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Jun 29, 2008

Alex,
have you tried it with the dealer.com control panel?
they sent me a email saying that they had to work on making site composer compatible with ff3....just curious if you had tried yet?
Also curious if they fixed the memory issue that was present in ff2?

Alex Snyder · Jun 29, 2008

If you haven't already heard, the latest from Mozilla is out in Firefox 3. And I've got to say AWESOME is a pretty good word to describe it. On the surface it doesn't look like much has changed, but underneath it has become even more customizable than before.

Security:
Instead of just using a padlock to let us know when a site is safe, the padlock has now moved to the status bar and it provides much more information about the site you're looking at. It is also color-coded to give you a quick idea of the site's security credentials. Gray means none and Green means maximum. It even tells you which cookies you're going to pick-up when you visit.

Interface Improvements:
Better graphical integration with your OS (think Vista and OSX). Session saving which can be setup to prompt you if you wish Firefox to remember your last browsing session every time you close it. Improved Download manager that allows you to pause, resume, and save downloads - you can even save a download to your clipboard for IMing or emailing! The password manager is no longer a pop-up, it drops down like an ActiveX control prompt in IE7.

Bookmarks:
You can now tag your bookmarks for easier/better cataloging. There is a star next to your address bar for easier bookmarking and categorizing too. Mozilla now has a thing called "Smart Bookmarks" which is similar to iTune's smart playlists with top sites, most recently visited, etc - totally customizable.

Awesome Bar:
No longer called the location bar because it is....well....Awesome! When you start typing a new URL into your address bar it will give you multiple options instead of just a list of URL's you've visited since your last history dump. You'll have to try it to see it.

Memory allocation:
This is one of my favorite features. When you spend a lot of time going through numerous sites your browser will store all that history in a "short-term memory" block that will start to make your virtual memory slow down. After every 30 minutes of browsing Firefox 3 will dump this little block keeping your system's resources more available for other applications.....very cool!

Scaling/Zooming:
This is my other favorite new feature. Pre-FF3, when you zoomed (CTRL+scroll wheel or +/- keys) only the text changed size. Now absolutely everything on the page resizes! You can make images larger/smaller, videos scale, and borders. On top of that, FF3 will remember where you last scaled the page to, so when you go back it will still be at that size!!! So friggin' cool!!! I have a feeling this is the start of a major movement away from GIF's and JPEG's into better scaling image types (EPS images, PNG's, PDF's, etc.) - the Internet is going to look good!

You still have skins, plug-ins, and other add-on's for FireFox, but imagine the kind of SEO tracking pieces that will come out of FF3. It opens new doors in the developer arena!

http://checkeredflag.com

Research for this article came out of the August 2008 issue of Maximum PC.

Sep 20, 2010

Mike,

That's funny...ATC hasn't performed ANY blitzes in the past 18 months. The blitzes were eliminated almost 2 years ago!

Sep 20, 2010

to Brian in ETown

Get me down for 10 dimes on the over (lol)

Think you've been blitzed before?

Now they picked up VAuto and have another product too pitch- they will burn down your phone lines bro!

Sep 5, 2009

Oh, how true, I used to be a staunch supporter of ATC, in fact, I made it an employment requirement for my store to advertise with them before I signed on, not only are they way overpriced, but to cap the photo's at 9 for a "Featured Plus" package, is totally ridiculous, and quite frankly, I love comparing their competition for the same type ad package with unlimited photo's and many other difference's that don't add up, and yes, I have experienced their "Blitz" 3 times over the last 18 months. Love my rep, but business is business, and they are pricing themselves out of my market, too bad!!

Jan 19, 2009

Bubblebreaker,

Love your name by the way. I don't think that we are trying to fool anyone, I'm sorry that you feel that way. One of the great things about cars.com is the amount of partnerships that we have. I can't find the exact quote at the moment, but even the illustrious Mr. Kershner pointed that strength out in a post a few months ago. We can't be everything to everybody, but we can get our dealer partner's inventory in front of a huge cross section by forming partnerships and exclusively supplying their classified content. It is a great product.

