Welcome to the REV. A weekly briefing on what the Auto industry can learn about customer experience from millions of Google reviews. Every Thursday, we Rank, Explore & Visualize automotive reputation & sentiment data.
Our latest research report dropped last week. It analyzes 1.2M Google Reviews from 18,000 U.S. dealerships across Q1, revealing what customers are saying across the auto industry. Check it out below:
Video MPI is growing in popularity in the service drive for a simple reason: it's consistently driving higher dollar value per RO.
We are seeing it show up in reviews, which is what we are taking a look at this week.
The reactions split, and it comes down to one thing: whether the customer could see the problem for themselves.
What works.
Show them the actual failed part, explain it plainly, and a service video does exactly what it should. It earns confidence:
"Very friendly and accommodating team. The video update was a very nice touch. Felt confident they only did what was needed and did not try to get us to pay for things we did not need." — service customer, WI
"I got a video of the failed part and an explanation of the repair directly from the mechanic, and my final bill was less than what I was initially quoted." — service customer, TX
Aim the video at work the customer can't check, and it turns on you:
"The video looks thorough, but some things they said were wrong cannot be determined by the naked eye. And clearly they took advantage of that… I don't like being lied to or overcharged to such an extravagant extent." — service customer, TX
Thorough, but not clear from the customer POV. Same tool, opposite result.
A video builds trust when it lets a customer confirm the work with their own eyes. It loses trust when it asks them to take the tech's word for it, just with slicker footage.
The move: review past videos for upsells proposed on problems the buyer cannot see. Pair that with customer review feedback and RO upsell success to determine the scale of this problem at your store/group. If it's a pattern, coach your team to anchor every recommendation to something visible on camera — the failed part, the worn pad, the leak. Upsell what you can show.
More of the Store Depends on Service
Fixed ops now accounts for more than half of dealer gross profit. And in Q1 customer review data, the service drive improved almost everywhere: faster bays, fewer repair complaints, and better marks on honesty, professionalism, and helpfulness. The one place it slipped was the conversation around the work. Communication still runs through nearly half of negative service reviews. Video lands right in that spot. That's why how you use it matters now.
Widewail COO, Melissa Terrell, put the fix simply: "The opportunity isn't a single advisor; it's the process and tooling around them. Establish clear ownership for each customer communication, let automation carry the rhythm, and this is a gap a store can close in a quarter."
Widewail customer intelligence is a great way to monitor the impact of your video MPI program in customer feedback. Request a platform demo here: widewail.com/connect
Data and review samples from the Q1 2026 Voice of the Customer Report. See the full fixed-ops sectionhere.
