Autotrader Price increases

[umesh 336]

Just posted this in the IMDA , Officially price increase on 1st April , Letters /emails in the post, not got mine but I asked yesterday.

Approx cost rise is £4.50/5.00 per car -per month ! Nice ..

Just think 436776 cars showing this morning .. say 350,000 are dealers cars at £4.50 per car ..you do the sums !! £££££

Finance Calculator is  chargeable from 1st April ( As I've previously mentioned it has NOT generated any deals for me since September 2016 !! ) but if you read all their posts/blurb its the best thing since sliced bread.

As you've probably guessed it, IF you don't pay for the finance calc and customers search by monthly payments your CARS WILL NOT SHOW ( Just like PX Tool didn't ) as it can't work the payments without the chargeable calculator, the option they are offering is to have a FREE One but it's from ZUTO !  ( told them I'll be having Zuto but many of my images , now we have 100 will be saying finance ONLY Through ourselves and not Zuto, which they say it's up to me if that's what I wish to do!! 

Cost of their calculator for my stock circa £70 per month. 

Now the good bit ..

 The stock display will be better and the profile page for each dealer will also be better ! ( So they say!) 

AND How's about this for a 'U' Turn, FREE, Yes FREE Feed export to anyone from dealer portal. ( I said there is only one reason for this, they have lost so much business to the likes of Click dealer etc because of charging for stock feeds that they are trying to gain business back with AT websites, I also said they are also seeing which dealer feeds to where , why would ANY Dealer want to give them that information? Their argument - we're helping dealers !) 

 

[whitestone679231 113]

6 hours ago, umesh said:

Just posted this in the IMDA , Officially price increase on 1st April , Letters /emails in the post, not got mine but I asked yesterday.

Approx cost rise is £4.50/5.00 per car -per month ! Nice ..

 

 

Seriously £4.50/£5 per car INCREASE!!!!  That increase with 50 car stock is £250 that is all that most  of the other portals actually charge for advertising ..... but I guess that if they can get away with it why not... I can’t understand why their share price is at it lowest level with income increases like this, so glad I don’t feed the greedy monster anymore ;-)))

[Rory RSC 596]

You know what, don't really like it but its inevitable. At least I have actually sell a load of cars from AT ebay and cargurus.

On the other hand I have so far paid find and fund more than my price increase with AT and sold absolutely nothing - would have been better off going for a good night out.

 

[NOACROSS 414]

Daylight robbery. So glad I left them. Autotrader that is.

Edited February 21, 2018 by NOACROSS

[Earunder 69]

Devils advocate really.  They have too many dealers on the site advertising with many large groups moaning about the response.  Only way to slim down to keep the bread and butter happy is to cut the throat of the smaller independents.  Some people still think it's a personal vendetta, but in a business sense when you think about it, it's pretty simple strategy.  I understand completely those smaller independents that are reliant on AT for their customers will be annoyed again, but have you tried other sources?  Here's a list of good platforms with a decent market share to try...

CarGurus
Cost about £450 p/m with 100, might be a tad more now, will pay for itself quite easily

Ebay Motors
Cost, next to nothing but the return is depending on your unit stock value as over 10k, I'll say definitely a no no - too many time wasting chancers

FaceBook
Target Drive your ads is key. Cost, depending what you want to spend but you need to get you're page with lots of likes and the starting up can be costly.  Eventually you'll be spending £30-£40 per vehicle, then £20-£30 (basically, as your page likes grow you can spend less as your 'likers' will share the post for you)  From our experience, you'll sell 1 in 6 this route.  Very target driven which takes a lot of time to work out as each area is different and only certain makes / models sell so you may need to re-evaluate your stock purchasing to go down this route entirely.  

Brand Awareness Campaign
Using Local Advertising Papers / Bill Boards / Roundabout ads / etc you can try to launch a brand awareness.  It's tricky in this business unless you are specializing in a certain make / model.  A good campaign with a lot of local attention should cost you around £800 - 1,000 p/m depending on your area.  That should be with 2 full page paper ads.  Always check their disbursement of the paper and don't go by their stats.  A good way to check if the paper is good locally is from its website.  If they have a busy website, with lots of comments, lots of Faceboo likes or even a forum with a lot of activity, it's a good one.  Careful though, there are still the 'conman' / 'scam' papers out there!

