Ranking policy
How results are ranked
When your truck is down, the order of these results matters. Here is exactly how we compute it — in plain language, because we hold ourselves to it.
Step 1 — who qualifies at all
Before any scoring, a shop must be within service range for what you searched, actually perform that kind of work, not be suspended or flagged, and be available for your request (open now, after-hours, or scheduled). No payment can get a shop past this filter.
Step 2 — the relevance score
Proximity
Real drive time from your location, with distance decaying exponentially. Not straight-line distance — a shop across the highway median is not “0.2 miles away.”
Service match
Whether the shop actually performs what you searched for. Mobile and roadside capability count double when your truck is down.
Responsiveness
Answer rate, how fast the shop responds to requests, and whether it is open right now — measured over the last 30 days.
Reputation
A statistically adjusted blend of Google and Yelp ratings. A shop with one 5-star review cannot outrank a shop with 200 reviews at 4.6 — recent reviews count more.
Trust & verification
Verified badge, insurance and licensing on file, and how long the listing has been established. Verification is free and can never be bought.
Platform performance
For shops that run on WrenchPilot: measured job completion, quote-to-invoice accuracy, and dispute history from real work orders.
Step 3 — where money can (and cannot) move you
Sponsored results are labeled and limited
A sponsored card always says “Sponsored.” At most 1 sponsored slot appears in the top 3 results and at most 2 in the top 10. Sponsored shops must meet the same quality standards as everyone else.
Paid tiers get bounded preference — never the top spot
Paid tiers apply a multiplier of at most 1.30× to a shop’s relevance score, applied after everything above is computed. That can move a shop a few positions within a band of comparable options. It cannot put a 45-minute shop above a 10-minute one.
Verification cannot be purchased
The verified badge is free at every tier and is granted only after document review — address, insurance, and licensing. No subscription level includes or accelerates it.
Ratings are never altered by payment
Review scores and counts come from Google and Yelp and from verified WrenchPilot work orders. No payment of any kind changes a rating, hides a review, or removes a low score.
Urgent searches are protected
On Road call and Towing searches, oversized paid card formats and banners are disabled. The first thing a stranded driver sees is always a result, ranked by relevance.
Paid boosts are gated by a quality floor
A shop must be verified for 60+ days, hold a healthy adjusted rating, answer its leads, and keep disputes low to receive any paid ranking benefit. Fail the floor and the boost is removed automatically, with a prorated credit.
The one-line version: we monetize placement, not truth. If we ever sent a driver with a down truck to a shop 40 minutes away because that shop paid, this directory would deserve to die. Every paid mechanism above is bounded so it can't happen.
See pricing for what each tier includes, and the directory terms of service for the binding version of these rules.