So, you bought a brand new car. It probably caught your eye because of the good gas mileage, the sweet interior, or because the sale was practically a steal. Or maybe, you did your homework and noticed your car won a few best-of car awards. Well, here’s a dirty little secret: it’s really, really easy to win one of those things.

“If you manufactured a car, you get an award from somebody,” says Eric Chemi, head of research for Bloomberg Businessweek and Bloomberg TV.

We hate to burst your bubble, really.

So what’s the point of these awards you might ask? It seems as if there’s no advantage whatsoever.

Chemi says two different groups benefit from these awards; publications and car companies.

Publications “get the benefit of having commercials tout the credibility of their award on television. And then the car companies get the credibility of winning an award from these publications,” says Chemi.