Critique my ads please

[Anglo9 26]

Hi all , gone very quiet for us , may just be stock profile as a few colleagues seem busy but maybe my ads need freshening up and I'm not convinced about my wobbly videos with lift/porno music ! Maybe delete those and offer a walk around on request ? 

Any advice appreciated chaps 

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/dealers/hampshire/hook/moto-exchange-ltd-28719/stock?sort=price-asc&page=1&dealer=28719&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly New&advertising-location=at_cars&advertising-location=at_profile_cars

[Mikey360 68]

Some of the interior photos are blurry and some of the exterior ones are over exposed (ie too bright where the suns shining on them) might be worth doing some post editing with light levels. Descriptions are all a bit lack luster, just a long list of spec options, nothing to say how the car drives or how comfortable/sporty it is for example.

I'm sure others will be along soon with more advice, it is the 3rd week of Jan so everyone's skint until payday

[Arfur Dealy 823]

The video is halfhearted, its rushed and lacks a personalised description, use the video as a platform for you to sell the car and your business. 

[Jack Regan 116]

nothing to do with your pics or ads your just having a quite spell.

[Arfur Dealy 823]

You have 10 cars advertised 5 of which are CRV's ( they are hard work at the mo), sales wise, you are competing against yourself. My current longest car in stock is a 14plate CRV  (9 months).

[Pip 12]

You don’t have any what I call , bread and butter vehicles. Thought the CRVs would be good movers. Your aiming at a particular customer.Say I wanted a CRV I wouldn’t be put off because of a lousy photo. 
 

if you had a fleet of Clio’s, corsa’s , Polos, Fiestas etc your phone would be melting. I’ve sold two Polos , a Golf, a Clio and a Fiesta since last Tuesday out of 10 cars. The V50 , S40 , Honda Accord and the A4 are still here. What’s that tell you?

[NOACROSS 414]

Agree with comments above.
Does everything (except one petrol) being diesel limit your options somewhat maybe? 

[CJ Underhill 34]

1 hour ago, Mikey360 said:

Some of the interior photos are blurry and some of the exterior ones are over exposed (ie too bright where the suns shining on them) might be worth doing some post editing with light levels

I have to agree

Just looked at your volvo V60. Exterior photographs have too much light exposure, you cant particulary see the bodywork clearly

Also, without sounding rude, maybe its just that car , but looks like a rushed/bodge clean. The sills and arches are dirty, tyre shine poorly and badly applied, boot trim dirty. Also i dont understand the close up shots of the bumper corners? With the light exposure/sun shining on the car all i can see is swirl marks?

Also showing the V5 and invoice, with Volvo Leasing written all over it would be putting me off personally

[Anglo9 26]

Good feedback thanks guys , CRV's and Civics have been good news for us so it's probably a bit of a habit now and we're finding small cars/hatches so dear to buy at present , but yes we should cast the net a bit wider again I guess . Tricky getting the light right this time of year (when there is any !) but will work on that and getting unique descriptions back in the ads .                   To be honest I doubt I'll get the videos more professional , but gave them a go as I was under the impression it helps with AT listings ?                                                                                              so on balance chaps ....shakey video or just delete 'em ?

[Mikey360 68]

Spend some money investing in a half decent dslr camera, saw in the reflection your using a bit of a basic one. Even a newer iPhone will take better photos and video 

[the old novice 13]

Firstly can i say.'Fair play ' for asking for your adverts to be critiqued. My thoughts for what they are worth are as follows.

Pictures are very  generic and lack impact.I first viewed your  list of cars and instantly saw  that all cars had been photographed from the same front angle for  your main advert pic.I'd rotate the  pics  for each  car to show its best angle.Not sure if you use a smart phone but for me a digital camera is great and i find is very easy to make sensible tweeks to the pics.More time taken on focus would be invaluable.If you're going to take pics of things like gearknobs etc,then knowing how to use depth of field settings makes a huge difference. Youtube has some tutorials that ive used and found very useful,same goes for the photography section on Pistonheads.

  The wording of your adverts  perhaps need a bit of  personalisation they are perhaps  a  bit 'robotic' at the moment.The prices all look right so it could just be the January blues.

Best of luck

Edited January 21, 2020 by the old novice

[Casper 272]

I actually think its quite quiet for a lot a people taking to friends and other traders its that time of year again I also find some people always say there busy or ticking over because they don't want to admit there not at this time of year 

one guy i know is always busy yet when you drive past his place the same stock been sitting in the same place since November 

only thing i would say is a better camera some better pics  

i don't mind the videos 

your ads in general are ok as they are  but as others have said personalise it a bit more to the particular car

good luck  

Edited January 21, 2020 by Casper

[BHM 994]

13 hours ago, Arfur Dealy said:

CRV's ( they are hard work at the mo)

Not that mine were in the £8-10K range but for me they died over a year ago.

’All the dough, slow to go’ springs to mind with CRVs. They’ve been overpriced at the block for too long now but I think there is some general price correction on these due, although not soon enough imo.

[beckly car sales 1]

17 hours ago, Pip said:

You don’t have any what I call , bread and butter vehicles. Thought the CRVs would be good movers. Your aiming at a particular customer.Say I wanted a CRV I wouldn’t be put off because of a lousy photo. 
 

if you had a fleet of Clio’s, corsa’s , Polos, Fiestas etc your phone would be melting. I’ve sold two Polos , a Golf, a Clio and a Fiesta since last Tuesday out of 10 cars. The V50 , S40 , Honda Accord and the A4 are still here. What’s that tell you?

thats easy to say but how do you buy any of the hot cars at bca and manage to good price them on autotrader its impossible?

