Mercedes-Benz has been revealed as the UK’s most trusted car brand, beating rival Audi to the top spot in CarGuru’s Car Buyer Trust Index.

The German car maker topped a list of 21 manufacturers that graded them on five key factors: integrity, transparency, genuineness, social conscience and reliability.

CarGurus says the independent report provides "unprecedented insight” into how perceived trust impacts decision-making among different genders and age groups. 

Audi, Ford, Toyota and Volvo completed the top five, with Fiat recording the lowest overall brand ranking.  

In addition, the report also showed how men and women differ when it comes to trusting automotive brands.  

Mercedes-Benz was most trusted overall by male car buyers whereas Audi and Ford shared the top spot as the brands in which women put the most faith.  

There were greater differences of opinion among some of the other brands, though. Kia, rated as second overall for men, was a lowly 15th for women. MINI, on the other hand, was ranked fifth overall by women and 15th by men.  

“For consumers, having trust in a purchase – and who they are buying it from – is fundamental to the buying journey. Therefore, we created the CarGurus Car Buyer Trust Index to help gain a deeper understanding of how trust is built, and the extent to which it informs car-buying decisions,” said Chris Knapman, CarGurus UK editor. 

“The Car Buyer Trust Index provides unprecedented insight into the role that trust plays in the car buying process, while at the same time showing our commitment to becoming the world’s most trusted and transparent car-buying platform.” 

In August 2019, Lexus was named the UK’s most trusted car brand by Which?, following a survey probing the real-world ownership experiences of almost 44,000 drivers. The Japenese luxury brand was not included in the CarGurus survey as it selected the top-performing manufacturers according to SMMT sales figures.

Most trusted car brands, according to CarGurus:

 

Brand

1

Mercedes Benz

2

Audi

3

Ford

4

Toyota

5

Volvo

6

BMW

7

KIA

8

Vauxhall

9

Mini

10

Honda

11

Volkswagen

12

Tesla

13

Nissan

14

Land Rover

15

Hyundai

16

SEAT

17

Skoda

18

Citroën

19

Renault

20

Peugeot

21

FIAT

 

The index can be viewed here: https://insights.cargurus.com/ukcarbuyertrustindex2019/p/1