As it turns out, many people won’t tell a dealership directly how well salespeople at a dealership are doing – unless they’ve done a great job.  If they haven’t done well, they’re going to spread the word online and bash that dealership.
…and that’s good news for YOUR dealership.  (WHAT?)

Bad Online Reviews: Turning other people's failures into your dealership's success

Yep, that’s great news in fact.  Why?  By taking their reviews online, you get the tremendous opportunity to learn from the worst.  If you read through enough bad reviews of other dealerships online, you’ll be able to prevent your dealership from making the same mistakes.
  Let’s take a look at 3 common flavors of bad reviews (taken from Cars.com) and what you can learn from them:

1. The “Sloppy Dealership” Bad Review

I spent four hours waiting to see the vehicle, and then they said they lost the keys.

Funny enough, the “lost keys” bad review pops up online more often than you may think and bad reviews about your basic dealership processes (like paperwork mistakes) absolutely kill your credibility as a dealership.
  Fundamentals are often overlooked by both you and your customers – unless you screw them up. Get your act together and make sure these simple, basic things are reviewed, practiced and mastered.  Your salespeople shouldn’t have to worry about losing a sale because of minutia like “lost keys”.

2. The “Absentee Sales Person” Bad Review

He would set up a meeting time and when I got their would say he busy, so we would schedule another time and he wasn't answering his phone, when I called back for answers or to confirm the meeting. It been 3 days with no called back of a yes or no. So I went to another dealership.

This kind of bad review may be the most frustrating one to read for a dealership.  Losing a potential sale because a salesperson is either not available or is constantly changing meeting times should never happen.
This is similar to going to McDonald’s and not having any cashier to take your order.
If you’re salespeople can’t keep up with the demand of your potential customers, you may need to consider hiring more staff – or you need to make sure your salespeople are spending their time wisely.

3. The “Deceptive or Out-of-Date Online Listing” Bad Review

I received a verbal quote that was the same as the printed price on the web. I asked the sales person to confirm the price and mileage BEFORE I saw the vehicle AND when I was sitting in his office. I test drove the car and told them I was interested in purchasing. I took the vehicle to my mechanic and when I was driving to my mechanic they called me and told me the car was $5,000 more than what the sales person had told me!

After reading several of dealership reviews online, this may be the most frequent form of bad review.  Listing inaccurate or out-of-date information on your dealership website will drive your customers crazy – especially if they have to come a long way to view a vehicle on your lot.
Keep your listings as fresh as possible or minimally inform your online visitors to call or email you to ensure that the car listed is not only available, but also available for the price listed on the website.   ENSURE CONSISTENCY BETWEEN YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE AND YOUR OFFLINE PRESENCE.
Keep in mind that there are several more kinds of bad reviews out there and that means there’s plenty of opportunity to learn from other’s mistakes – and avoid them for your dealership.  And of course, a great automotive sales training program will always benefit from reading these bad reviews as well.