Car Ratings On The Web

Finding quality car ratings on the Internet can be a daunting task.  While the number of websites devoted to rating cars is nearly without limit, which ones are quality sites?  Which ones offer the most unbiased car safety ratings?  The best car ratings come from those websites, which do testing either for the government or insurance companies.  That’s because both of those operators use the same benchmark tests to rate each auto that they’re going to rate.  If there’s no unbiased testing, the test’s outcome is always questionable. 

Ratings websites often specialize in a specific type of vehicle.  While some will test and rate only sports cars, some prefer to focus on giving the best small car ratings.  Depending on which type of car you’re hoping to buy, you’ll need to research which websites give the best ratings for each type.  Car dealerships are an excellent source of information about where to find ratings websites, but you should always do your own research, as well.  Only you know exactly which features and ratings are important to you, and no one else can provide that information as accurately as you can find it for yourself. 

Top Websites And What They Do

When it comes to the best car ratings, there are a few giants in the industry that stand out above the rest.  While any website can put a few miles on a car, bump into it a few times, and call it well researched, the fact remains that proper car safety ratings take a great deal of money to research properly.  Here are a few of the websites that provide the best information.

While it’s true that Car & Driver© is primarily a for-profit magazine owned and operated by Hachette Filipacchi Media, their website provides a wealth of information about cars, both new and old.  Originally started as Sports Car Illustrated in the 1950s, Car & Driver© expanded onto the Internet in the 1990s.  Their foray into the online market has been met with unbridled success, and now they publish not only their opinions about the cars that they test, but also their test data, as well. 

Car & Driver© tests a few different things when looking to rate an automobile.  They don’t just test the car’s horsepower, torque, and other characteristics in a closed laboratory; they also get in the cars and drive them.  That means that Car & Driver© can provide not only the down and dirty statistics that many car ratings seekers crave, but also the personal touch that can tell you that little something that may change your mind about the car.  After all, what good is rating a car if you don’t know how well it hugs the corners or fits passengers comfortably?

Consumer Reports©  is another of the best car ratings websites.  Originally a magazine publication, Consumer Reports© has since launched onto the Internet in a major way.  With 4 million monthly subscribers and millions more hits on its website, Consumer Reports© is one of the most popular and best websites for the best car ratings.  They do cars of all shapes and sizes, and some of the best small car ratings can be found both online and in print at Consumer Reports. 

Consumer Reports© goes out of its way to provide unbiased ratings, and as such is one of the most reliable names in car safety ratings.  Other car rating websites accept their cars as gifts from the manufacturer, while Consumer Reports© actually purchases theirs at retail prices.  That way, there can be no manufacturer tweaking of the car’s performance before it reaches Consumer Reports©.  Consumer Reports© publishes its new car guide each April, and that single publication affects hundreds of thousands of purchases per year.

JD Power And Associates©

JD Power© is another major name in the car rating industry.  Because JD Power© conducts annual surveys of car buyers and testers, they provide a point of view that many other websites lack – that of the consumer.  JD Power© randomly selects consumers who have purchased a vehicle over the last year, and asks them to rate their vehicle on a scale determined by the company.  Some of the best car ratings on the Internet come from JD Power©, simply because they include such comprehensive ratings from actual consumers.  JD Power© does do in-house testing, as well, but their focus is on the consumer market. 

Just How Accurate Can They Be?

All the websites listed here provide car ratings for free.  While they are certainly for-profit companies, the bulk of their income is generated from their print publications.  There is no hard and fast standard for the car rating industry, so they largely police themselves.  However, because of the nature of their business, if their ratings weren’t accurate, they would quickly fail because consumers would move on to more well-researched publications.  Because the websites and magazines listed actually test their products both in closed labs and the open road, it’s important to note that there is little chance of industry bias. 

Who Should Use Them?

The use of any website to obtain the best small car ratings or the best car safety ratings should allow anyone with access to the Internet to find the best car ratings available.  It’s important that each person who is considering the purchase of a new vehicle pay close attention to the ratings that each prospective vehicle gets before the purchase is finalized.  Car buying is often an impulse business, but it shouldn’t be.  The websites listed here are always available for buyers to use, and because of that, it’s easy to get the ratings on any car that the consumer wants.  Many dealerships will have a public computer terminal that is connected to the Internet, so customers can check out the ratings of the vehicle they’re looking at before a decision is made.  That way, customers drive away feeling good about their purchase and better informed.