EPV

In other news the sun rises in the east and sets in the west

Errr don’t log in?

Ask in the private forum and it'll be up for everyone to see on the CAG by tea time

This is effectively it, in a nutshell. I took a car in yesterday, scrap money but it's fine runs well and straight, will do someone a turn, it just has issues that are too costly to solve, no cool air when warm, cruise control, couple of odd noises etc but i'll give it a new ticket and if it passes, retail it out, with a description of the faults, qualify the person on the phone to make sure they have read the advert and if I hear words like "warranty" and "can my mechanic look it over" I'll tell them it isn't for them and move them along. You're not doing anyone a diservice by telling them the truth and you're keeping the right side of the law by selling a servicable vehicle.

He's had enough chances mate, I've had a warning myself (as did he, at the same time) yet I've managed to somehow avoid the need to call relative newcomers to the trade or forum unnecessary names and funnily enough, I've not had a warning since. No one says we have to behave like nuns but he's behaved like a twat, several times and now he's gone.

Yeah, you could stop using their platform

It's like a facebook enquiry is this; "I'm interested. Can you tell me more?"

Exactly. Anyone adjusting their prices to get a certain marker is a mentalist. As if punters know what they all mean anyway.

But when your biggest customers (franchises and supermarkets) ALWAYS price run of the mill stuff as keenly as they can, making money from up selling, why wouldn’t they want that shouted about?

They can’t exactly put all of that text into one pop up box can they

Doesn’t matter really mate it’s there. That’s all they need.

Read the link. Properly. The guide prices we provide takes into account the average specification of a car and will give you some idea of what the car might be worth. However, many factors can influence value, including: Overall condition Cars of similar ages can have vastly different levels of wear and damage. Number of owners Typically, cars with more previous owners are worth less, especially if they lack documentation too. Optional extras Features like sat navs, leather seats and panoramic sunroofs can bump up the value. Colour Certain colours can be more desirable, depending on current trends and fashions. Service history Cars are worth more with a fully-documented service history. MOT Buyers often pay more for a long MOT. It literally could not be clearer what AT base their valuations on and what affects the price of cars, up or down

They aren't misleading customers. A car with no service history and 10+ owners and a huge list of advisories isn't what they are basing their valuation on. They are very clear on what they base their "good condition" on and are clear as to what devalues a car. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-valuation/valuation-conditions It's not up to AT to determine every car's number of owners, history, MOT advisories and so on. They take a benchmark of condition, apply a price to it and wallop. Clearly if they have already told the customer that higher owners, lack of history, short MOT's etc devalue a car then they have done as much as they need to. Again, as I said above, they haven't just done something without taking cognisance of what they are doing legally. Right yeah, I mean, it's account managers and masterclass takers who deal with corporate governance, legal issues, HR and so on, right? I've spoken to plenty of account managers. They all read off the same song sheet. Who writes that song sheet? People paid a lot of money. Do the people who pay these salaries allow their employees to just spout whatever, say whatever, do whatever etc? The revenue they make is from a small but very rich percentage of the dealer pie. Do you think they have 30 data scientists sitting in Manchester costing over a million a year in salaries just for shits and giggles? Or is it because they can sell products like Retail Accelerator at tens of thousands a month to franchises and supermarkets? If they were generally concerned about the impact of price markers on small dealers, why have they done this? The reality is, they don't give a toss about people like me. I don't make them very much money. Why would they.

You're muddling up legalities and whats best for AT. There is no question at all they would have sought expensive legal advice, if you have ever worked in a large organisation, in any industry, you will know this. If you haven't, I have, trust me, AT take legal advice every time their tea ladies have a fag. Whether the price markers hurt small indys (which is what mostly everyone on here is) doesn't matter to AT. They make FORTUNES by selling data to big franchises and supermarkets alone, never mind the revenue from the advertising.

It's not. The prices for the most part are not fixed. They are governed by market forces, unlike a tin of beans at Tesco. AT price indicators are a visual display of whether a car is under or over priced in accordance with their valuation, or guide. That's all. They are not claiming to have an RRP or MRP, it even says when you hover over their actual price marker; "We've compared the price to our Auto Trader Valuation and rated it a low price compared to similar cars on the market. Check the vehicle description or ask the seller to understand why it's priced below market." They are saying "we have valued this car at £xyz based on similar cars and this particular car advertised is lower than the valuation" They are doing nothing wrong legally, by venturing an opinion and opining that other cars are either over or under that price. Don't you think that a massive organisation like AT would have consulted legal experts? And you think Trading Standards (who are little more than glorified Citizens Advice workers) know better than a £300 per hour solicitor that Autotrader probably hired? Nobody forces AT on you, nobody made you sell all your stock and buy something else, we all learn each day in this industry and make our own decisions. Live and die by the sword.

On your first post you said that removing the markers made no difference to the ad views although you didn’t say the markers were previously “good”

Eh? You said you can't buy them for less than £500-£1000 over cap clean, what has that got to do with AT? If there are supermarkets or large franchises around you that are selling the same stock for cheaper (because they can and do) then maybe it's time to stop overpricing cars (you said they were over priced not me) and sell something that works better for you? You've also said that removing the price indicators made little difference to the advert views? So if your photos are good, your reputation and reviews etc are all good, you can't buy the stock you want to sell at the right price, the price markers don't seem to make a difference to your ad views (and enquires) I can't help wondering if you are trying to sell over priced cars to people that can go and get a cheaper one? And FWIW, I get 30.6 views vs 17.9 according to my portal.

Effectively the customer is asking you to re-write the law. No ta.

Sell something else?

Yes and no. All that matters is buyers, as you quite right say. But you'd be a dimwit to believe that on balance, more views don't equate to more sales. Unless of course it's as you say, sporty or very cheap. I'd rather have some sort of 7 seater or estate or popular hatch with 30 ad views a day rather than a small car with 5 ad views a day.

I once had a Skoda Octavia, out of the box this thing, estate, manual, diesel, perfect. AT desirability rating of 95, a days to turn index of 33 days, and I priced it to 100% of market. Took me 105 days to sell, after steadily dropping the price to retain 100% of market. I recently sold a Mercedes E Class, with a desirability rating of 45, days to turn 61, priced at 105% of market and sold in 9 days, could have sold it twice over. The metrics are a good guide but if you're looking to them to justify why your cars aren't selling when they should be, I think you're barking up the wrong tree. You are selling two of the most readily available cars and my understanding that these particular vehicles are sold on price, usually. So if you are saying all your cars are overpriced (relative to others on that platform) then maybe that is where your answer lies. But you know your market better than me. Try lowering the price of one of your cars for 2 days and see if that makes a significant difference?

Stock profile for your area? Bad photos? Over priced? Not enough photos? I don’t know if that’s the reason but it may be one of several reasons

I have a loan car and its on the MID but i tell customers to sort their own insurance. The courtesy car is worth about £35 so if they put it in a tree no harm done.

Tell you what fella, ring your account manager. It’s what I usually do when I have a question and they usually give me the answer. Which is what happened when I asked the same question you asked and they gave me the answer I gave you.

Mate I’m not here to argue with you or for you to prove me wrong or vice versa, if you prefer to believe that AT are giving you fake views then I’ll leave you to crack on. I’ve told you why it is, up to you isn’t it.