AutoTrader.com Pricing???

[Alex Snyder]

There has been a lot of talk about the changes in AutoTrader's pricing, so why don't we get this beast out in the open for better or worse?

What do you think of AutoTrader.com's price hikes?
Posted by Alex Snyder on behalf of a few dealers.

 

[Lao Shi]

How many more years will they/can they continue to increase the price they charge and add little or nothing new to the game except a little hype and new skins

If they are going to continue to raise prices they must offer somthing worthy of the increase.

They need to move their operations to another country where there are less expensive operational costs and roll back their prices to the clients

Many people list their vehicles for sale on autotrader.com. They spend time and money then receive phone calls from other companies offering to sell their car for a fee. So they pay Auto Trader to list their car for these other companies to see and call to solicit.

This is a complaint you hear a lot.

At some point Autotrader will just run out of room.

 

[T.J.]

Ahhhh finally free from the spin, greed, and corporate B.S.

I use to work for AutoTrader.com and have read this blog for the last year and half agreeing with 99% of what was said but never had the chance to finally express how right all of you are. The funny thing is without your inventory there would be no AutoTrader.com. However, they (they = AutoTrader.com Mgt./corp) only care about making more money every year.

Is this a bad thing.. not really we all want to make money right? But they have done it in such a way that they could care less if you cancel because "you will be back" and "your business will hurt without them". Guess what. Pricing will continue to rise more and more, bells and whistles will be added but will not increase your sales as much as the rate increase. Also, expect new products or solutions that ask for "Newspaper money" you are currently spending.

Another thing.. Cox owns AutoTrader.com and... guess what else they own that has been a great topic of discussion recently (Automart.com). (Coincidence that all of sudden they are now appearing as high as they are on "J.D. Power" hmmmm.. that's interesting... And don't leave out AutoExtra.com (look at the bottom of the home page and click careers- says "Cox AutoTrader), Manheim Auto Auctions, Cox Radio, Cox Media, Atlanta Constitutional Newspaper, AutoTrader Mag and the list goes on. So when you look at your advertising mix and how many times is Cox getting your money over and over again every month from all of these "separate" acting entities?

Yet.. let me guess what you will hear from your Reps... Exposure, Exposure, Exposure.. when at first it was leads leads leads and how they can track everything (except Walk ins right?). Sounds like when the newspaper went from Circulation, Circulation, Circulation to now "Readership"

Welcome to the spin factor and get ready and be prepared for rate increases every year... This is coming from a rep that was there for almost 2 years. Of course, my opinion... and admittedly left because I as an employee went from a first class citizen to a lower class, order taker, and renewal/contract robot.

If you ever get sick of spending thousands and thousands a month there are many other internet related initiatives you can take. One of which is pay per click campaigns with Google which I'm helping dealers with currently.

Your website is your highest rate of return typically, why not invest in that. And before I get the "autotrader.com, cars.com drive people to the website" yes I agree they do. However, they also go to your competitors sites that are on there, and if you took half of what you spend monthly with these sites and strictly targeted keywords your clicks would be double, triple, sometimes even more and they are only going to your website and inventory.

 

[Shaun Raines]

Come on you guys! AutoTrader needs to increase your rates, so they can continue to sponsor NFL half-time shows and cool stuff like that.

What's that saying...? "Better products through marketing."

Just like Bose speakers sound great in the specifically designed room at the mall store, then not so good in your house. AutoTrader leads come from a popular, well known brand, but when you close 2% of $2500 worth of leads, you're really paying $2500 to waste 98% of your time.

 

[Kevin Frye]

Each of us has a limited "pot of gold" to spend each month towards our marketing efforts, and selecting the best source of leads that lead to sales is the ultimate goal - correct? To do that, one must measure their ROI each month on their lead sources, and identify what marketing efforts work, and which ones do not. For us, AutoTrader performs the same as Cars.com (almost dead on for leads, calls, and views/impressions), yet AutoTrader costs 3-4 times more than Cars.com. Do we get 3-4 times better performance with AutoTrader? No. Does AutoTrader and Cars.com perform better than several other lead providers? Yes (especially AutoMart, which ranks almost dead last for us with year to date results). AutoTrader has also barraged us with "take your newspaper money and spend it with us". More than ever, our marketing dollars are a limited resource, and smart dealers must spend them wisely. The problem is that most dealers are not "smart" - ask your typical dealer what the top 10 auto websites are with the most hits? Most will answer that AutoTrader is #1. WRONG. End of year results for 2006 show that eBay Motors was number one by a huge margin, and that AutoTrader was #4. Understanding that, we want to have AutoTrader as part of our equation, but the price must be right for the results. Our smaller rooftops (with a smaller budget) use Cars.com over AutoTrader, because it gives them the same results for a MUCH lower price. I will say on AutoTrader's behalf that installing CRM's at our locations has helped us track the "walk-ins" that result from AutoTrader. It is not a huge number, but this allowed us to better measure the overall ROI for AutoTrader. Conclusion - if you want to sell us on higher rates that are 3-4 times higher than other providers that can give us the same results, you need to to show us how your service will give us 3-4 times more benefit... - Kevin Frye

 

[TJ]

Last year with Autotrader.com premium top tiered listings ran a rate of $2900 a month. This year it's $5600. Same size audience, same response metrics as others have mentioned, some bells & whistles but ROI has dwindled. They must've penetrated the market pretty sufficiently and are looking strictly at raising revenues from existing dealers willing to pay except many in our immed area are not willing to pay exhorbitant rates for the top tiered products anymore. Who's stepped down to the middle tirered products with them and noticed little or no change in call rates/ROI? Tell us your experience in this please.

 

[Gary Butler]

What is the saying about a fool and his money? Any Jack Ass foolish enought o spend a dime on with AutoTrader/AutoMart.....etc..deserves to lose it. Who in their right mind would do it? Justify it any way you want, but AutoTrader and their ilk suck.

 

[TJ]

Autotrader.com used to be worth the ROI received from it at the previous rates from 2 years ago but is hardly worth the price increase justifications they now attempt to get from us now. We generate more & more ROI from our website and SEO thru our manuf on new & pre-owned vehicles than we ever did before. How to they actually expect the price increases to be justified when those of us paying attention to the performance metrics now it's all double speak? They tout themselves as "marketing" and not "lead generation" well guess what? if you're not generating any "leads" for us in comparison to the price of the products, we're going to spend the money elsewhere to "market" our vehicles & dealership. They've put the horse way ahead of the cart this time around. Anyone also notice they're looking for sales staff all over the place these days? not to hard to imagine seeing how things are going w/them.

 

[Alex Snyder (blog)]

Gary,

Thanks for your comments. I agree with some of the things you're saying, but not the way you're saying it. Would you mind keeping posts constructive?

Thanks!

 

[Gary Butler]

Big Al,

I can be a little crass for sure, but I got to call 'em like I see 'em. The questions are asked and I have to give my answer and sometimes they are as blunt as a sledge hammer. I will chill out, but if its a fire brand question, you know I can't always hold back.