REV #056

What the Language in Your Negative Staff Reviews Actually Reveals

BY EMILY KEENAN

March 26th, 2026

I spent some time this week digging into review topic data for the Top 150 dealer groups. Across the industry, Staff is the second-largest driver of negativity, appearing in 38% of all negative reviews.

But when you look at how that plays out group by group, the numbers tell two very different stories.

At the bottom of the list, we have groups where staff interactions drive nearly half of all complaints. Fletcher Jones Automotive Group sits at 52.2% staff negativity, Hertrich Autogroup hits 49%, and Team Gillman Auto Group is at 48.7%.

On the flip side, the groups managing this best keep their staff out of the crosshairs. Georgica Auto Holdings leads here, keeping staff negativity down to just 26.7%, followed closely by Byers Automotive Group at 27.1%, and Gunn Auto Group at 27.4%.

What does a 25-point gap in staff negativity actually look like? 

When you read reviews from the groups driving these extremes, two distinct operational realities emerge: Process Breakdowns and Trust Breakdowns.

When staff complaints are process-driven, the frustration is palpable, but the root cause isn't malice; it's a bottleneck. Customer reviews say things like: 

• "It took them 4.5 hours to do a routine oil change... I checked in at the 3-hour mark via text (since I hadn't heard anything) and the reply was 'it will be ready soon'... They clearly don’t respect their customers’ time." 

Notice the language. The staff gets tagged negatively, but usually because an advisor is disorganized, the dispatch system is backed up, or automated text updates are failing. As discussed in the recent NADA workshop, From Cowboys to Boy Scouts, process breakdowns like this are inevitable, but they are highly fixable with better software, routing, and communication standards.

Some of the gap between top and bottom performers likely reflects differences in review volume, solicitation practices, or market mix — but the language patterns hold regardless of the source. When you look at reviews from the groups at the bottom of the list, the friction isn't the process. The language turns broad, defensive, and accusatory. It is a fundamental breakdown of trust:

• "BUYERS BEWARE OF THE BAIT AND SWITCH... The salesman said he had the vehicle I wanted in stock. I spent 2 hours in traffic just for them not to have it... The salesmen wouldn't even help us. This is not a dealership you can trust." 

When customers are writing reviews like those, the problem has moved beyond operations. Poor processes frustrate customers. Broken trust drives them to warn others. See the full breakdown on Staff negativity in the 2026 VOC Report. 

How Operators Respond: 

Before you spend a dollar trying to improve your customer experience this year, pull your worst reviews and ask one question: Are your customers frustrated by your process, or by how they were treated?

If it’s a process problem, fix the structural bottleneck. Kyle Morissette at Werner Hyundai deployed a voice-based AI system to handle routine inbound and outbound calls. By routing those calls to AI, he freed his advisors to step away from the ringing phones and actually focus on engaging with the customer right in front of them. Morissette reports improvements in CSI, retention, and gross, with customer-pay revenue hitting record highs.

If it’s a trust problem, fix your leadership floor. Bill Camastro at Gold Coast Cadillac tackled trust breakdowns by removing the fear of heat cases. He promised his staff that if they brought him an angry customer, they would never be chastised. When staff feel psychologically safe, they stop playing deceptive games with the customer to protect themselves.

You can buy software to fix a 4.5-hour oil change. You cannot buy a tech stack to fix a culture of intimidation or bait-and-switch deception.

Top 150 Auto Groups: The Staff Negativity Spectrum

Adding a service surcharge is widely assumed to be a direct hit to a dealership's reputation.

However, when one large national auto group recently rolled out a 3% service fee, an analysis of 55,000 customer reviews showed that overall sentiment and trust remained completely intact.

See how they successfully added millions in margin without triggering a backlash in the service lane. Read the full analysis →

See you next week - Emily, Marketing @Widewail