Autotrader - Screwing Dealers and Helping Competing OEM's

[Joe Hobbs]

Funny how my reps keep telling me that the New Autotrader site is "ground breaking"

 

[Syed Azam]

Like most dealers, we are begrudgingly paying Autotrader tens of thousands of dollars a month to list our cars on their website.

I've become accustomed / numb to seeing OEM banner ads on Autotrader SRP pages, however I've always felt that the VDP has been the one page that focuses primarily on my dealership.

However when I just checked out my VDP's I noticed that Autotrader is pushing my dealership contact information (phone number, address, website link, contact form, etc) below the fold so they can serve a competing OEM's banner ad???

Toyota is one of Honda's largest competitors. Why am I paying Autotrader all this money to turn around and try to conquest my Honda shoppers and make it more difficult for customers to contact me?

I'm a reasonable guy so I would be fine with a Toyota ad at the bottom of my VDP but not at the very top above my dealership contact information! I know Cars.com and CarGurus serve banner ads on VPD's too, but there's a big difference - the dealership contact information is still front and center.

Who does Autotrader care more about, their dealer clients or competing manufacturers? The answer is apparent and a new low for Autotrader. Autotrader should be reimbursing dealers for any banner ad revenue they've generated off of our backs.

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Did you call AT, ask them why you were not informed. Best of luck

 

[BillH]

We just dropped AT again, even the reps couldn't show me where they were helping, especially with a survey for them popping up over my VDPs. They are not accustomed to clients asking them to validate the performance. Our used car business doesn't suffer without them and we rarely saw new car activity, despite the wild numbers they include in the reports. It came down to 9 phone calls and 6 leads in a month for the fees. I expect it's regional as to what works, CarGurus is the name we hear in the showroom for used cars here. I'm hoping Cargurus doesn't get too cocky. They have doubled rates each year for the past 3 years. If you push back, they just say, "ok, if you want to cancel, just let us know". What a world...

 

[John Colascione]

Unfortunately for Auto Trader, they are now a legacy product which most dealers cancel.
Their return continues to decline while prices increase. Not a winning strategy.

 

[Mid-Grade Ford]

Yah, we axed Autotrader a few months ago and we haven't seen any dip in sales. They were the most expensive and worst performing of all of our inventory listing sites. Seems like their whole product is built and designed with dealership upcharges in mind - spotlights, premium listings, super premium listings, etc. Makes for a website that's bad for consumers.

 

[BillH]

I just cancelled Autotrader for a second time and 2 months later, don't even notice that they are gone. I think it's fair to say that different markets respond better or worse, but in our area, I was getting very little for the money. They pitched the alpha banners as golden property at big dollars, and after we left a couple years ago, they were still available a year later...