Fake Reviews Policy

Last updated 02.07.2025

Consumer trust and confidence are essential to the Carwow Group.

This Fake Reviews Policy explains how we safeguard the authenticity and reliability of the reviews and content published on our platforms, so you can be confident in the information you read.

Purpose and Scope

At Carwow Group, we recognise that online reviews have become one of the most powerful tools that help consumers make decisions, such as buying or selling their car. We also know that reviews are only meaningful if they are genuine, unbiased, and real, which is why we take the integrity of our reviews seriously and are committed to spotting and promptly taking action against fake or misleading reviews.

This policy governs the use of reviews on Auto Express, Evo, Carbuyer, Driver Power and related channels such as our YouTube channel. We specifically use content from our consumer reviews powerhouse, Driver Power, to display reviews and aggregated scores on www.carbuyer.co.uk and autoexpress.co.uk. 

Read below to learn how we collect, display and manage consumer reviews on our websites and what steps we are taking to stop fake or misleading reviews across our websites.

What types of reviews does Carwow Group host?

Driver Power reviews

Driver Power exists to give real car owners a voice. While manufacturers know the nuts and bolts of cars, nobody knows the quirks and perks like the owners. Driver Power provides independent, first-hand insights that help consumers make informed choices and help manufacturers understand what really matters to car owners.

Our dealer partners pay to use our platform for car buying and selling, but reviews and scoring on vehicle pages sourced from Driver Power surveys are completely independent and based solely on Driver Power survey data. They’re never influenced by commission or any commercial relationship. 

Written content 

Written and published by our independent editorial content team and displayed against the cars listed and in articles found on carwow.co.uk, evo.co.uk and carbuyer.co.uk. These articles are completely independent and unsponsored. We do not accept any incentives from manufacturers for these written reviews. 

Carwow Youtube channel – YouTube and video reviews

Our video reviews on https://www.youtube.com/Carwow are created to give viewers independent and informative content about the cars they’re considering. If any video car reviews are sponsored, they will be clearly marked as such.

Driver Power Reviews

Where do Driver Power reviews come from?

Driver Power is an annual survey of new and used car owners run by the Carwow Group. Survey respondents are new and used car owners and recruited through the Carwow Group websites to provide a review on their car via a pop-up on-site, via email on Auto Express and Carwow and sometimes through our survey panel provider, Dynata. 

Survey respondents are asked to rate how satisfied they are with various attributes of their car. The scores are then aggregated to calculate an average score for each model. All questions in the surveys are weighted equally to calculate the final score for the model. 

Keeping it real – how we collect Driver Power reviews

We know that reviews only matter to our consumers if they’re real and trustworthy. That’s why we go the extra mile to make sure every review, score and opinion comes from genuine car owners with real experiences. 

This is our criteria for respondents taking the Driver Power surveys:

• Must be aged 17+. 
• Must have actually owned or experienced the car – we ask people to include their Car Reg in their reviews.
• Respondents are prevented from taking the survey multiple times using various methods, including tracking against the IP address.
• Survey answers cannot be changed after submission.

How we detect fake reviews and keep Driver Power reviews genuine

• All questions in the Driver Power surveys are weighted equally to calculate the final score for the model. 
• We ask respondents to leave their registration plate number in the survey. 
• We randomly spot check survey answers. If we identify any suspicious reviews, these are excluded from scores. 

Dynata, our external survey panel provider, uses QualityScore™, an AI-powered system that ensures genuine survey responses. Dynata also uses the following measures:

• AI Detection: identifying fraud and low attentiveness missed by standard checks (e.g. bots, ghost completes or disengaged users), and replacing them in real time.
• Behavioral Analysis: Tracks 175+ passive signals (e.g. copy-paste, response logic, time taken to complete survey and network speed) to assess respondent engagement and authenticity. 
• Device and IP Analysis: Dynata’s systems assess device information and IP addresses for anomalies that could indicate attempts to obscure identity or location.
• Pattern Analysis: Detecting illogical or uniform answering patterns, such as “straight-lining” (selecting the same answer for every question).

Are Driver Power reviews incentivised? 

Sometimes we may offer an incentive (like vouchers) to consumers who participate in Driver Power surveys. Where we run incentive-based Driver Power surveys, vouchers are given upon completion regardless of the review being negative or positive. We never discriminate depending on the answers. Our laser focus is on making sure that the review is honest.

Complaints

How to complain about a review – if you are a dealer:

Please contact your Carwow account manager in the first instance, who will escalate it to the relevant internal team.

How to complain about a review – if you are a consumer:

Please contact our Customer Service team by calling 020 4586 4000 or emailing hello@carwow.co.uk. When submitting your complaint by email, please include “Fake Review Complaint” in the subject line and let us know why you believe the review is fake or misleading. 

How we handle your complaints 

We recognise that a review is your personal experience shared to help others, whether positive or negative. A complaint is kept separate from this and will be treated as a formal request for us to investigate and resolve a specific concern or issue you’ve had, usually prompting a response or action from us. We will never try to stop someone from leaving a negative review just because they have a complaint with us.

We will investigate all complaints fully and take appropriate action, which may include removing the fake or misleading review or banning the culpable person from leaving further reviews. If a dealer disputes a Driver Power score or review, or we identify fake reviews in the dataset, we may choose to mark it under review or remove it while we investigate. 

Review and monitoring of this policy

We will review and update this policy as frequently as necessary to comply with applicable laws, regulations and internal processes.