Quick clarification though, the $200 million spend is citing Cars.com specific branding. Sure it may be on the back of one of the Tribune or Belo properties, but it goes to building the cars.com brand. It really is no different than Chevrolet calculating a cumulative spend for tier 1 and 2 spend and local dealer marketing. The Chevrolet brand is being elevated. Hope that helps you feel better about those numbers.

Cargurrl · Jan 19, 2009

Bubble Braker if you read my post you would have notice I said "between us and cars.com".....ps we have Edmunds new (in certain markets) as well as used. They are both beneficial.

Jan 19, 2009

Cars.com Believer wrote: That’s what the 200 million in advertising has generated.

Why are there disclaimers that go with this claim? It is because cars.com is including the ad dollars that their partners are spending also. WHO DOES THAT?? That is as cheesy at the newspapers coming up with a 'readership' # instead of circulation. Tsk tsk tsk. Just tell the truth cars.com. You have a good product. Leave it at that.

sellmorecars: AutoTrader.com does not provide the Yahoo listings. Cars.com took over that a while back. Autotrader.com gained msn autos and KBB around that same time. A move that proved to be more than wise.

Jan 5, 2009

sellmorecars,

This is your boss, git back to werk dammit.

Your sales are in the toilet and it's all your fault. How many times do I have to tell you about this DealerReefer blog stuff? These Reefer's are to be considered a hostile group and all you do is preach to them out of our sales manual.

Sellmorecars, you can't make any money sitting on your a** typing. Git out there and make us some sales.

And remember...
When your dealers whine, refer to your AT sales manual that I wrote back in 01 and don't deviate from it. I'd also appreciate it of you'd not put my awesome word-tracks on this no good communist Reefer blog. These are my powerful marketing tracks and we don't want those evil bastards at Cars.com getting a hold of these custom ideas of mine.

Oh, BTW, you don't have to tell me, I know the word-tracks are out dated. Yea, I know 99% of newspapers are worse off financially than our car dealers already are. Yes, I heard that even the NY Times is about to file for bankruptcy. We just need a new spin to make our nit-wit dealers see the light.

I need help creating a spin, but I can't find it. I’ve read where studies show Newspaper ad rates are so over priced that they need to mark down ad rates 80% to make them viable. WE DONT WANT THAT TO HAPPEN. You see, we base our AT pricing model and establish our AT value on newsprints bloated rate card. I just don’t what to do! Newsprint is a FAILED BUSINESS MODEL that we use as a corner stone to justify our value.

I need a new spin on this, write me if you get one...

Your favorite myopic manager,
OFH
(Old, Fat and Happy)

Cargurrl · Jan 4, 2009

It really doesn't matter being the fact that there are no more blitzes anyway. My point is that there are a lot of dealers on this blog (mostly no one with any kind of authority so it really doesn't matter)who really blame us for a great product. Their problem is they get paid off emails which is not what we are about and never have been. If you really look at what we provide, you can't argue the fact that we (as in online in general) are way cheaper than traditional media, but since IM's don't understand the big picture when it comes to traditional advertising the only thing they can speak to is online. You can't pay the same cost for the targeted reach that ATC and Cars.com has. Newspaper for a 1 day ad full color is 7k on their busiest ad day which is typically Saturday. Radio during drive time for a 15 sec spot is $800. TV broadcast late news is $1500 but hold on, you got bonused during the political year lucky you with a spot between 2 negative ad campaigns.....awesome. NONE of this is targeted but thanks for showing us your pretty face on TV. It still didn't make want to buy a car. Between us and Cars.com we are the used car sites for the following:
KBB
Edmunds
NADA Guides
Yahoo Autos
MSN Autos
Univision (for the hispanic folks)
Askpatty (for the female folks)

I think that is enough (that's not all of them) so please do me the favor and hold the Newspaper, TV and Radio reps (oh I forgot those reps only deal with dealer principles not IM's) just as accountable. Cars.com and ATC are targeted advertising for car shoppers. It's valuable. Thankfully our dealers know that in my area because we educate them the right way (we aren't getting cancellations outside of store closings). We have open door policies with every OWNER of our groups and we go above and beyond to be a partner for their business. They DO NOT hold us accountable for their sales because we don't sell cars for anyone, we provide a targeted audience and that is all we do. If I depended on some sales guy's closing ratio I would be out of a job (80/20 rule). If a dealer told me I had to depend on their sales staff to close a deal, then we don't sign them up. If you want to do something different in 2009 realize people don't "shop" online, they "research" online. If you ask the right questions and know where we and Cars.com feed to you would fully understand what we are about. These conversations are much easier for us with OWNERS which is why we make the difference. If you think our company is losing money ask your traditional media reps how they are right now.

