AutoTrader Trade-In Marketplace?

[Jeff Kershner]

I have found it to be a GREAT product. We signed up as a buying center when it first came out in April and on average bring in about 3 vehicles per week. Last week for instance we bought 6 thru it. The real purpose of the Trade In Marketplace is to use it for retail closing and inventory management. We have really embraced it and made it a crucial part of our processes which I think is the difference from it being the bomb or a bust for you. Every trade goes thru it. Reply time is crucial because you want to be the first to contact the person. Anybody thinking strictly "sales" from it is mistaken. We have it incorporated into our website and its iFramed it in so never does a shopper leave our site. We used to have KBB for our site and the problem there was we sometimes couldn't give then customer the price that our website generated. This way everything is transparent and our csi is perfect.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I have not personally used TIM but I have been through several demos and I agree with you. If you are going to make TIM work, it takes 100% dedication and it needs to become part of your dealers process for each and every trade-in. But then again doesn't just about anything?

It's great to hear that it's working out for you. Like to hear from other dealers that are using it and have adapted the product into their process.

 

[danoneil]

Hello Internet Manager,

Could you please give me an idea of how many new and used cars your dealership sells a month ?

 

[autotrader]

Mark from AutoTrader.com here. Just to clarify some points made above:

- In terms of leads, if a consumer enters their car into the TIM product via the main AutoTrader.com site, that lead is shared with three dealers in that consumer's local area - so this is connecting dealers with customers who may not have found them any other way. If the lead is generated through a TIM application on the dealer's own site or from their listings, the lead goes only to that dealer.

- TIM is not just an advertising tool or a trade in tool for consumers. For the dealer, it is an in-dealership operational tool that allows dealers to help their customers understand the value of the trade in - the dealer is free to offer more, but the customer knows they can never get less if the car is in the condition they claimed. So it's a good starting point for negotiations and discussions of the whole transaction. Also for the dealers, when they do pay out on the TIM-generated quote, you also know you will never get less for that car because AutoTrader stands behind that number (e.g., takes away the uncertainty of what price it might fetch at auction or if you keep it on the lot for resale).

We do recommend that if you have questions about TIM or want to know how it might help your business, contact your AutoTrader.com sales consultant. They can explaing the product and give you the information you need to know if it will work for you as it has for hundreds of other dealers across the country. You're only investment there is your time to learn about the progam.

Thanks for all the props to the TIM product and keep the great discussions going.

 

[Alex Snyder]

Thanks for posting Mark. Your first post got caught in the spam tank, so I wanted to give this thread a bump now that you're here and not in the spam tank anymore.

 

[Craig]

Here's the newest information I got from someone who would rather not enter the "digital octagon" with Autotrader.........I thought it was worth sharing.

After they get you to pay for trade in marketplace (dealers), it turns out that it is a customer information gathering tool for the benefit of autotrader. They don’t tell you that customers who get their cars appraised are later solicited by autotrader to take out classified ads (additional revenue source) on their site to sell their cars. Rather than redirect these customers back to the premium paying car dealers, they retarget the customers with a link to the classified ad portion of the site and try to collect money directly from the customers.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Well, one of my dealers just signed up. Im going to go full steam with it and see what happens. The GM and sales managers have all agreed to give it 100%.

I'll one of two things, either keep everyone updated with our progress in this thread or open a new thread tracking our performance and dealings with the product. Stay tuned!

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Here's the newest information I got from someone who would rather not enter the "digital octagon" with Autotrader.........I thought it was worth sharing.

After they get you to pay for trade in marketplace (dealers), it turns out that it is a customer information gathering tool for the benefit of autotrader. They don’t tell you that customers who get their cars appraised are later solicited by autotrader to take out classified ads (additional revenue source) on their site to sell their cars. Rather than redirect these customers back to the premium paying car dealers, they retarget the customers with a link to the classified ad portion of the site and try to collect money directly from the customers.

Craig, does this happen when the customer uses the TIM on AutoTraders website and/or if the dealer is using the dealer piece you plug into your dealers website?

If it's the first, I could care less. The second, well then I'll have some issues.

 

[autotrader]

Mark from AutoTrader back again. To answer Jeff's question -- AutoTrader.com only contact's TIM customers when the opt NOT to be contacted by a dealer at all. So at no point does AutoTrader "double dip" into the leads generated by TIM. If you have additional questions about how TIM works, please contact an AutoTrader.com sales rep. He or she can walk you through the entire program and show you how it works to benefit your business. Thanks.

 

[Blake Arbogast]

We have been on TIM for about a month and half....so far pretty crappy.

 

[MullerToyota]

My AutoTrader rep recently talked to me about this product.

Besides driving some shared third party leads from AutoTrader.com, I fail to see how this is any better than a Blue Book or Black Book tool on your website - which costs way less.

Furthermore, if the customer is looking for a trade-in value for their vehicle online at AutoTrader, what is the chance of me having a car they want to trade it for?

Just seems overpriced with little added benefits.