Selling unique?
PistonHeads!  Sports, unique and anything outrageously upgraded / spec'd should be here!  Cost...  We pay £575 p/m for up to 80 cars from there and get an adequate response.  Again very area and make / model driven.  Not got flashy cars, sports cars, Fiesta St's or Corsa VXr's?  Not for you.

At the end of the day Advertising is key and thinking about what advertisers make and getting upset as they rack in millions should not prevent you from making a decision to advertise with them or not.  At the end of the day if you pay them £10,000 but they give you £30,000 worth of profit in sales, that should be your decision maker.  Does it pay or not?  It's not a hard question to answer if you just follow simple stats you can do yourself.

Ask your customers where they saw the advert when they arrive on your premises.  This is within our sales teams meet and greet agenda, and they mark it down.  At the final point of sale where the car is collected and the invoice is make, the sales person again asks where they customer saw the advert.  We use this information on a quarterly period and swear by it, it's very inspiring to actually know where you customers come from rather than being horse fed what your advertising sales managers want to feed you. 

It's YOUR COMPANY, MAKE YOUR OWN CHOICES, BUT DO YOUR OWN STATS!

Hope that helps some.

[RH Trading 80]

6 hours ago, umesh said:

Just posted this IMDA Forum , Officially price increase on 1st April , Letters /emails in the post, not got mine but I asked yesterday.

Approx cost rise is £4.50/5.00 per car -per month ! Nice ..

Just think 436776 cars showing this morning .. say 350,000 are dealers cars at £4.50 per car ..you do the sums !! £££££

Finance Calculator is  chargeable from 1st April ( As I've previously mentioned it has NOT generated any deals for me since September 2016 !! ) but if you read all their posts/blurb its the best thing since sliced bread.

As you've probably guessed it, IF you don't pay for the finance calc and customers search by monthly payments your CARS WILL NOT SHOW ( Just like PX Tool didn't ) as it can't work the payments without the chargeable calculator, the option they are offering is to have a FREE One but it's from ZUTO !  ( told them I'll be having Zuto but many of my images , now we have 100 will be saying finance ONLY Through ourselves and not Zuto, which they say it's up to me if that's what I wish to do!! 

Cost of their calculator for my stock circa £70 per month. 

Now the good bit ..

 The stock display will be better and the profile page for each dealer will also be better ! ( So they say!) 

AND How's about this for a 'U' Turn, FREE, Yes FREE Feed export to anyone from dealer portal. ( I said there is only one reason for this, they have lost so much business to the likes of Click dealer etc because of charging for stock feeds that they are trying to gain business back with AT websites, I also said they are also seeing which dealer feeds to where , why would ANY Dealer want to give them that information? Their argument - we're helping dealers !) 

 

Umesh why don't you cancel if you cant make it work for you? sick of these posts. Yes its expensive - yes there are loads of cheaper wannabes out there that deliver jack - its expensive because it works, it sells me cars. tried findand fund myself and got zip to show for it.

so lets look at the sums

Motors - Cost £480 pm - 30 cars advertised  - 3 emails, no sales in 6 months

Findandfundmycar - Cost £245 pm -  30 cars advertised no enquiries no sales in 2 months

AutoTrader - Cost £2593 pm - 30 cars advertised - 57 phone calls, 19 calls from mobile app, 17 emails, 7 part ex leads (no deals) 4 finance leads (2 deals done) 22 direct sales - LAST MONTH!

So which is the most expensive Umesh?

or go and try Jim Reids Autovolo - that worked a treat didn't it?  http://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/jim-reid-named-head-autovolo-dealer-council/119857

If it doesn't work cancel, if it works why are you complaining about? stop whinging and stop spreading scare stories

and can someone  paste this onto the IMDA forum please?

[SC Derby 259]

We seem to sell 2-3 a month from Motors or their affiliates btw, but no one else seems to...

[NOACROSS 414]

I wouldn't agree it's scare stories at all, just peoples honest opinion who have been in the trade many, many years.

Autotrader definitely didn't work for us in the end- not for the outrageous costs.  We just ended up selling (maybe) a couple more a month, but it just paid their bill if we were lucky. We stock 3- 20k cars.

Lots of people are rightly angry about their extortionate costs.  I was angry because I remember them begging us to come on board many years ago when they started 'digital'.  It was a pound a car from memory.

