Huge drop off in CarGuru leads in November..

[Jeff Kershner]

That's what I've been afraid of. But after my issues with them, It's not gonna happen any time soon.

Dude, you need to keep a better eye on DealerRefresh. There's a few threads around this over the last year or so.

 

[Marc Lavoie]

I gotta ask, is it the only source that dropped for you?

Is it possible its a simple traffic drop on their end in your market?

Or maybe are they reducing PPC spending during the winter months, that would make sense too.

 

[Greg Schafer]

Good questions. No, everything else was fine. Looks like a one time anomaly.

 

[johnbarilla]

One thing I can tell you for sure. Autotrader is the weakest out of cargurus, cars.com, truecar, carfax. It also is most expensive. You can sign up for spotlight ads and sponsored listings but it still not worth it.

 

[ChrisR]

Noticed a significant drop (half) in leads in CG dashboard over the last 2 months. Strange part is, drop has occurred since I updated our inventory to their "best practices" for features/options, used the pricing tool to play their game.

Just did a search for two of my similar cars, by year, make, model, 10 mile radius of our zip code from the dashboard link to search.

Order of proximity in the 6 listings they displayed:

• 365
• 630
• 728
• 1057
• 1465
• 1975

Strange that neither of my vehicles appeared in the search.

Test #2: Go to a different computer, different internet connection, use a private browser, go to the site directly & do a similar search. Was able to find my inventory, yet I set my search radius to 100 miles, only to find my inventory listed below dealers 1,000+ (even 2,000+) miles away.

We're paid subscribers, and of course, our rep was not available, so will see when/if they call back what the justification is. Something tells me they will be receiving a cancellation letter. What a racket.

 

[ChrisR]

Received a call back from CG - they are stating their "delivery product" is causing dealers to see a reduction in lead, in addition to seasonality. But, for only $400 more a month, I can get listed above the dealers offering delivery.

Sounds like another AT/Cars system of milking every drop out they can.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Received a call back from CG - they are stating their "delivery product" is causing dealers to see a reduction in lead, in addition to seasonality. But, for only $400 more a month, I can get listed above the dealers offering delivery.

Sounds like another AT/Cars system of milking every drop out they can.

They're always playing games over there. I simply no longer trust them.

 

[John V.]

Last month was the worst month of the year in regards to CG leads for us

 

[John V.]

Also, when they do start hounding you again. DO NOT buy anything they tell you about the "Delivery" listings. They are not worth it. they claimed a 3x increase in reach and leads. I got maybe...MAYBE...5 more email leads a month from it.

 

[Alex Snyder]

Last month was the worst month of the year in regards to CG leads for us
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December is one of those months where it all happens before Christmas or it all happens after Christmas. We lost 6 days of shopping (including a weekend) due to Thanksgiving coming as late as possible this year. This is not your normal December.