Shane @ Park View 0 Posted May 2, 2016 Hi all, My brother and I are opening a car sales business within the next month - don't sweat, it's not on our back garden or the side of the road, it's an proper forecourt We have identified our market but the thing that is throwing up some hurdles are the advertising costs and deciding where to spend our money. Slowly we will work up to stocking 30 vehicles and we are based in Peterborough, which is quite a busy place for car traders, the cars will be all sub £5k with most between £2,750 - £3,500 so my question is: which platforms do you find most effective in terms of profit generated? Autotrader is obviously expensive - but if it sells cars it pays for itself, right? Is it working for you? They seem resistant to the idea of me not signing up to a contract - is anyone on PAYG? What deal do you have in place? (Cheeky!) Motors seem a good bunch but until reading this forum I'd never used them before so I'm worried it'll be very slow - how do you guys get on? Ebay/ gumtree - We will definitely use eBay but does the cost include advertising on Gumtree (presumably it's separate?) The local rags... I can't seem to get the sales team to call me back - should I bother? We're both quite socially savvy so we'll definitely be utilising Facebook! Tips and advice of all kinds very welcome. Cheers chaps! Shane Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gavin@Rousdon 137 Posted May 2, 2016 Ebay seems to do well for people selling in that price range. Motor's are cheap compared to AT and bring in too few enquires for me. Saying that my location and stock is the opposite to yours. Local papers are good if cheap enough as if lets locals know you are there, I do ok with local papers but get a great deal so that helps. As for AT, it works for me, not for other, some swear but it others hate it. It's expensive but could make a massive difference to your business. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
It's me 611 Posted May 2, 2016 you say you have (We have identified our market ) so surely you also know how to interact with them? im puzzled because surely to have identified your market you must have a unique selling point or have you identified your market as being in the region of being able to make most mark up not being picky by the way dont forget plenty of balloons so passing cars know you are there too,sounds corny but try it Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steve92 80 Posted May 2, 2016 there are quite a few traders in Peterborough but what it does lack in your price range is decent quality cars, a lot are poor quality. When you get set up give us a shout as we don't deal in that price bracket and it's handy to have someone local to move the cheaper stuff out too. We are in Stamford Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shane @ Park View 0 Posted May 2, 2016 4 hours ago, s and b said: you say you have (We have identified our market ) so surely you also know how to interact with them? im puzzled because surely to have identified your market you must have a unique selling point or have you identified your market as being in the region of being able to make most mark up not being picky by the way dont forget plenty of balloons so passing cars know you are there too,sounds corny but try it No, it's a totally fair observation and the truth is the estimations we put in place on advertising were probably lower than they should have been. I've recently run into this forum and rather than burn money on complete lost causes I thought I'd get some feedback. Balloons sounds a great idea, actually 3 hours ago, Steve92 said: there are quite a few traders in Peterborough but what it does lack in your price range is decent quality cars, a lot are poor quality. When you get set up give us a shout as we don't deal in that price bracket and it's handy to have someone local to move the cheaper stuff out too. We are in Stamford That's what we're seeing. Our aim is to offer complete customer satisfaction through great service and demonstrate that through social advertising and reviews. It's not about a quick buck. We'll definitely take you up on that, Steve. Thanks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bestprice4cash 20 Posted May 3, 2016 (edited) 12 hours ago, Shane @ Park View said: No, it's a totally fair observation and the truth is the estimations we put in place on advertising were probably lower than they should have been. I've recently run into this forum and rather than burn money on complete lost causes I thought I'd get some feedback. Balloons sounds a great idea, actually That's what we're seeing. Our aim is to offer complete customer satisfaction through great service and demonstrate that through social advertising and reviews. It's not about a quick buck. We'll definitely take you up on that, Steve. Thanks. This is a laudable goal but it can be difficult to do this, especially as a new business and many customers are shopping on the basis of price alone. They search for a car priced low to high and then still expect 5* service at the lowest price. But if you can establish a good reputation locally there are a smaller number of customers out there that understand low price vs good value and will become repeat business if you do it right. Edited May 3, 2016 by bestprice4cash Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Max Branning 149 Posted May 3, 2016 I stock around 20 cars at your price range and to be honest some months i am barely breaking minimum wage and that is just me taking wages. If there are two of you needing a wage it will be hard work unless you can bang out some real high volume. Even doing 20 cars a month unless your overheads are very low and margins reasonably high it will be hard. Sorry to be doom and gloom but go in with your eyes wide open...It really is not easy especially doing 3 granders! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
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