I have actually jumped the Autotrader ship....... who's following me?

[jamslug 91]

I mentioned on Twitter Car Dealers that I had told my rep that I was going to be leaving.

It has been something I have been thinking about for a good 12 months and everyone always talks about how they are going to do it and how much they hate AT and they are evil giants. Well no one is doing anything about it. I was waiting for someone to do it first and then I would follow suit...... BUT NO ONE DID IT. So I have done it on my own. You all moan, but still pay your invoice every month don't you? 

After a VERY long phone conversation and some retention deals, I stuck to my guns and said no. I now have just over 4 weeks left before my adverts come off autotrader.

I am going to put a little more time and effort into Facebook. Online classifieds are going to be Motors, RAC cars and maybe ebay and a new website that is currently under construction. I am going to be using the local paper too.

I am really excited to see what results are going to come from this and can't wait to see what difference it makes to my profit. I am full prepared if I see a negative impact, if that is the case I will phone my rep and say, 'look, you were right, I am coming back' . But how do I truly know unless I give it a go?

If anyone else decides to join me let me know .

 

James  

[Rory RSC 596]

Does it bring in many leads/sales for you at the moment ?

 

I think you are picking a time of year where it's going to go quiet anyway so may make it hard to measure any results. 

 

 

[Beautiful South Martin 24]

Hi James,

I give up on AT a good while ago although I do use the odd spot ad, 2 weeks online for £25, if I've got something a bit oddball or something that no one's opened the door on.

My spend is now Ebay motors, my local free sheet, RAC (never had one enquiry yet but its free) and Gumtree. I would honestly recommend  Gumtree, I thought when I signed up for a year contract it would be ideal for the cheap clean part exchanges. Not at all, just sold a nice low mileage Toyota Yaris Auto for £4500 from it to a woman 30+ mile away and last month a Kia Sorento for £4700 so it has a wider coverage than I thought and at a £100 + VAT a month its good value for money. You have to keep moving your listings to the top of the pile each day, but I do mine every morning at 7.15am whilst having my tea and toast!

[JKG 16]

I've stopped using AT now for the simple reason I've only had 1 enquiry in 3 months!

 

All my sales have come through Ebay and walk-ins

 

I did email motors the other day but haven't had a reply.

 

It's hard to work out where potential customers are looking.

[Econimotor 15]

Hi All

I also cancelled AT and my last advert was 1 week ago. I advertise on other platforms as mentioned above. Last week sold a Jeep within 2 days through different advertising platform and also a Vauxhall Meriva that I just could not sell through AT. Had Meriva ( Low Mileage 2 owner & service history ) that long it put me of buying anymore of them tried all AT variations their price, Rounding up, Rounding down,  Put what I wanted and 12 month Warranty, Guy told me it was 12 month warranty sold it to them

Definately worth trying elswhere also you can always do pay per advert with AT. Just look on Lowest AT package @ £600 per month thats = 12 adds on pay as you go. Also how many cars you need to sell per week on AT basic package. My personal opinion is pay as you go is most prob better ROI. others may disagree.

With Motors does anyone know if they count cars that are sold in the numbers of cars on landing page. I personally dislike sold cars being on site others may use as reference to sell theirs. But Hey Ho we are all different thankfully.

Any other thoughts?

Jim

 

[jimreidvehicle 255]

James

It's the ONLY way to find out, so well done for having the confidence to PULL OUT!

We left Autotrader almost 3 years ago now and we still sell plenty cars, however don't go convincing yourself that when it goes quiet that the answer is to go back to AT!!! When it goes quiet it goes quiet for everyone, the only difference is I don't have a £1500 or worse 5 week AT invoice to deal with when it does go quiet!

Well done you.

Jim

[Phil H 124]

well done maybe bethany's reading this and the penny's dropped and she can convince her bosses that greed is not the way forward but looking after their faithful dealers because very soon a product is going to come on the market that will take the market by storm and severely dent their dominance. If it goes quiet don't rush back but try other things, I've not used AT for about 2 years now and still selling just as many if not more.

[sparky 274]

I don't want to rain on your parade, and I hope it works for you, but after giving it a lot of thought and taking advice from my peers I made a similar move this time last year. Suffice to say I was back on AT by the following February.

Now then, don't get me wrong, I reckon I could easily survive without AT, but at the end of the day it sells me more than two cars a month and therefore pays for itself giving me a ROI. As soon as the ends, like anything that stops working for you, it will be dropped.

 

Good luck jamslug.

 

P.S Has anyone had anything yet (even a tyre kicker) from RAC cars?

[Jack Regan 116]

Left auto trader 2 years back now, occasionally do the odd spot add, just couldn't justify their prices.

my mate has a site not far from us , he us in the mindset that with out Autotrader he wouldn't be selling cars.. I've tried to convince him but he is old school and set in his ways , always moaning about their prices though.

we are on eBay motors pro , gumtree , auto exchange and rac cars (free ) the bill for all three of them is about £390 a month for all our cars on average about 20 .. and we sell as many as my my mate on trader and he is paying about £1100 for 11 cars I think..  I hope more jump ship from trader cause the only way they will get realistic with their prices is when they start losing money.

[Max Branning 149]

I don't want to rain on your parade, and I hope it works for you, but after giving it a lot of thought and taking advice from my peers I made a similar move this time last year. Suffice to say I was back on AT by the following February.

Now then, don't get me wrong, I reckon I could easily survive without AT, but at the end of the day it sells me more than two cars a month and therefore pays for itself giving me a ROI. As soon as the ends, like anything that stops working for you, it will be dropped.