Jan 3, 2009

Sellmore needs to talk with some of the unfortunate AC's sent out on some hurried regional blitz's where they were lucky to scrap up $500 in a week, hell, they submitted more in expenses than they made in a week. "Picks" what a cash poor joke, the company earned thousands and the regional blitz AC gets thrown a nickel. National blitz team members were being thrown $5,000 just to show up. Regional blitz's were more like a sentence than an opportunity. In this economy they better start "Prayer Blitz's" in order to stave off cancellations and cut backs.

Cargurrl · Jan 3, 2009

Obi 1 I would know better than you what goes on, I work there. I love how some dealers think they know so much. It's so comical. Oh and what is an RM? So what if ATC reps "make more"? So do your TV reps, Newspaper Reps, radio reps even Cars.com gets paid the same way. So do you CANCEL CANCEL CANCEL all of those? Just because you aren't making any money must be because you aren't good in sales.

Jan 2, 2009

SellmoreCars, the problem with ATC is that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing!!!

Sure, not all ACs make big bucks during the blitzes but a lot of them do.

Some DMs and RSMs, hell even RMs brag about their "pet AC's" making the $5,000 a week or the $8,000 cash blitz commission.

Dealers, don't feel bad about these ATC reps, most of them make more money than you !!!

CANCEL CANCEL CANCEL

Cargurrl · Dec 28, 2008

Darth FYI we do discount in local markets. They only "blitz" the big cities and no they aren't doing it anymore simply because the company is at its maturing point. There is more common sense out there than you think. Ob1 3-4k a day isn't accurate. It's more like 1k-2k a week and that's toward the the top producer.

Dec 27, 2008

I've heard they've finally done away with the national blitz teams. I guess they realized it was actually costing them more in the long run with the cancellation rates after 3 mos than the temporary revenue fix they were using them for. If they had any common sense they would just allow the local reps to discount the products the way the blitz teams have in the past and actually see better retention, but I wouldn't hold my breath on any common sense decisions like this coming from ATC.

Dec 26, 2008

The skinny on blitzes...

Top 10 list of things you need to know:

1- They pick the best ACs in the country. Never local to you.
2- They juice them up on that famous ATC Kool Aid
3- They throw cash at them (some make $3,000 to $4000 a day, I'm talking $100 bills)
4- They can discount products up to 80%, makes you wonder how inflated that price is !!!
5- Once they sell you , you will never see them again
6- Your local sales rep gets nothing for the transaction (His service will be bad)
7- They sell you a product you don't need or that doesn't work for you.
8- They receive a list of dealers to target, they know nothing about your store or your needs.
9- This is advertising's equivalent of a flea market or a wholesale auction.
10- They hand you spotlights like candy, some dealers get 100 or more per purchase !!!

Cargurrl · Dec 24, 2008

Stan your experiences are not every dealers. If you are this upset about how Autotrader.com is treating you why haven't you asked to speak to a manager? Oh...PS, we have reps that came to us crom Cars.com that have said the exact same thing. As an employee I have never been treated wrong. I always think the one's who are treated "bad" are probably not good at their job anyway and are on some kind of warning. Are you an owner?

Dec 5, 2008

It seems like they try to act as if the dealerships need them more then ever. I know more ex-Autotrader reps that switched to cars.com and are happier. They are as bad to the dealer as they are to their employees. Autotrader needs to step up their game because with so many resources out there, we do not need them at all. We can pay less and get more with other companies. EBay and craigslist do great for dealers.

