(BRK.A), (BRK.B)
Berkshire Hathaway Automotive distinguished itself in this year’s study through fast, consistent, and highly effective customer engagement. The group ranked among the strongest performers across several of the study’s most important response metrics, highlighting a disciplined approach to internet lead management.
Berkshire Hathaway dealerships answered customer questions by email or text more than 90% of the time on average, placing the group among the top-performing organizations nationwide. The group also exceeded expectations in phone responsiveness, with dealerships contacting customers by phone more than 85% of the time following a web inquiry.
One of Berkshire Hathaway Automotive’s strongest showings came in the critical “Did Both Fast” category, which measures how often dealerships both answered a customer’s question digitally and followed up with a phone call within 30 minutes. Berkshire Hathaway ranked among only three dealer groups nationwide to achieve this at a rate above 75%.
The organization also delivered one of the industry’s most reliable customer experiences, recording a “Failed to Respond” rate of less than 1%, meaning nearly every customer inquiry received some form of engagement by email, text, or phone.
Dealer Groups Continue to Raise the Bar
The 2026 study showed continued improvement among large dealer groups overall. The average dealer group ILE score climbed to 74, seven points higher than last year and three points above the overall automotive industry average.
Dealer groups increasingly outperformed the broader industry by delivering quicker, more proactive, and more consistent responses. Compared to the industry at large, dealer group dealerships were 10% more likely to achieve ILE scores above 80 and 20% less likely to score below 40.
According to Pied Piper, these gains were driven by measurable behavioral changes, including a 20% increase in responding via text message, an 11% improvement in multichannel follow-up, and fewer slow or unhelpful responses overall.
AI Improves Speed, But Human Engagement Still Matters
The study also highlighted the growing role of AI-powered automation in dealership communications. While AI systems have improved response times and raised overall performance averages, dealerships still struggle when customer inquiries require more personalized or human-driven interaction.
“When those harder questions are encountered, the typical dealership response drops an average of 9 ILE points,” said Cameron O’Hagan, Pied Piper’s Vice President of Metrics & Analytics. “The most important failures now happen in the gaps — between systems, or when a customer needs human help.”
Pied Piper noted that breakdowns can occur when AI systems interact with DMS platforms, CRMs, websites, texting systems, email, and phone processes. In some cases, systems may indicate activity occurred even though the customer never receives a meaningful response.
What Top Dealer Groups Do Differently
The study found clear operational differences between top-performing dealer groups and lower-performing organizations.
The top five dealer groups — including Berkshire Hathaway Automotive — consistently responded across multiple communication channels, including email, text, and phone. They were also far more likely to suggest appointments and proactively move customers toward visiting the dealership.
Top-performing dealer groups used texting to answer customer questions 69% of the time on average, compared to just 33% among lower-ranked groups. Similarly, 87% of dealerships within the top five groups responded through multiple communication paths, nearly double the rate of the bottom-performing groups.
© 2026 David Mazor
Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.