Cars.com or DealerRater.com can win, regardless of whether it is a customer. Franchise stores compete in brand, state and regional categories, while independent used-car lots can aim for the Used-Car Dealer category or the Consumer Satisfaction Award.

The Used-Car Dealer category is narrow. The 2026 Used-Car Dealer winner was Dallas Lease Returns in Dallas, Texas.

The Consumer Satisfaction Award reaches more stores. The top 15% of US franchise dealers, regardless of make, receive it, along with a top percentage of US used-car dealers. The FAQ does not state that used-car percentage.

This award is not brand specific and has no limits by state or brand. It adds one rule: the dealer must not have been blacklisted during the previous calendar year.

	Dealer of the Year	Consumer Satisfaction Award
Who wins	Highest PowerScore in each category	Top 15% of US franchise dealers plus a top share of US used-car dealers
Categories	Brand, state and regional	Not brand specific, no state or brand limits
Sales (New) review	Required for national and state brand awards	Not required
Extra rule	None beyond the minimums	Not blacklisted in the previous calendar year
Best fit	Franchise stores	Franchise stores and independent used-car lots

What does Cars.com Dealer of the Year change for your sales?

A win puts a permanent badge on your Cars.com and DealerRater profile page and a badge on your directory listings for the duration of the year of the award, and you get graphics and templates for your own marketing. Shoppers see a third-party trust signal while they are still picking a store.

Most shoppers start out without a store in mind. Jamie Oldershaw of Cars.com said: "More than 90% of early-stage car shoppers are undecided on which dealership to choose."

What you receive depends on the award level:

Award level	Online	On the lot
Regional and National Brand winners	Profile badge, high-resolution graphics in the Dealer Panel, press release and social media templates	Trophies, standing banners, table tents, window clings
State/Province Brand winners	Profile badge, high-resolution graphics, press release and social media templates	Table tents and window clings
Consumer Satisfaction winners	Profile banner for the year, graphics "to be used however you choose," press release and social media templates	Window clings, usually by early April

The badge only shows on your Cars.com and DealerRater pages. Shoppers scrolling Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or YouTube will see it only if you put it in your own posts.

How to use Cars.com Dealer of the Year on your lot

This week, open your ranking, count your gaps and start asking for and replying to reviews, and keep that going through December 31, 2026. Then get your video template ready so the badge can go live the day winners are named.

1. Open the Dealer of the Year Report. In the DealerRater Dealer Panel, go to Reporting > Dealer of the Year (Admin access needed). Filter by Year, Category (Regional, National or State) and Make, and write down your rank, review count, response rate, average rating and PowerScore.
2. Check the minimums quarter by quarter. Count your 2026 reviews against the 25-review minimum and confirm Q1, Q2 and Q3 each have at least 1 review. Then make sure Q4 gets one, your average stays above 4.0 and, at a franchise store, at least 1 Sales (New) review is in. If a past quarter is empty, the published rules leave you out for 2027, so start building for the next cycle.
3. Ask every buyer the same way. Send your Cars.com or DealerRater review link at delivery and again by text. The FTC rule does not prohibit giving incentives for reviews as long as there is no express or implied requirement that reviews express a particular sentiment. The final rule announced August 14, 2024 also bans fake reviews and undisclosed reviews by company officers and managers.
4. Reply to every review, once. Response rate counts reviews with one dealer response. The FTC's answer on replies is "Yes, you can respond publicly to the review, and yes, you should watch what you say," and the rule bans suppressing reviews with unfounded legal threats or intimidation.
5. Build the badge into your video template now. If you win, download the high-resolution graphics from your Dealer Panel (recipient information). Plan a closing frame with the badge for inventory Reels, TikToks and Shorts, and post the announcement itself with the Cars.com social media templates. Our phone video ideas include a reviews clip that pairs well with the badge.

Who makes the car videos

Split the work in two. Your sales or BDC manager handles the review asks and replies every day, inside Cars.com and DealerRater.

The other half is video. Every car in stock needs a short vertical clip on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube, and that list changes each time a car sells or a trade comes in.

For the video half, our recommendation is A21 Social. It reads your listings from Cars.com and CarGurus, uses AI to build a short vertical video for each car from the listing photos and details, and posts it to all 4 channels automatically, so nobody on your team has to film or edit. It does not import listings that live only on Autotrader or other sites, and it does not post to Facebook Marketplace, so your salespeople keep handling Marketplace.

Plans are Starter at $49, Pro at $129 and Enterprise at $199 a month, plus applicable sales tax (pricing). Your next step is to set it up on your Cars.com listings now, so the car videos are already running when the 2027 winners are named. For channel details, see our guides to selling cars on Instagram and TikTok for car dealerships.

Common mistakes with Cars.com Dealer of the Year

An empty quarter or a missing Sales (New) review can rule you out, and unanswered reviews pull your PowerScore down. You can fix each mistake below this month.

• Collecting most reviews in December. The rules need at least 1 review in each calendar quarter, so one empty quarter rules you out no matter how many December reviews arrive. Fix: set a monthly review target in 2027 so every quarter is covered.
• Running a franchise store with no Sales (New) review. Dealer of the Year requires at least 1 in the award category. Fix: ask every new-car buyer to review the sale itself before December 31.
• Answering only the good reviews. Response rate is a PowerScore input, and nearly 90% of 2026 honorees respond, compared with 52% of non-winners. Fix: make replying once to every review, positive or negative, part of your daily routine.
• Tying a gift to a 5-star review or having managers post reviews. The FTC rule bans payment conditioned on a particular sentiment and undisclosed reviews by officers and managers, and it lets the FTC seek civil penalties against knowing violators. Fix: give every buyer the same ask with no condition on what they write.
• Assuming an independent lot can't win. The Consumer Satisfaction Award goes to a top percentage of US used-car dealers and is not brand specific. Fix: run the same review and reply plan a franchise store would.

What to do next

Open your Dealer of the Year Report this week, close every gap before December 31, 2026, and have your badge video template ready for the announcement. Awards are usually announced in late January or early-to-mid February, though the 2026 awards came out in March.

CarGurus awards follow different rules, which our CarGurus Top Dealer Awards guide explains. To keep posting after the badge arrives, our social media strategy guide sets out a schedule a small lot can keep up with.

How we checked this guide

In November 2026 we read the DealerRater help center pages on the Cars.com Dealer Awards, Dealer of the Year, the Consumer Satisfaction Award and the Dealer of the Year Report. We also read the Cars.com investor and news releases from March 18, 2026, an Auto Remarketing report, and the FTC's review rule pages. We found no help page written for the 2027 awards, so this guide applies the published "previous calendar year" rule to 2026 reviews. We could not verify the exact Consumer Satisfaction percentage for used-car dealers, a single count of 2026 national winners, or any Cars.com guidance on using the badge in Reels, TikToks or Shorts beyond the graphics and social media templates. Every figure in this guide links to its source.

While you work on reviews, let A21 Social turn every car in your Cars.com or CarGurus listings into a short video and post it for you. Try it from $49 a month.