Ratings seem to frequently change, how do ratings work? How is a start rating calculated? Why does the rating change?
We are frequently asked about the star ratings on the auto transport companies found on Transport Reviews.
We will attempt to answer and address the most frequently asked questions and concerns.
How is the star rating calculated?
The star rating is a simple average as calculated by the AVERAGE function in MS SQL Server. It just adds up all the stars and devides by the number of reviews.
The variable that changes and causes confusion is the number of reviews.
Which reviews and are included depend on the date range.
The default overall company rating is based on the last two years of auto transport ratings and reviews. This means that every day the number of reviews used in the calculation may change since reviews older than two years will no longer be used in the calculation.
WHY Only Two Years of Reviews?
When we created Transport Reviews back in 2003 we made the decision that we wanted the ratings and rankings to reflect the current experience a visitor should expect from a company. So instead of providing an all-time rating, we decided to rate companies on the last two years.
This means that companies must always maintain a high rating to maintain a high rating. This allows poor companies to improve and good companies to go down.
A flaw we believe exists in many reviews is that an all-time rating does not reflect the current company. Management, employees, systems and industries change over time. A great company 10 years ago may no longer be great, which may not be reflected if the first 8 years of reviews overwhelmed the ratings, essentially hiding the last two years of ratings.
How do I view an all-time overall rating?
While we don't show all-time ratings on profiles you can view all-time ratings.
You can use our TopCompanies reports to view ratings all the way back to 2003.
The ratings and rankings you see are for all-time.