Utah Dealers.ai
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Methodology

How the 7-Star Trust Score works

Every star is a transparent equation — not an opinion. The score is computed for every licensed Utah dealer from verified public data, by a published, deterministic formula. AI reads the inputs; the math decides the number. It is never for sale.

★ = Tier( Σ wₚ · Percentile( Shrink( WeightedMean(reviewsₚ) ) ) − z·σ/√N )

The four pillars we weigh

Six at full build; four scored today. Missing pillars are shown honestly — they cap the score until real evidence arrives.

Sales Experience
Google + DealerRater/Cars.com sales reviews · pricing transparency
30%
Service Experience
Service reviews · quality-of-repair · wait-time & comeback NLP
25%
Complaint Resolution
BBB closure + time-to-resolve · state-AG records · recurrence
15%
Reputation & Sentiment
Aggregate Google/Yelp (attributed, never blended) · forums
12%
Employee & Culture
Licensed Glassdoor/Indeed · tenure/turnover · first-party eNPS
10%
Reliability & Longevity
MVED years-licensed · bond status · OEM certs · gov actions
8%

The seven tiers

Anchored to the real Utah distribution — so the median dealer is a 4, and a 7 is genuinely rare.

7
ExceptionalGated — rare by design
92–100
6
Excellent
80–91
5
Strong
66–79
4
SolidUtah median lands here
50–65
3
Mixed
35–49
2
Poor
20–34
1
Critical
< 20

The math — and the ethic behind each step

①Weight each review
w = R(t) · V(v) · c · Λ(r)
Why: Recent, verified, real experiences count most — and a harmful one weighs more than a routine good one.
②Weighted average
x̄ = Σ(w·r) / Σw
Why: A dealer's record — not a loud minority.
③Shrink to a fair prior
μ = (x̄·n + 3.8·C) / (n + C)
Why: Nobody is crucified on two reviews.
④Normalize vs all Utah dealers
P = percentile-rank(μ)
Why: Honest relative truth, robust to review-bombing.
⑤Apply the fair pillar mask
N/A → dropped · missing → conservative floor
Why: Never punish a dealer for a service they don't offer; hiding data can't inflate a score.
⑥Combine the pillars
Q = Σ(wₚ · Pₚ) / Σ wₚ
Why: Published weights — anyone can reverse-engineer it.
⑦Publish the lower bound
Q_LB = Q − 1.96·σ / √N
Why: A few lucky reviews can't outrank a proven record.
⑧Map to a tier
Q_LB → ★ 1–7
Why: Most are a 4. A 7 is earned.

The firewall

A dealer can pay $499/yr to claim and verify their profile — that confirms their identity and active Utah license. It never changes their Trust Score. Payment never reaches the equation, and every score change is written to a hash-chained ledger that cannot be quietly altered.

Methodology version B-0.1. Disagree with a score? Dispute it →