Independent Evaluation
The Method
Every Leaderspin award recipient earns their recognition through the same rigorous, independent process. Here's exactly how it works — no black boxes.
Open Nominations
The process begins with the community. Anyone — customer, employee, or community member — can nominate a dealership for any active award category. Nominations are free and take under two minutes. We accept nominations year-round.
We do not accept nominations that are paid, incentivized, or submitted by the dealership on its own behalf without independent verification.
Submit a NominationNomination Review & Shortlisting
Our team reviews every nomination for legitimacy. Dealerships with meaningful nomination volume across independent nominators are moved to the active evaluation queue. Volume alone doesn't guarantee selection — quality and pattern of nominations matters.
Independent Evaluation
Shortlisted dealerships are evaluated against a standardized scorecard for their specific award category. The scorecard covers:
Customer Experience
Verified reviews, responsiveness, transparency, and post-sale follow-up quality.
Trust & Integrity
Honest pricing, fair trade-in practices, no deceptive advertising or high-pressure tactics.
Process Efficiency
Speed of financing approvals, clarity of paperwork, and ease of the overall purchase process.
Community Standing
Local reputation, business history, and evidence of community involvement and accountability.
Award Selection
The highest-scoring dealerships in each category and market are selected as award recipients. Our selection is final and based solely on evaluation scores.
We select a primary winner and, where warranted, finalists or honorable mentions within each category and city.
Badge & Profile Publication
Award recipients receive the official Leaderspin badge, a verified dealer profile page on this platform, and inclusion in our directory — indexed by Google and surfaced to in-market car buyers in their city.
Award profiles are published annually. A dealership must re-earn recognition each year — past awards don't carry forward automatically.
Why "Independent" Matters
Recognition that means something to car buyers has to come from a source they can trust — one with consistent standards and no conflicts of interest.
Community-Nominated
Dealerships enter our process through nominations from real customers, employees, and community members — not internal selection.
Standardized Scoring
Every dealership is evaluated on the same criteria. The scorecard doesn't change based on who's asking.
Annual Re-evaluation
Recognition must be re-earned each year. A dealership's past award doesn't protect them if standards slip.
Know a Dealership That Earns This?
If you've experienced a dealership that lives up to these standards, nominate them.