How we verify every listing

We match each dealership to its state’s dealer licensing records. Only a current, active license counts.

A license carries the business’s legal name, which is often not the name on the sign. We use the license to confirm the business exists and is licensed to sell vehicles. The everyday name comes from the manufacturer or from the business’s own listing.

We only ever state this in the positive. If we cannot confirm a current license, the check is simply left off. That is never a claim that a dealer is unlicensed: records lag, and renewals take time.

For franchised dealerships, we confirm the store appears in each manufacturer’s own published dealer listings. That is where the brands a dealership sells, and usually its customer-facing name, come from.

When a manufacturer stops listing a store, or lists a new one, a person reviews the change before the listing on DealerWho changes.

We geocode every address and check it against the business’s own public listing, so the pin lands on the lot and not at a mailing address. Phone numbers and websites are stored in one standard format and compared across sources.

When two sources disagree, one value is chosen by a fixed order of trust, and anything still unclear goes to a person. You always see one value, never two.