Dec 5, 2008

We sent a certified letter stating that we were breaking off the relationship between us and AutoTrader. Within a week a lovely young lady from down south made a visit to see why we were ending a long relationship. We stated that we were not getting a return on our investment and we were going in a new direction as with our internet dept. She asked if she can come up with statistics that show the value and come back in one week for a formal meeting. We agreed. Meeting day arrived and she shows up with another sales rep and begins her pitch with no substance at all. They then start to try and upsell us to a more expensive pkg that they believe will increase our sales. Again showing no value! We asked them to come up with a discounted proposal and they agreed. We all made another meeting date that worked for everyone. As we were walking out of the conference room, one sales rep threw at us that they have a new luxury box at the new Yankee Stadium as if that was going to change our minds. Long story short, they never showed to the meeting and sent meaningless emails. We are no longer with AutoTrader.

Nov 19, 2008

That cracked me up Tony

- I don't blame you.

Nov 18, 2008

I am never coming back to this post!

Nov 18, 2008

Maybe you need a remedial math class "Believer".

"Cars.com avg monthly visitors were 300,000 in 2007
Cars.com avg monthly visitors are over 800,000 in 2008"

Correct me if I'm wrong...didn't Cars.com advertise and promote to their dealers last year that they had 9 million Uniques/month?

FYI...ATC is averaging over 15 Million unique visitors per month in 2008.

Perhaps Cars.com needs to invest that $200 million dollars more wisely!

With all that being said, I also believe that dealers should be on both sites. Let's just report accurate information.

Nov 17, 2008

We have never been blitzed by AT!

Cargurrl · Nov 17, 2008

I think what is most important is helping dealers really take a hard look at their budgets and spend it wisely. Partner dealers on Autotrader.com also get paid placement on Google. I have sat with dealers and Googled their name and we are higher on the page. Just and FYI. I don't think any 1 source is going to be your answer. With ATC and Cars.com you have pretty much covered online (I like to think it is like Bud Light and Miller Light). There are a lot of successful dealers with and without ATC. I think what needs to happen more is a partnership. Unfortunately online vendors have to dig a little deeper into a dealership's inventory to prove if it works. Not like traditional media that spray and prays. Anything targeted whether it be print or online is a good source. You just need a blended mix with the traditional more expensive outlets. At the end of the day, if you don't buy cars people want to drive, advertising isn't going to matter. There are a lot of great reps. The difference is, do they have genuine concern for your business. TO be honest, in some areas where there has been consistent great reps with lwo turnover don't have a cancellation problem. I think the arrogance is a lot less than what it used to be. You still would spend a lot more in traditional media to get the reach you do with online. I am proud to say that none of the dealers on here that are unhappy are in my market. At least not any decision makers. Good luck with your business this year for it will turn around.

Nov 3, 2008

WOW - I have read maybe 50 or more posts during this topic. Alex sure laid the ground work for an interesting debate. I cant believe that AT.com is allowing this AMY to be their spokesperson in this public forum....... $2,300 is a lot of money to list 100% of my used inventory, but AT.com says "it's worth it". I actually like my sales reps and their manager. I used to head up the Mid-Atlantic region for Auto Extra.com I did blitz with my teams because AutoTrader.com was doing it. Sounded like a good idea, then after meeting all of the personalities at these dealerships I realized that if the programs did'nt work out that their job and budget is on the line. So now I am on the other side of the desk. I am the BDC/Internet Manager with a budget. "where do I spend my $" I know that AT.com does'nt like being compared to cars.com but honestly perception is reality. I can list my pre-owned inventory for $500. I also read all of these stats that consumers are viewing 3 or more websites before making a buying decision. It's a tough choice to stoke that signature for something so expensive. Our used cars are typically meant for (buy here pay here). I am struggling between listing my inventory or buying financing leads. The BLITZ team has'nt made it here yet and honestly I would'nt want to work with any other reps, because the ones who have come to see me know our story and our direction. I don't feel like explaining it over and over again. Plus add the other 10 advertisers who call on me a day. I certainly understand everyone's frustration.

I may go back to AT.com one day, but it seems like times have changed and SEO campaigns send more customers to my sites and my page views are up. So I am in my "testing lab" So far so good......

I hope everyone has a good NOVEMBER!!!

Alex, do you anticipate this thread reaching 150?

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