[RJEauto 18]

20 hours ago, Anglo9 said:

Hi all , gone very quiet for us , may just be stock profile as a few colleagues seem busy but maybe my ads need freshening up and I'm not convinced about my wobbly videos with lift/porno music ! Maybe delete those and offer a walk around on request ? 

Any advice appreciated chaps 

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/dealers/hampshire/hook/moto-exchange-ltd-28719/stock?sort=price-asc&page=1&dealer=28719&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly New&advertising-location=at_cars&advertising-location=at_profile_cars

If it's any condolence we've been pretty quiet too compared to last year.

I would definitely look at redoing some of the photo's, a lot of them are too bright / not clear. Even if you edit the photo's you have it's surprising what difference it makes.. 

On another note, we always do well with CR-V's so if you want to trade any of the diesel EX's to free up cash and diversify your stock - drop me a message :-)

-Kelly

[Anglo9 26]

14 minutes ago, RJEauto said:

If it's any condolence we've been pretty quiet too compared to last year.

I would definitely look at redoing some of the photo's, a lot of them are too bright / not clear. Even if you edit the photo's you have it's surprising what difference it makes.. 

On another note, we always do well with CR-V's so if you want to trade any of the diesel EX's to free up cash and diversify your stock - drop me a message :-)

-Kelly

Thanks Kelly , I'll keep the faith with the Honda's but appreciate your kind offer , meanwhile , I'm off to buy a new camera 

[DPF 18]

3 hours ago, beckly car sales said:

thats easy to say but how do you buy any of the hot cars at bca and manage to good price them on autotrader its impossible?

images looks fabs just quiet everywhere at the moment. Only you know what sale in your area. I know a guy got 60+ cars when is this quiet Big showroom rent + staffs+ advertising bills + more bills he can’t even sleep in the night . 

[Tom 164]

Have you still got the black ex auto CRV is on AT but not the website. 

The silver CRV has the V5 showing with its ref number on display. 

Photos are ok just over exposed. 

[Anglo9 26]

18 minutes ago, Tom said:

Have you still got the black ex auto CRV is on AT but not the website. 

The silver CRV has the V5 showing with its ref number on display. 

Photos are ok just over exposed. 

Thanks Tom , Mrs Moto is floating about in the Auto CRV at the moment  , cheers re V5 , I normally cover the number with a key . So everyone is in agreement that photos are over exposed...just to be clear , that's too light , correct ?

Any recommendations re affordable DSLR that can achieve 'depth of field' easily ?

[the old novice 13]

I would suggest a Canon EOS800D, its a good camera with a decent pixel count  and also has the flip out rear screen that i find very useful for shooting images at either low levels or elevated shots to capture the best angles for each vehicle.If you want to buy something second hand then perhaps a Canon EOS70D would work well.I use this model and mine gets a regular battering from being carted around construction sites etc . Use the camera  in full auto setting until you get used to it,then try using the different settings such as aperture priority to get those shots  that you want.

Editing is so easy  and takes seconds to get the image to your liking.Always take loads of pics and just delete the one s that you dont like.Watch out for background distractions.I actually prefer using a  telephoto lens at they have a narrower depth of field that kind of automatically concentrates the focus on the subject (the car) and blur out the rest of the frame.

Edited January 22, 2020 by the old novice

[NacMan 67]

On 1/21/2020 at 3:22 PM, Mikey360 said:

Some of the interior photos are blurry and some of the exterior ones are over exposed (ie too bright where the suns shining on them) might be worth doing some post editing with light levels. Descriptions are all a bit lack luster, just a long list of spec options, nothing to say how the car drives or how comfortable/sporty it is for example.

I'm sure others will be along soon with more advice, it is the 3rd week of Jan so everyone's skint until payday

So you think its quiet because everyone hasnt been paid yet? 

[Mikey360 68]

15 minutes ago, NacMan said:

So you think its quiet because everyone hasnt been paid yet? 

Maybe, could be anything really 

[J.T 39]

I can't see anything wrong with your adverts Anglo, but I would probably agree with what BHM touched on. Nine grand for a 10 year old CRV just sounds a lot of money to me, when people could go out and buy this IX35 on a 16 plate with warranty until next March:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201911184486283?onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=New&postcode=dy138dr&sort=relevance&model=IX35&radius=1501&price-from=8500&price-to=10000&advertising-location=at_cars&make=HYUNDAI&page=1

I'm not saying that your cars are overpriced, just that they seem high in the book for what they are. You could also do with a drop of snow, always helps with 4x4 sales!!

[Anglo9 26]

13 minutes ago, J.T said:

I can't see anything wrong with your adverts Anglo, but I would probably agree with what BHM touched on. Nine grand for a 10 year old CRV just sounds a lot of money to me, when people could go out and buy this IX35 on a 16 plate with warranty until next March:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201911184486283?onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=New&postcode=dy138dr&sort=relevance&model=IX35&radius=1501&price-from=8500&price-to=10000&advertising-location=at_cars&make=HYUNDAI&page=1

I'm not saying that your cars are overpriced, just that they seem high in the book for what they are. You could also do with a drop of snow, always helps with 4x4 sales!!

They are dear in the book to be fair , but the auto @£9k is priced up a bit silly as the missus is floating about in that for a bit ! Really appreciate all the feedback everyone , there are pros and cons re specialising or having a broad selection of cars and my stock profile is ever changing as is the market . Key for my set up really is finding stock that gives you a good margin yet the rest of the trade isn't fighting over  . That used to come with experience and good contacts , but those days seem to be going now everyone (trade and public alike) is one mouse click away from trade and retail figures,thus margin and what is a good or bad deal (Thanks AT and BCA)

[Ek cars 17]

January clearance be quick smacks of desperado to me, nice cars though.