Toothman Ford won the 2015 DealerRater Ford Dealer of the Year Award. Now what?

You may have heard by now, that Toothman Ford has just received an outstanding honor from DealerRater.com, the No. 1 online resource for consumers seeking trusted information about dealers. If you’re at all familiar with the auto industry, you know that there are dozens upon dozens of achievable honors. But there’s something very special that sets this particular achievement apart from all the rest; and that something, happens to be you.

DealerRater Dealer of the Year awards are based entirely on the reviews of customers…people just like you. Unlike many other awards and accolades, this one in particular, is not determined by record sales numbers, public relations efforts, big advertising budgets or witty campaigns. This award is simply a measure of what our customers think of us.

Mathematically speaking, our recent DealerRater selection was determined using a Bayesian algorithm that factored our average DealerRater consumer rating and the total number of reviews written during the 2014 calendar year; in other words, hundreds of customers took to the internet to share their personal experiences with our customer service, quality of work, friendliness and pricing. As a result, we were rated the best in the state. While “Toothman Ford” was given the glory and a year’s worth of bragging rights, it’s our customers (from Grafton, Morgantown, Fairmont, Bridgeport, Elkins, Clarksburg, Philippi and beyond) that we have to thank for this one.

We’ve done our best to establish our brand as the market leader in the Morgantown, West Virginia-area automotive market in regards to transparent, low-market pricing. Every day, we do our very best to be upfront and honest with each customer that walks through our doors. It’s because of this, that customers like Stephen Tancin have said things like, “Our family has been buying vehicles from Toothman Ford for 20 years.” Or Marshall Emrick, who said, “I was very impressed with the honesty and integrity of our sales staff.” Or like Heather England, who said, “After purchasing my vehicle from Toothman Ford a few months ago, I immediately sent my dad in as well since he was looking for a truck,”…“The quality is second to none.”

Truthfully, we feel that this award shows that our customers recognize what we’re all about; when it comes down to it, that’s all that matters.

So after all has been said and done, when the dust settles and as the title of this blog post prompts, we ask, "Now what?" Do we rest here on this achievement and ride it out like a soft, rolling wave until 2016, comfortably secure in our new, albeit legendary, title? Sure, we could…but that’s not our style.

The very best way that we can uphold this award and pay homage to our customers is to simply keep doing what we’ve been doing. We’ll pay it forward— to new and repeat customers, to the Grafton community and to local charities and organizations that we actively support. We’ll continue improving our dealership by listening to your feedback and we’ll only measure success through our customer’s experiences and the relationships that we forge. Thanks again, and until next year, cheers!