Umesh is right- the vast majority of ads on there are trade.  They would be lost without us but they really don't care. 

My main bug-bear was they don't really give you any bulk-buy discount and the site is cluttered with ads, sponsored ads, non-relevant banners and is hopeless.

How many more price increases will people wear?!

Hey- it's only my opinion (and that of many others) I know, but there will always be differing opinions.  I'm just giving my point of view and experience of saving a fortune by cancelling without much loss to sales if any, and am just passing this info on for others to consider - as I'm sure they will with your opinion and make an informed choice from there.  That's one of the great things about this forum in that you can share your ideas, knowledge and experience for others to heed or not.

We still get people telling us they came from Autotrader and we haven't been with them for over a year!  Plus just because the customer ends up on an autotrader site, it doesn't mean they started there.  People don't just go to www.autotrader.co.uk but rather google search for the car etc and then click on a link from there. You also get pop up ads, banners etc for people to click through using other much better platforms like Car Gurus, Facebook, X&M, etc which are targeted to the browser.

Plus, if you have an Autotrader website, they will end up there and think they 'found it on Autotrader' when that's not the case.

This game is hard enough nowadays without Autotrader bleeding you dry/continually encroaching on your margin or stealing your finance business and getting you to pay for sponsored listings or telling you your cars are too expensive/ encouraging a price war/race to the bottom that is unsustainable.

I agree though, you're right Umesh should cancel too. Others should just weigh it all up for themselves.  Those that are happy with Auto Trader will carry on and should promote how pleased they are: those who aren't and won't should continue to shout their experiences from the hilltops, if it hasn't worked for them and want to share the savings they've achieved by leaving. 

 

[grant8064 219]

Some interesting views guys.

For me when you're pricing a car where do you go to check it? AT for us. I wouldn't even think of looking anywhere else.

I use my sister as the litmus test because she's the definition of joe public. She thinks eBay is full of dodgy cars, gumtree and fbook is for bangers in her opinion. She has never heard of car gurus, find and fund, motors et al...IMO most public haven't. She bought her last car off AT. She browses AT. Her next car will be off AT.

For us doing 3k - 8k standard stuff it simply does the numbers but I guess it's all price range and location dependant. 

I hate price rises but;

eBay - Meh...bit of a timewasting exercise but it's cheap

FB & Scumtree - We don't do 'swops' and I simply can't stomach it

Motors, 'Gurus, Findfund, Pistonheads - Good luck if you can get a genuine lead off them, you're doing better than me

Paper advertising - We really tried very hard with this but it's a dead duck

Forecourt with big signs, window stickers in sold cars, word of mouth, good reputation and cars on AT which is where buyers look for cars works IMO

[NOACROSS 414]

I use the FREE price guide on Hpi (search free Hpi valuations) and also the FREE one on Autotrader, plus will often see what WBAC says.

We have a Manheim and a BCA account so obviously we get the CAP figures listed for anything we’re interested in. There’s so many cars on there you can often get a close guide price of anything you need to know.

Also, we use RAC Passport check to ‘Hpi’ the cars coming in and that gives CAP values too.  

I don’t subscribe to any guides or Dealer Portal Price tool as they give it away free to the public as I say on their site.

we are def not the cheapest so I take it all with a pinch of salt..

It’s funny, all the places you haven’t had luck with work really well for us- especially eBay Motors Pro (with best offer enabled) However Gumtree is hopeless. 

[metcars 397]

I'd be more surprised if the price went down?

From a distance it's interesting to see how AT is managing to 'hang on in there'

[NOACROSS 414]

So did Blockbusters ;o)

Edited February 21, 2018 by NOACROSS

[BHM 994]

I’m with grant8064 about 80% on this, although my vehicles are a bit cheaper being up to £4K max with plenty in the £1500-3000 bracket.

eBay - works ok for me.

FB - I’m not on it & have no intention of dealing with punters wanting their egos massaged.

Gumtree - The cars section is FULL of dodgy traders masquerading as private sellers. I’ll use it next time I have an old washing machine I can’t be bothered taking to the tip. 

Motors - seems to be dying.

Pistonheads - if you want to attract the biggest know-all, dreaming bellends then this is THE place to attract them.

Local newspapers/freesheets - advertising was dead a decade ago for small retailers.

