Napleton Auto Group Ranks Highest for 5th Year in 2026 Web Lead Response Study
AUSTIN, Texas--( BUSINESS WIRE)--Napleton Automotive Group dealerships ranked highest for the fifth straight year in the 2026 Pied Piper PSI ® Internet Lead Effectiveness ® (ILE ®) Auto Dealer Group Study, which compared the response behaviors of 31 large auto dealer groups when receiving sales leads through their dealership websites. Following Napleton were Berkshire Hathaway Automotive, Jeff Wyler Automotive Family, MileOne Autogroup, and LaFontaine Automotive Group.
“The difference is operational discipline; top groups are three times more likely to suggest appointments and twice as likely to follow up across multiple channels, while lower performers lose sales with inconsistent responses.”
Web Lead Response is Improving and Dealer Groups Are Leading the Way
In the 2026 study, the average dealer group ILE score reached 74, up seven points from last year and three points above the overall auto industry average. Of the 31 dealer groups measured, eight improved by more than 10 points, while only three declined. These gains reflect clear behavioral shifts, including a 20% increase in responding by text, an 11% improvement in multichannel follow-up, and 6% fewer slow or unhelpful responses.
Compared to the overall auto industry, dealer groups are widening the gap. Dealer group dealerships are 10% more likely to achieve ILE scores above 80, delivering quick, thorough, and proactive responses, and 20% less likely to fall below 40, where responses fail to move customers forward.
AI-Powered Automation Boosts Averages, But Fails Silently
AI automation has improved dealer responsiveness, but it also creates new ways for customer inquiries to invisibly fail. Dealerships that rely heavily on AI respond quickly to simple questions, but performance drops when inquiries require human involvement. When those “harder” questions are encountered, the typical dealership response drops an average of 9 ILE points. Breakdowns can also occur between systems, when AI interacts with DMS, website, CRM, email, text, and phone. In either case, the system may claim activity occurred while the customer still receives no useful response.
“AI is raising the baseline,” said Cameron O’Hagan, Pied Piper’s Vice President, Metrics & Analytics. “The challenge is that the most important failures now happen in the gaps, between systems, or when a customer needs human help. That’s where breakdowns tend to occur, and they’re often invisible without independent measurement.”
What Sets Napleton Apart from Other Dealer Groups?
2026 is the fifth consecutive year of Napleton ranking first place in the annual ILE Auto Dealer Group study. Napleton further improved their average score by an additional two points in 2026, reaching a new record average ILE score of 93; their second consecutive year scoring in the 90s.
What Top Dealer Groups Do Differently from Low Performers
The top five dealer groups in the 2026 study all achieved average ILE scores above 80, while the seven lowest performing dealer groups scored in the 60s or lower. When comparing the two categories, distinct behavior differences become evident.
“The difference is operational discipline,” said O’Hagan. “Top groups are three times more likely to suggest appointments and twice as likely to follow up across multiple channels, while lower performers lose sales with inconsistent responses.”
2026 Dealer Group Performance Compared:
Response to customer web inquiries in the 2026 study had large variations by group in key metrics:
Why is ILE Performance Valuable to Measure & Report?
Most lost sales don’t come from consistently poor web response performance, they come from a multitude of small, unnoticed breakdowns. Dealers who receive ongoing ILE measurement and reporting quickly spot when something invisible goes wrong and fix it before more opportunities are lost.
“Traditional dashboards and reports can be misleading, and are often ignored, leaving dealerships blind to what’s actually happening with their website customers,” said O’Hagan. “Three of the top five performing dealer groups use ongoing ILE measurement to track and understand real responses by phone, text, and email.”
How Was This Study Conducted?
Pied Piper submitted a total of 2,414 customer inquiries, evaluating every dealership within 31 U.S. auto dealer groups during normal business hours. Each inquiry appeared new and unique to each website and dealership, with a new customer name, email address, and local telephone number for each evaluation. Pied Piper evaluated the speed and quality of responses sent by email, telephone, chat, and text message within the next 24 hours following each inquiry. ILE evaluations are comprised of more than 20 differently weighted measurements, tied to best practices statistically linked to sales success. These measurements then combine to create an overall ILE score ranging between zero and 100 for each dealership, which are then consolidated into brand and industry averages and rankings.
About Pied Piper Management Company, LLC
Austin, Texas-based Pied Piper provides fact-based measurement and reporting that helps clients improve how their retailers handle new customers and grow sales. Its proprietary approach identifies the specific behaviors that drive retail success and measures whether they actually occur.
Pied Piper delivers simple, text-based reporting with interactive AI, making insights easy to access and act on. Its measurements reveal what actually happens when customers reach out, allowing organizations to identify missed opportunities, correct breakdowns, and improve sales and customer retention. The company also publishes annual industry benchmarking studies ranking brand performance and highlighting both top performers and gaps across industries.
Other recent Pied Piper PSI ® industry studies include:
Learn more, request a presentation of full industry study results, or request ongoing PSI ® measurement and reporting at www.piedpiperpsi.com.
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