Max Wheeler 0 Posted August 23, 2017 Hi Chaps Newbie Here and I need some advice,... I've been trading for 18 months from a small forecourt selling average bread & butter stock(form about 2k to10k). Originally I was Sharing the forecourt with someone else and splitting the costs. As of Feb this year I bought the other person out and signed a new lease. Currently stocking about 16 cars and all was going well, Turnover has increased every month and selling about 12 cars a month. As of June I decided to drop the autotrader website and Icontrol as (1) I wasn't getting support with the website (2) to reduce cost of Icontrol, and decided to go with AA cars who offer a free website and 12 months AA breakdown cover with every car. Now since the move my inquiries have dropped off, my advert views on AT are very low, in July I sold 5 cars and 2 so far this month. I know its a quite time but I'm convinced the move to AA cars has had a negative effect... Any Help or advice will be much appreciated. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mojo121 229 Posted August 23, 2017 I'm sure others will weigh in but to me AA Cars is useless for selling cars - they simply do not have the amount of traffic to their site or the search engine optimisation. On a more fundamental level who thinks "I need to buy a car - I'll go to the AA website". Their business is breakdown/ recovery. Go to CarDealer5 and get a website setup for £395 then maybe take a small 5 car package with AT to get you rolling again. Sign up with eBay then maybe start building some local Facebook presence to further cut your reliance on AT. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Row 71 Posted August 23, 2017 Max, if I have read it right I think you have dropped the AT website and icontrol but still advertise with AT is that correct? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Max Wheeler 0 Posted August 23, 2017 2 hours ago, Row said: Max, if I have read it right I think you have dropped the AT website and icontrol but still advertise with AT is that correct? Yes Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Arfur Dealy 823 Posted August 24, 2017 If you are still advertising with AT check to see if your package has changed.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Max Wheeler 0 Posted August 24, 2017 5 hours ago, Arfur Dealy said: If you are still advertising with AT check to see if your package has changed.... Still have the same package with AT Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Row 71 Posted August 24, 2017 Max, I don't see how the changes you have made would affect the AT response, I think it as just dipped for you, it happens. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rory RSC 596 Posted August 25, 2017 Its not your website. Autotraders sites are not great either. Check your stock is being displayed correctly as sometimes glitches can happen with AT and moving stuff around, speak to your AT rep and get them out to go through performance with you. Don't listen to the upsell but some of what they say will be useful. You may just be quiet so hammer your social medial, throw some special offers, clear those sticking bits of stock and rewrite your adverts and make sure that you have good images. Get this last bonk holiday out of the way and then get ready for a busy September. Best of luck. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mojo121 229 Posted August 25, 2017 On 23/08/2017 at 9:34 PM, Row said: Max, if I have read it right I think you have dropped the AT website and icontrol but still advertise with AT is that correct? Well spotted! Completed misread it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Max Wheeler 0 Posted August 25, 2017 4 hours ago, Rory RSC said: Its not your website. Autotraders sites are not great either. Check your stock is being displayed correctly as sometimes glitches can happen with AT and moving stuff around, speak to your AT rep and get them out to go through performance with you. Don't listen to the upsell but some of what they say will be useful. You may just be quiet so hammer your social medial, throw some special offers, clear those sticking bits of stock and rewrite your adverts and make sure that you have good images. Get this last bonk holiday out of the way and then get ready for a busy September. Best of luck. Cheers Rory It all went quite mid June at the same time our website changed over to AA cars hence why I was convinced it has something to do with the switch over. The AT rep has been in and tried up selling Icontrol. My performance has increased month on month since Feb but it dipped to an all time low in June and even lower in July. My forecourt turn around was at 75% which according to the AT Rep was good. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chris Roach 1 Posted August 30, 2017 Good evening. I have been an AA cars customer for 7 years and having an AA website for 6 of them I am hoping I can help. If you are exporting your cars from AA to Autotrader just make sure that you complete the attention grabbers and send the text as one bulk block and it will make no difference to any auto trader traffic or sales. You can now do video through AA cars too. We have done well through AA cars over the years and have found it to be our best return on investment in terms of cost per converted lead. The fact that you can give away breakdown cover with every car you sell regardless of whether they have seen it on AA cars or not makes it a no brainer for us! Their SEO seems to be on the up too! Do a few searches for cars on google and you will see they do have good presence on there. Our slightly older customers recognise and appreciate the brand well. Please give me call on 01276 451050 if you need a hand getting used to their website system as I know it well. They can export to other places too ie ebay motors gumtree car gurus. Take some money out of your Auto Trader budget and spread it about a bit it works for us. Good luck Chris Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
