The car industry ranks high for online customer satisfaction among UK industries, according to a survey by online used car platform AutoTrader.

The ‘2017 Auto Trader Digital Excellence Study’ used information from 40,000 reviews from 10,000 customers rating 145 websites of leading brands.

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The automotive industry performed higher than average, ranking third with 37% of customers rating websites a nine or ten, compared with 38% for both finance and travel, which led the rankings, and a cross-industry average of 35%.

Manufacturers scored most highly among automotive websites, with 39% of participants rating them highly. Retail sectors did not perform as well, with high satisfaction ratings falling to 35% for both franchised dealers and supermarkets, and 33% for independent websites.

When participants were asked to assess homepages, all car industries performed above the 26% cross-industry average for high ratings. Manufacturers achieved 37% high satisfaction, while franchise and independent dealers both scored 34%. Car supermarkets once again came at the bottom of the rankings, with 32%.

AutoTrader claimed that the survey showed there was a perception gap when it came to trust in the automotive industry.

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The study showed that 27% rated the industry as possessing high trust and transparency based on online presence, higher than the cross-industry average of 23%. In September last year, Auto Trader found that 93% of the public mistrusted used car dealers.

Nick King, Auto Trader’s insight director, said: “We’re thrilled to see the automotive industry perform well against other sectors, especially when it comes to trust.

“The automotive sector should strive to become the benchmark in digital excellence for all other industries, and while we have some way to go, we’re certainly heading in the right direction.”