 

Good luck jamslug.

 

P.S Has anyone had anything yet (even a tyre kicker) from RAC cars?

I have had 1 call in around 3 months of being with them but this didnt lead to a sale unfortunately. To be fair though this is one more call than i have had with AA cars and that costs me £150 per month so looks like that will be getting dropped as soon as the 6 month contract is up..

[whitestone679231 113]

Well done James. We cancelled our contract with AT a long time ago and now just put the odd stuff on as pay as you go as well as advertising all stock on the more sensibly priced sites and doing pay per click on google. It is probably the wrong time of year to try to monitor it and in the real world can only be judged year on year but am sure your money will be better spent elsewhere, no doubt the week before you are set to leave they will ring you and offer to uncap you for 3 months or something. As an example of how out of touch Autotrader are I had them ring me last week asking why i wasn't on contract and if they could discuss it with me,, I told the guy on the phone that at least with Pay as you go I could stop advertising over the quiet xmas period without having to give notice.... he actually said that he didnt know what I meant by quiet xmas period,, he said xmas was the busiest time and best time to be on autotrader because that was when they got most "hits"... This made me realise that Autotrader staff have never been in the car job if they thought that a hit was a sale!!!!!!!

[umesh 336]

whitestone .... think what they mean is 'Christmas is the busiest time on searches ' which is true as people getting bored etc and sitting searching / dreaming and some actually buying ..but due to 'time off' lots of searches so it does peaks ! [And I've noticed some years I do good business between Christmas & new year - Last two years no as good as previous few] 

Edited October 29, 2015 by umesh

[SC Derby 259]

I have always done well opening between Boxing Day and NYE, always turned over 5-6 cars in that small period even with very limited opening hours, say 12-2 or something.

[whitestone679231 113]

I agree Umesh, Thats why Autotrader try to baffle everybody and quote number of hits/searches, I am more concerned about actual sales not some bored blokes with nothing else to do over xmas but look at pictures of cars and send silly e mails with no intention of buying.

[williamblackshaw 43]

The Xmas search boom, quite simple. Thousands of smart phones and tablets are given as xmas gifts so naturally people play on them and search for anything and everything. I bet every industry seems a traffic boom. 

[Motors.co.uk 1]

I've stopped using AT now for the simple reason I've only had 1 enquiry in 3 months!

 

All my sales have come through Ebay and walk-ins

 

I did email motors the other day but haven't had a reply.

 

It's hard to work out where potential customers are looking.

Apologies for jumping in here, but we're more than keen to help in any way we can. If you could let us know the best number to contact you on, we'll be in touch.
Many thanks

[Wood235 36]

We dropped AT a year ago, doing same numbers we was  but without the large bill! Lots of other avenues to go down! People saying selling 2 cars and paying for itself per month. Surely the idea is to do a few and making all the work pay off each month and not just breaking even?? No one wants to be a busy fool so why waste money with Auto Trader??

[jamslug 91]

We dropped AT a year ago, doing same numbers we was  but without the large bill! Lots of other avenues to go down! People saying selling 2 cars and paying for itself per month. Surely the idea is to do a few and making all the work pay off each month and not just breaking even?? No one wants to be a busy fool so why waste money with Auto Trader??

What avenue do you reckon I should explore that I might not have thought of already ? 

Thanks, 

James

[RH Trading 80]

Good luck James, let us know how you get on mate. Motors complete waste of money for me,  not 1 call in over 9 months so threatened to cancel and rep said half price for next 6 months! "So I'm only wasting half as much money I said" to which he laughed!!!!! . RAC no brainer as its free and early days yet. Exchange and Mart is free now also,

[Jack Regan 116]

Good luck James, let us know how you get on mate. Motors complete waste of money for me,  not 1 call in over 9 months so threatened to cancel and rep said half price for next 6 months! "So I'm only wasting half as much money I said" to which he laughed!!!!! . RAC no brainer as its free and early days yet. Exchange and Mart is free now also,

exchange and mart is free... When did this happen ?

[JKG 16]

Good luck James, let us know how you get on mate. Motors complete waste of money for me,  not 1 call in over 9 months so threatened to cancel and rep said half price for next 6 months! "So I'm only wasting half as much money I said" to which he laughed!!!!! . RAC no brainer as its free and early days yet. Exchange and Mart is free now also,

Is exchange and mart any good these days?

[Max Branning 149]

Like most of the other sites that offer free advertising they dont get much traffic - thats why its free.

[Econimotor 15]

Exchange Mart only free on classic cars over 25 years old according to the site, any others not on package £10 for 5 weeks.

Jim

[jamslug 91]

Is exchange and mart any good these days?

A load of crap. They are awful to work with too. I was rolled in to a 12 month contract without notice and received 1 lead in that period. I wouldn't not wish this on my worst enemy. 

I stopped paying after a couple months without any leads. They threatened court action. In the end I was on the beach in Florida when some cow phoned me and basically said I was going to court. I was like ..."ummm no i'm not though"

"I AM ON HOLIDAY I WILL SORT IT OUT WHEN I GET BACK... and how did you get my private phone number anyway.... and did you not hear the international dialling tone?" 

She said that they will apply for a Court judgement if I don't pay right now. 

I couldn't believe it. I hate them and so should everyone else. 

[Jack Regan 116]

We've been with Exchange and Mart for a good few years £135 ish a month for all our cars... and we sell cars from it .