Here’s what we found:
- West: The most expensive region, scores well above the benchmark for positive price sentiment.
- Midwest: The most affordable region, saw the highest above-benchmark negative sentiment.
To put this data in perspective, for someone earning $50,000 annually, living in the West vs. the Midwest creates a $4,550 difference in real purchasing power.
West: Costs run about 2% higher than average, roughly $1,000 more per year just to maintain the same lifestyle.
Midwest: Costs run about 7% lower, giving residents about $3,550 more in usable income each year.
That $4,550 swing is the equivalent of an entire year of car insurance, or covering a dealership service plan without feeling it in your budget. It’s a real difference, but it still doesn’t predict how customers talk about price.
Our observation: perception impacts customer experience, and it does not always match reality. Rather, it’s influenced by a wide range of regional and isolated personal experiences that dealers must manage, because ultimately, it impacts the business's reputation, true or false.
If price perception tracked objective cost alone, lower-cost regions would show fewer complaints than the industry and vice versa. That pattern doesn’t hold. Customers aren’t reacting to price in isolation.
We see the same disconnect in the luxury automaker segment: 20–30% of negative reviews for luxury brands mention price, consistently higher than the industry average (~20%), even in regions where those brands are competitively priced. Again, the reaction isn’t directly tied to the invoice number.
What this means for dealers: Price perception isn’t just about dollars. It’s shaped by expectations, transparency, and the experience surrounding the price conversation. When that experience breaks down, sentiment shifts—even in lower-cost regions.
Read the full analysis on price in the Q3 Voice of the Customer Report.
