AutoTrader.com Pricing???

[Alex Snyder (blog)]

"Let me try this again. I took a screen shot of it this time.

http://tinyurl.com/343upo

Maybe these will be part of the "ALPHA" packages. ??"

.............................

Interesting Ian. So that will be above the spotlights? I heard about it somewhere else, and asked my rep - he said it will be for strategic marketing campaigns that run on a 10-15 day period. Looks expensive to me. I wonder if it is really a way to give big-budget dealers an advantage on smaller dealers again.....since ATC sold so many partner packages making their original "partner dealers" upset?

I could be totally wrong, but that was my initial thought.

 

[Jerry G.]

Cool new feature. Will it justify it's costs in generating more customer call activity to support the ROI? I doubt it.

 

[T.J.]

It's just another way to get "newspaper" money trump the Partner package I'm sure.

So if there is something above spotlights or your Partner package why have a partner program?

DS- states, if we could have thought of their brilliant idea then we would have?

Interesting challenge to all of us who are in the internet/automotive field. Wonder who will come up with the next category Killer to autotrader - enjoy it while it lasts now DS.

That is what is so great about our country. There is always someone out there developing a new idea to make something that exists even better... or filling a need that another company is missing out on as it is clearly stated in this post.

Who knows could be one of us...

 

[Jennifer Schrader (blog)]

Yes apparently I was the 100th post. I was not aware of that. It is funny they don't give their information and they have such hasty stuff to say to defend Auto Trader!

The reason I have jumped aboard with TK Carsites is I know they can give so much to the dealer, yes they are not cheap by they deliver results big time. Why should we dish out so much money to have a big wig sit in his chair and laugh at the dealers and think " wow you must be really stupid & you have no choice" Think again BIG WIG aka AUTO TRADER! All the dealers have a choice to jump up and say "What a minute, why should we pay the Cow when we can get the Milk ourselves!"

For the price jackings and poor customer service from Auto Trader they are a waste of wind in my world!
Sorry to be so harsh on this post, but thinking again I am not!

Thank you again Alex and the rest of who supports the idea of the crazy price jacking!

 

[Sam Snyder]

...a big wig sit in his chair and laugh at the dealers and think " wow you must be really stupid & you have no choice" This mindset is where they are at. IMHO they are going to undergo some fundamental changes as far as corporate structure in the next six months or so. Will this benefit dealers currently paying their rates? Time will tell, but I highly doubt it. I find it hard to believe they maintain this sentiment when they experience field staff turnover like they do, crazy if you ask me.

 

[Richard Klepach (blog)]

I personally agree Autotrader.com is a bit too expensive, however over the last year since their price increase, I have seen quite a bit more leads being generated from their site and our closing percentage has climbed to 11.5%. Now I'm not sure if it's my process or are these little extra things they offer now such as multimedia and dealer specials contribute to the increase in our closing percentage. I use every available tool available to me from autotrader and update my specials and spotlight cars as soon as there is a change. I personally don't mind paying on an average $350 per car in advertising. I think any dealer would agree on this as long as the numbers are consistant. I'm placing this comment here not to defend or bash Autotrader.com, I just like to give them a little credit where it's worth. I would be willing to bet if a dealership that uses Autotrader.com stopped they would see a decline in both their internet and floor traffic.

 

[Jeff Larsen (blog)]

Thank you to Alex and all of the contributers of this article. I have learned and appreciated everyones input.

Admitting I am an Autotrader.com fan because of the success personally experienced with them regardless of how they market or how much they charge. I also believe Cars.com and other methods of online advertising are essential for online success. It’s all about what works in that market for that dealership.

Based on my experience, once an Internet Department has learned how to utilize and maximize the main online advertising resources: Dealer Websites, Manufacturer leads, Autotrader.com and Cars.com, only then is time to broaden the horizon into other areas.

For clarification purposes, I would like to mention that the online name I previously used ‘Internet Jeff’, should not be confused with Jeff Kershner, and was actually thought of to separate the two Jeff’s.

Feel free to contact me to share ideas about this article or any other automotive internet thoughts. Generally, it is the most misunderstood and underappreciated department in a dealership… We need to stick together on this!

Thank you

Jeff Larsen
815-994-0012

 

[Jennifer Schrader (blog)]

Thank you Mr. Jeff larsen for the input! I was a bit confused, I was thinking that Jeff Kershner was trying to be an AKA..... Thanks to the both of you!

 

[Lightnup (blog)]

One of the reasons there are, and will always be, 3rd party vendors is that no matter how knowledgeable a dealership employee becomes about SEO/SEM, PPC, organic searches, do-it-all-yourself, etc., as soon as he/she gets new responsibilities within the company, leaves the company, becomes sick, gets injured or just loses focus, there is usually no one to step in with the same level of expertise and the project falls apart.

Have seen the same thing happen over and over with service customer and un-sold prospect follow-up programs. Dealer tries to do it in-house, Sally gets overloaded with other duties or takes some time off and pretty soon customer follow-up has fallen by the wayside.

Like state-of-the-art, customer-captivating SEO/SEM laden web sites, it CAN be done and it's not even rocket science but many (probably most) dealers lack the personnel with the passion and commitment to maintain consistency in the effort. And that's when the outside company becomes an alternative worth paying for, whether it's AT, Cars, AutoWhizBang or whatever.

 

[T.J.]

Read this online today.. Last line shows you even very well branded Cars.com sites are using SEM to drive traffic to their site.

"The deal also adds cachet for Homescape, a leading and growing property listing site based in Chicago. Homescape is a division of Classified Ventures LLC — which is owned by media companies Gannett, Tribune, McClatchy, Belo and The Washington Post.

To date, it has 2.7 million property listings cast to a network of 125 online newspaper partners. Its intent is to grow www.Homescape.com into the same brand recognition as its other businesses, www.Apartments.com and www.Cars.com. Some $5 million is expected to be put into Search Engine Marketing in 2008."