AutoTrader Going Public

[ddavis]

Yago, I was an Alpha, Premium (new and used) in a much larger market than Seattle and I didn't spend nearly that much. That is without any assistance from the manufacturer.

I think that you are listening to dealers that are inflating the cost to justify their decision.

(RANT) I was looking at a local Ford store's website. At the top right hand side of their homepage they had their phone number in large fonts. The problem was that it was missing the last four digits. Trust me, it didn't get any better. If their website looks like shit, think what any display advertising looks like. You have to know what you are doing and put in the work. If not, save the money. The internet is a great marketing tool and it isn't about watching the damn CRM. You can have a response time of under 3 minutes but if you aren't getting quality, high performing leads, what does it matter?

 

[yagoparamo]

I hear you and I agree with you. We were talking for a second about how ATC commanded more price now than it used to. Maybe dealers lied to me a little (uh!) but I'll bet you it is not to far from reality.

 

[ddavis]

I can remember when dealerships would spent $15K for one color ad in the Saturday Dallas Morning News. GMs would spend hours working on the header. The header would take up 20% of the page and nobody took the time to read it. Customers only want to know what you have and how much. It actually worked, in part, because it was really hard to screw it up.

Dealerships want to be on TV for branding. They have a message like "we are the good guys". Customers don't believe it and simply don't care. They are making ROS buys and with all of the channels, nobody sees it with enough frequency to make a difference. At my last Nissan store the GM ran an Altima for $16,995. We were "the home of the $16,995 Altima". He ran this for 90 days spending three times my monthly internet budget. I don't know of a single customer that asked for a $16,995 Altima.

The internet is the most cost effective marketing tool ever available to a car dealership. I honestly believe that it is a rare GM that looks at their website on a regular basis. They step over dollars to pick up dimes.

 

[joe.pistell]

...IMO autotrader started to lose revenue a few years ago as the market changed, websites like Craigslist created an impossible to win-over competition, and dealers realized that $10,000 (or more!) per month to be on ATC wasn't worth it. With great cash reserves they went on the hunt and bought a few great companies. Maybe....

Really Yag??

I am sick and tired of your poor behavior against your fellow vendors. You owe them an apology.

 

[jscole86]

This makes me want to ask for a discount... haha

------------
New federal filings show that Autotrader.com is looking to become the first internet company to retest the waters of the IPO market since Facebook's May 18th debut. There's only one problem; six weeks ago AutoTrader insiders borrowed $400 million in order to turn around and pay themselves a one-time dividend in the same amount. I call it, cashing in before you cash out, while my co-host Jeff Macke is more blunt.


"There's nothing illegal about this, it's just kind of scummy," he says in the attached video. "They've made it a lesser company and immediately after doing so, they're pitching on to the public."

Read the Whole Article Here...

 

[ddavis]

I wonder about the comparison to Facebook. At least, AutoTrader has a proven revenue stream.

Yag, that is a cheap shot knowing that they are not allowed to defend themselves on this forum. I have been critical of vendors, on here, but I am not competing against them.

If there is anyone on DealerRefresh that uses AutoTrader, knows how to make it work and verify the ROI, it's Joe. When he can't make it work, I'll stop endorsing them and go in a different direction.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

I know of several dealers in the lower - mid - high teens paying that out to ATC monthly. Its not unheard of. You start purchasing Alpha and buying competitive make packages and display you can absolutely get your spending with ATC into the teens.

 

[ddavis]

I know of several dealers in the lower - mid - high teens paying that out to ATC monthly. Its not unheard of. You start purchasing Alpha and buying competitive make packages and display you can absolutely get your spending with ATC into the teens.

Jeff, I guess I have always spent the money like it was mine.

 

[yagoparamo]

Really Yag??

I am sick and tired of your poor behavior against your fellow vendors. You owe them an apology.

Joe,

Sorry if that came as poor behavior against ATC, it wasn't.

ATC can charge whatever they want, they are a for profit organization. I didn't rant about their prices.

My intention was to rationalize the fact that BEFORE Craigslist appeared in the market ATC was able to get paid a higher price for their services. ATC was for a while alone at the top without competition at all as the main 3rd party classifieds in the US for automotive.

AFTER Craigslist appeared in the market I think most people in DR have seen the many smaller independents left ATC and that many franchised dealers divided their money between both sites with some of them leaving totally.

I strongly believe that the market has changed for 3rd party classifieds just in the last few years and that will change even more specially with other companies like Google joining the business and that change prompted ATC to diversify their assets.

 

[ChrisS]

Didn

I called it about Autotrader a few months ago going Public. Autotrader gobbled up some companies just for this. So far their management has been very short sighted in how to use the massive market strength they now have.

Autotrader reps are fantastic and really drive the company. Their District and mid level managers are also extremely good. I agree with posts early about Leadership. One of the first keys of leadership is vision. Autotrader has yet to show any direction with all these acquisitions. Its tie Trade In Marketplace tie in with KBB is one of the most absurd ideas I have heard. The concept of telling someone that KBB believes your vehicle is worth a certain amount of money but Trade In Marketplace will offer you this figure right now is ludicrous. Try that on your sales floor. Tell your customers that you believe their trade is worth a certain amount, and then tell them you will only offer another amount for their trade...see how they react.

I'm not bashing Autotrader in totality. Honestly they have a pretty decent product and we have had tremendous trackable results from them. But management is just short sighted about their future. I bash them on the fact that they have so much opportunity and just squander it, as well as fumble a lot of big issue.

Great reps that really drive the company, poor executive leadership, and now it seems like some very unethical(but legal) behavior.