Volkswagen is inviting customers to rate individual dealers through its UK website.

The ‘eBay-style’ rating system for VW retailers appears when customers are searching for a retailer by town or postcode and offers a shortlist of five closest outlets along with details of services offered and contact details.

Customers can also then see a ‘positive feedback’ score, showing the percentage of customers who would recommend this retailer for purchasing a new VW, plus details on the number of customer feedback scores on which this is based.

Marianne Nicholas, relationship marketing manager at VW UK, said: “We thought long and hard about publicising these scores on the website but decided it was the right thing to do if we wanted to give customers a choice based on real information from other buyers’ experiences.

“The supplying retailer and service received are just as – if not more – important than the products our customers buy and we believe they should be able to make an informed choice.”

Another key addition to the site is the facility to book a test drive online, choosing the required model, retailer and time slot within the forthcoming two-week period.

AM magazine provides regular insight into manufacturer networks and dealer groups - to sign up for your magazine please click on the following link to subscribe:

AM also provides a monthly electronic magazine called AMe - this provides the latest analysis of new car sales figures each month and more news - to subscribe to this ezine please click the following link:

You must be logged in - click here to login