New data reveals your top new-car dealers

Our data categories get under the skin of the dealership experience in detail, so you know our scores reflect what dealer visits are really like

CAR makers put in enormous effort when developing a new model, ensuring it meets or exceeds all the relevant safety requirements, emits as few pollutants as possible, performs well in all weather conditions and is a robust, reliable vehicle that’s good to drive and appealing to look at. All of this is done, firms hope, in the expectation that a new car will hit the spot with its target market and stand out from the competition enough to sell in good numbers.

All of this takes many years and billions of pounds to achieve, yet it can seem almost all for nothing if the final link in the chain – the dealer – fails to fulfil its role properly. Because for many people, it doesn’t matter if a new car ticks all the right boxes: if you have a bad experience with a dealer or service centre, that may be enough to put you off ever buying the same car again, or even returning to the brand.

Think of it like a restaurant: the food on offer could be the best you’ve ever tasted, but if the waiters and waitresses ignore you, forget dishes, drop a bowl of soup on your lap and then overcharge you, would you go back?

Here, we bring you the best-performing dealers based on the scores of thousands of new-car buyers. We’ve made some significant changes for 2021, so while the 21 firms whose dealers are represented here are slightly fewer than we would ideally like, largely due to lockdowns, these assessments are as comprehensive as you’ll get in the UK. We hope you find them useful.