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AutoTrader.com Pricing???

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#122
No problem Jennifer.

Google Alerts is a great way to keep informed in the industry. You can create an email alert so anytime a certain "keyword" for example autotrader.com, cars.com ect. is mentioned the news item, blog is emailed to you.

Here is a link to set it up

Loading…

www.google.com

If you need help let me know.
 
#123
"Our new partnership with Kbb.com signifies our continued commitment to providing our advertising customers the best value and widest possible exposure. With more than 3 million new and used cars listed on our site and 13 million unique monthly visitors -- and with both numbers continuing to grow -- AutoTrader.com remains the best source for buyers to find that perfect car and for sellers to quickly find car buyers." -- Chip Perry, president, AutoTrader.com

"This alliance is a great opportunity for Kelley Blue Book to further expand its focus on providing value to the dealer's business, something we have been committed to for more than 80 years." -- Paul Johnson, president, Kelley Blue Book

This move still does not support the annual rate increases for the Autotrader solution they keep handing to the dealerships. kBB is a great company and has a great reputation however they have not been real successful in the transition to the technology solution. This is strange as they have the ingredients however the recipe has not clicked with the consumers.

At some point, and this point has been taken by many dealers around the country, most dealers will say no to the annual increases in their rates. There is not much Autotrader can do as their business model is based on the pyramid principal and when the pyramid begins to turn upside down then there is no longer financial base support.

There will be a solution developing from a company, developing a model offshore that will, if they are able to pull together the plan and financing, offer a more reasonable priced solution. Let us hope they are successful.

Google Base is another solution that is (Presently) very affordable and Craigs List which is very affordable. The consumers like these sites and trust them, every day more and more use the resource. You also have ebay local which at $900.00 plus is not inexpensive however it is clean and the consumers like them, and they are month to month. You try them, if it works you keep them if not you say goodby. The other nice thing about these three is they are International and this gives the sellers a much broader market.
 
#124
Wow DS. You've got cajones. You actually work for AT.c, you feel that you can justify price gouging. There is a difference between making money and greed. Then, you add insult to injury by laughing at the folks on this forum( mostly dealers; your customers, your livlihood) and calling them stupid. Does DS stand for DipShit??
Furthermore: AT.c does NOT have the right to take money out of dealer pockets every 6 mos. On the horizon for 2008:
AT.c is selling against TV for the first time ever.
Increases are 8(Loyalty Rate)-25%(new business rate), NO grandfathered rates, will occur in March regardless of when you signed your last contract. There will be two rates: New Business rate and Loyalty Rate. Loyalty Rate eligibility, they will need to be on consecutively at least one year. ALL dealers will get the increase by 3/31/08.
So, you think it's bad now. Just wait. And DS, good luck with that. it will be awesome to see who is laughing when your commissions dwindle down to poverty level.
Be sure to check out the vignettes leading up to Cars.com's 2 commercial spots in SuperBowl: www.carsgameface.com. In addition, Cars.com will take over Yahoo Autos on Monday Dec 10. NEW and USED inventory will be posted. AT.c will take over kbb.com. Yahoo ranking on Alexa: 1. Kbb.com rankning on Alexa: 2,498.
 
#125
AutoTrader.com's attitude is that they don't care, if you pay the increrase percentage, fine, if not "...you'll be back eventually because you need us more than we need you right now" That casual attitude will cost them millions in lost revenue. Is their audience going to grow w/partnership from MSN & KBB enough to justify the increase in rates? I hardly think so. The new features do not drive traffic to vehicles, they are icing on a stale cake that I as a dealer am personally tired of being told to eat it because it "tastes great". I sympathize with my sales rep from autotrader because they are ok, the company is out of touch with reality in their rate structures in our market if you ask me, we've had enough.
 
#127
yes, on alexa, yahoo is #1... but that's not their car site... just fyi
it only shows yahoo when you put in autos.yahoo.com (sounds fishy)

just like ebay is realy high on alexa also, but not for ebay motors, it's for the people buying beanie babies, etc. (just another fyi)
 
#128
Nothing Fishy about it. Autotrader swapped with Cars - Cars took the #1 visited site with yahoo, AutoTrader took #5 with MSN.

autos.yahoo.com is just the subdomain and direct link which was given I suppose to be helpful and show where the "powered by" is. autos.msn.com gets you to Autotraders partnership area of the MSN site.

saying people don't go to Ebay to buy or sell Cars like they do with everything else is like saying people that go to KBB only go to research used car values and not search the car - so does that mean Autotrader's partnership with them means nothing as well?

In the end again it comes down to price - get the same or more leads on cars.com but for 1/2 or 1/3 of the price then Autotrader in most cases especially when cars.com is attached to the paper (Classified Ventures) in that market - i.e. Phoenix, LA, Miami, ect..
 
#129
1) we've had 4 reps in 12 months!

2) AT calls have dropped nearly 50% over the past year.

3) the only goods news i have regarding AT: customer surveys did show 50% of our AT deals never called or emailed us - they just showed up and went under the radar and were logged as 'drive-ups'. But then, this was true for EVERY internet medium - turned out 60% of our customers said the internet was what brought them in.

4) AT has the worse ROI for us when compared to other iternet initiatives, which are now soley AT, cars.com, craigslist, sem/seo for our own website.

5) new cars were dropped from premium plus to standard for us - yet we got just as many leads. makes me wonder if we should just become a standard advertiser with our used cars.

As soon as I can find somehwere else to invest the money, autotrader is gone. maybe ebay motors..
 
#130
Jason and all.

Jason I am in your camp, we all know that customers like to shop incognito.

I am about to revamp our post sale survey to get better info. I like you you've found a way to uncover stealth shoppers.

If anyone has a survey that they lean on, Please post your survey queries here.

Thnx,
Joe
 

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