You might have the right vehicles in stock. And you might be offering the best deals. You might even be in the prime location. But these days, it isn’t enough unless consumers find your business trustworthy — and that starts online.

To address this reality in the digital age of online referrals and reviews, Mobials has partnered with autoTRADER, SiriusXM and AutoCapital to help dealers secure their online reputations.

Mobials announced it is launching a national “Dealership of the Year” award program to honor the country’s top-reviewed dealer, as well as a Consumer Trust Certified program, designed to help shoppers pick out the best dealerships and give dealers another advertising tool in reaching out to potential customers.

Through the Consumer Trust Certified program, dealer consumer ratings and reviews will be posted where dealers syndicate their vehicles.

For dealers not enrolled in the Mobials Reviewsii product, no need to worry. On top of rolling out additional tiers of its Reviewsii product in an effort to fit all dealers’ needs, the company will be offering the basic $85 package at no charge, thanks to the program’s sponsorship by autoTRADER, SiriusXM and AutoCapital.

James Hayes, co-founder and chief executive officer of Mobials, told Auto Remarketing Canada, “In working on these new developments, we wanted to make sure to do our best to create a program that would capture dealer reviews and put them everywhere their shoppers are researching them online. And the Dealer of the Year award will finally give the market a program that honors and recognizes top dealers for impressive consume ratings.”

A New Dealership of the Year Program

For dealers interested in competing for the new award, the competition begins this month and will run until the end of the year.

To qualify for the award come the end of the year, stores will need at least 25 customer reviews, and the star rating for the store — one to five — in the Reviewsii system will impact the dealership’s ultimate score.

And the companies explained the winners will be chosen based on a variety of criteria using an algorithm designed to “level the playing field” between large metro stores and most rural dealerships.

And that’s not all the companies did the ensure fairness.

To make sure that all dealerships, not just the stores that use Mobials products, can enter the running, sponsors — autoTRADER, SiriusXM and AutoCapital — will cover the basic $85 per month Reviewsii plan for 12 months.

Dealers can visit www.mobials.com and register for free with the following promo code: TRADERREVIEWS.

In early 2016, a Dealership of the Year will be announced, as well as top stores on a provincial basis for both franchised and independent dealers.

Consumer Trust Certified Program

The new Consumer Trust Certified program — available in French and English, depending on the website — gives dealers another way to stand out from the pack and advertise their standing to potential new customers.

Once a dealer receives a review, the new program captures it. Then, when dealers go to list vehicles on third-party sites, the dealership’s star rating and the number of reviews will show up below the dealership name in individual vehicle lists.

Shoppers have the option to sort reviews by employee, sales or service, or newest to oldest.

Hayes said, “This new program is an ongoing mission and will help to identify the dealerships most-trusted by consumers through tracking reviews and referrals.

“It also gives dealers an impressive tool to advertise to consumers. As the program gains traction, shoppers will become familiar with what this certification means and the trust factor that comes with it.”

Here is the criteria for qualifying for the new certification banner:

• Qualifying dealerships must use vehicle history reports that conform with provincial regulations.
• They must have received at least 25 reviews over the last 12 months.
• Dealers need to have a minimum of a four-star Reviewsii rating.

The program also requires all qualifying dealers list vehicles on third-party online listing sites with “honesty and integrity.”

Upon certification, each dealership will be sent marketing materials and will be able to run the certification banner on their website.

There are a variety of packages available for the Consumer Trust Certified Program, Hayes shared, which can range from $85 to $1,285. But once again, Mobials is offering the basic $85 package for free thanks to program sponsorship.

Mobials hit the market just a year-and-a-half ago, as a new company looking to change the “dealership review eco-system.” Since then, the company has scored publishing agreements with a variety of the biggest third-party sites vehicle listing sites in the country, including TRADER, Carpages.ca Monsterauto.ca, CanadianBlackBook.com, Auto123.com, AutoandTruck.ca and more.

Dealers can visit www.mobials.com and register for free with the following promo code: TRADERREVIEWS.