A/T - at £2K+ per month I won’t be bothering them with my business anytime soon as I’m not looking to increase business.

However as RHTrading correctly pointed out, the devil’s in the details & his mathematics clearly tells him we’re his money goes & why he puts it there. A/T may not be for me as I’m as busy as I want to be but he likes it & based on his figures I agree 100% with him.

Finally, +1 to below!

sick of these posts. 

6 hours ago, RH Trading said:

If it doesn't work cancel, if it works why are you complaining about? stop whinging and stop spreading scare stories

 

[Mojo121 229]

15 hours ago, grant8064 said:

I use my sister as the litmus test because she's the definition of joe public.

 

Does she like candles and Kim Kardashian?

[whitestone679231 113]

I remember years ago when Autotrader rep came in with latest price increases, I asked her how they justify it and her arrogant reply was "because we can" six months later the same arrogant woman came in as my new finance rep after Autotrader had cut her wages and she had to leave, I told her I didn't want to deal with her, she asked why not,, I said "BECAUSE I CAN" you have to be careful who you piss off when your at the top of the tree because your gonna meet them on the way down ;-)) 

[NOACROSS 414]

They don't half get through reps! In our area anyway. (or used to at least when I was with them).  Horrid job- I bet they get a load of stick -as they're the face of the company- as hopeless trying to call anyone whenever I tried.

[grant8064 219]

2 hours ago, Mojo121 said:

 

Does she like candles and Kim Kardashian?

You got it in one!

Yankee candles, Towie and all that goes with it

[SuperLease 13]

Just posted on a different thread on here about the exact same topic.

 

"Ive called and spoke with my rep this morning and my bill is going up by roughly 5 or 6 percent. I dont use anthing else other than AT for used cars so its not really that big of a deal for me. Dont get me wrong I would be happier if it wasnt going up but that is never ever going to happen. If I was on other sites then I suppose I would have to reconsider but all the others that I have ever tried just dont cut it. Interestingly I recieved two emails this week notifying me that my Mobile Phone contracts are going up by about 4% too. I am with two differnet providers EE and O2 and tbh O2 is poor by comparison so guess what I have cancelled my O2 contracts. Will I increase my spend with EE? Probably because it works better for me. Its not rocket science just run your bsuiness how you see fit and if you dont feel that youre getting a decent roi or value for money then can it off. If you dont then more fool you I say" 

Hats off to those that have found a way to run a succesful business without the need to use Autotrader but for those that carry on using them but constantly whine on about it I just dont understand it.  

[ScottElliff 0]

On 2/20/2018 at 5:13 PM, RH Trading said:

Umesh why don't you cancel if you cant make it work for you? sick of these posts. Yes its expensive - yes there are loads of cheaper wannabes out there that deliver jack - its expensive because it works, it sells me cars. tried findand fund myself and got zip to show for it.

so lets look at the sums

Motors - Cost £480 pm - 30 cars advertised  - 3 emails, no sales in 6 months

Findandfundmycar - Cost £245 pm -  30 cars advertised no enquiries no sales in 2 months

AutoTrader - Cost £2593 pm - 30 cars advertised - 57 phone calls, 19 calls from mobile app, 17 emails, 7 part ex leads (no deals) 4 finance leads (2 deals done) 22 direct sales - LAST MONTH!

So which is the most expensive Umesh?

or go and try Jim Reids Autovolo - that worked a treat didn't it? http://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/jim-reid-named-head-autovolo-dealer-council/119857/write my essay fast

If it doesn't work cancel, if it works why are you complaining about? stop whinging and stop spreading scare stories

and can someone  paste this onto the IMDA forum please?

 

I don't consider it scary at all. But somehow each story of the customer/buyer should be shared for the others to learn from it. I usually check the prices and feedback on Dealer Refresh though. There are major changes in Canadian automotive market (recently).

Edited July 19, 2019 by ScottElliff
typos

[BHM 994]

WTF!?!!!

[NOACROSS 414]

5 hours ago, ScottElliff said:

 

I don't consider it scary at all. But somehow each story of the customer/buyer should be shared for the others to learn from it. I usually check the prices and feedback on Dealer Refresh though. There are major changes in Canadian automotive market (recently).

 

18 minutes ago, BHM said:

WTF!?!!!

Must be a Canadian thing. (Terence or Phillip- yeah, what’s that all abooot guy?)