Chat with Auto Trader

[Guest]

Morning all!

I'm off to the Auto Trader Click Awards on July 2 in London. While I'm there, I'll get the chance to talk to Auto Trader CEO Trevor Mather and their marketing director Jonny Williams.

Much has been written on this forum about Auto Trader in the past few weeks. Are there any questions you'd like me to ask on your behalf, and we'll run all the questions and answers in a future Car Dealer magazine?

Either leave a question here or email me at colin@blackballmedia.co.uk

Thanks

 

[Gavin@Rousdon 137]

Retail Checker - Can they not see the flaws in the product? What Autotrader do well is deliver leads to us dealers, they understand how consumers search and much more. What they don't understand is how small differences in specification can effect a value of a vehicle. Do they not feel they are taking a big risk by launching a product such as Retail Checker at a cost of over £2000 per year to dealers which shows a basic lack of understanding of valuing cars whilst at the same time risks using up a large proportion of the remaining goodwill shown to them by the motor trade?

[countryman 13]

... calling GreenGiant

[Ken 10]

We have 10 Cars advertised on Autotrader and for us it's going to cost "£102.50 +vat a month. The weekly cost works out at £23.65."

Be interested to see what other dealers have been quoted! I'm not sure it warrants the extra cost for us at all. CAP prices seem much more accurate. Any thoughts?

[GreenGiant 287]

*cracks knuckles and raises one eyebrow....*

[Ken 10]

C'mon GG! Let it rip! It's always a good read!

[GreenGiant 287]

Had a couple of days thinking time and, originally, I wasn't going to bother, as their supercilious arrogance towards their customers shows no sign of waning. But then I thought as I'd been a little vociferous recently, perhaps I ought to contribute. So I've shortened the questions list down from a few dozen to just a few:

1. So that we (your customers, remember?) can show due respect for your opinions and ideas, can either of the two gentleman give us an idea of their knowledge and experience within the Retail Motor Trade? (You know, years in Showrooms, workshops... finance dept... auction house...valeter...... anything?) You see, Management & IT Consultancy, Digital Marketing and other nebulous fripperies are all well and good in the City, but down here in the real world, at the pointy end, we buy, sell and fix Motor Cars. There is quite a large gap between us and whilst you get very irritated when uninformed smartar$es like me tell you what to do, the reverse of that is also very, very true.
2. I seem to remember that, some time ago, an Open Letter was written to AT on this very forum. I know you saw it, so why did nobody in a senior position in your company have the decency to publicly respond to any of the points that were raised?
3. You don't have to look very far to see that you have an awful lot of very dissatisfied customers. As the vast majority of your enormous profits is generated from your online offering (ie us), why do you persist in ignoring their complaints, or are you now only interested in keeping the Shareholders happy?
4. How much did each of you make, personally, from the flotation of your Company?
5. Finally, a quote from an article in Marketing Magazine 3 years ago:

Jonathan Williams, Auto Trader's recently appointed director of consumer marketing, said: "With this campaign, we hope to strengthen the relationship we have with our customers and shift the consumer perception of Auto Trader as being just an online marketplace for buying and selling used and new cars.

"We're proud of Auto Trader's rich heritage in helping people find the right car for them since 1977, but that's not all we do...

But it is, however, all that we pay you to do. Why do you not get this?

 

Edited June 18, 2015 by GreenGiant

[LawJaw 50]

Morning Colin... we would love to know whether there is good reason why the dealer portal leaves certain fields of information, entered by the dealer (AT's client), out of the actual online advert the consumer views... this includes fundamental information such as number of owners?

[williamblackshaw 43]

With issues of account hacking due to spam emails, why can't Autotrader allow leads to go to CRM systems, this way it would prevent the email spam hack once and for all and also allow a quicker cleaner, process for those who use CRM

[RH Trading 80]

Did you manage to speak to someone Colin? would be interested to hear what was said

[GreenGiant 287]

The silence is deafening....

[James Baggott 227]

Don't worry all. It's in the issue landing on your desks next week 

[Gavin@Rousdon 137]

Just read the interview, to be fair to him he comes across as honest....but also a touch arrogant. Improving customer service is one thing but it seems AT have decided on their route and aren't changing their view. That's all well and good but his response to GG's 1st question (pointy shoes etc) makes me feel they have become a little one dimensional and have a team which are only allowed to  think one way. I hope he isn't surrounding himself with yes men. Saying 'We have more experts in the business then you'll ever find on a single forecourt in the UK' show a lot of disrespect to small UK motor dealers. 

 

If he likes I can send Mr Mather my BCA account number, my debit card and the catalogue for the next BMW Open auction I will attend. Will be interesting to see an real world increase in profit and stock turn when he follows the data he is trying to sell us.