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AI will compare your site to Carvana (mobile)

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joe.pistell

joe.pistell

Uncle Joe
Apr 7, 2009
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#1
ANOTHER DealerRefresh FIRST.
In the next post below is a prompt that you'll paste into any AI and hit submit.
It will instruct you what to do next.

It's not perfect, but, you're looking at 6 hours of work made by an expert AI prompt engineer... :unclejoe: me :).

Share your thoughts!

UPDATE: The prompt below has been improved to v4.2
 
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#4
This is really sharp. The framework you've built around those three shopper tasks (narrowing inventory, understanding a specific vehicle, and building confidence to act) maps perfectly to what we're seeing in behavioral data. Also, we conduct user interviews with car shoppers one of whom basically bought a Tesla instead of a Mercedes Benz or Land Rover because of how easy it was to shop for inventory on the Tesla site.

Most dealer mobile experiences fall apart at step one: shoppers can't efficiently narrow down what they want because the filter/sort paradigm doesn't match how real people think about cars. People don't search by "drivetrain: AWD" and "body style: SUV." They search by intent: "something safe for my teenager under $20k" or "a truck that can tow my boat."

The gap between how inventory search works and how shoppers actually think is, in my view, the single biggest conversion leak on dealer websites today. Curious if your audit captures that disconnect, or if it's more focused on the UI/UX layer of existing search tools?
 
#5
tylernobi said:
The gap between how inventory search works and how shoppers actually think is, in my view, the single biggest conversion leak on dealer websites today. Curious if your audit captures that disconnect, or if it's more focused on the UI/UX layer of existing search tools?
Click to expand...

My 17yrs here, over 5,000 posts. I have one theme.
1. Car shopping is complex and hard.
2. Our websites suck.

Not one car shopper started their day saying.. "Oh, I can't wait to send in a lead".

I surveyed car buyers for years, 6,000 surveys annually.
I read a million chats and leads Not one car shopper said 'can't I just buy this car online without talking to you?"

Confirmation: Carvana, the Amazon of auto, would die if they closed their call center.
 
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#10
2024 Toyota Grand Highlander XLE SUV AWD under 20k miles

Dolan Toyota: New & Used Car Dealership in Reno Serving Carson City and Reno area.

Official Dolan Toyota: Find new and used Toyota vehicles, see photos, Toyota parts & accessories, auto repair and service and auto financing tools.
www.dolanrenotoyota.com www.dolanrenotoyota.com

AMAZING RESULTS: https://claude.ai/share/b48ad8a9-85c3-4a58-b03c-51b9cd94d92f

Value summary:
Dolan's unit is priced $1,600 cheaper AND carries a Toyota Gold CPO warranty worth thousands in real coverage. On paper, Dolan wins the value battle — but the mobile site fails to tell that story clearly.
​

4. Test 2: building trust (the "truth" test)​

Dolan Toyota — photo clarity & proof
When the VDP does load, the Toyota Gold CPO badge, CARFAX One-Owner, and 7-yr/100k warranty are present — but they are buried below the fold in a wall of text. The price display excludes doc fees ($599.50) and state fees by default, shown only in fine print. No window sticker link is prominently surfaced on mobile. Photo count was not independently confirmed from mobile crawl. The CPO story — Dolan's biggest competitive weapon — is invisible at first glance.

Carvana — condition transparency & financing
Carvana leads with: photo gallery (confirmed feature set + condition shots), 7-day return policy badge, history report summary, original warranty status, and a "Get pre-qualified" CTA — all above the fold on mobile. Price shown is all-in except tax. Minor gap: 7,395 miles is accurate but the vehicle carries no CPO-equivalent backing beyond Carvana's 100-day warranty.

The gap: Carvana creates instant certainty — you know the price, the history, the return policy in under 10 seconds. Dolan has a better warranty and a lower price, but the mobile VDP makes the shopper work to find both. Uncertainty drives shoppers to the site that removes doubt first.
 
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