Carfax now competing with Cars.com & AutoTrader.com?

[Alexander Lau]

Not sure how you misunderstood what I wrote; though to be clear, I never implied anything about how either of those sites convert. I did, however, touch on the known problem both are having with attribution at the dealership level.

I think I did misunderstand you, actually. Agreed, why not CarFax, why not anyone that brings a better buying experience to the table. It's about usability and making the buying experience easier and more transparent.

Disrupt them, they aren't really doing anything special and yes their conversion numbers suck.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Bumping this thread because, welI I personally no longer hear anything about their vehicle listing portal, I have all of our vehicles listed and never receive a lead from CarFax. Anyone else using CarFax but with some success?

What prompted me to think about this was a PR in my inbox this morning.

HYUNDAI LISTS CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED VEHICLES FOR SALE ON CARFAX.COM

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Ca. (March 7, 2018) – Hyundai Motor America is making it easier to shop for and buy Hyundai Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) vehicles by listing them for sale on Carfax Used Car Listings. At Carfax.com, online shoppers can choose to see only Hyundai CPO vehicles in their search results and are ensured a free Carfax® Vehicle History Report™ with every Certified Hyundai. Potential buyers then quickly connect with the Hyundai dealer directly from the vehicle listing, which helps accelerate the buying process.

“Our Certified program has grown significantly since its inception,” said Jose Froehlich, senior manager, certified pre-owned, at Hyundai Motor America. “Continuing that trend means being on the shopping and research sites people turn to most when shopping for pre-owned cars, and that’s Carfax.com. This is an excellent opportunity to expand our relationship with Carfax and place Hyundai CPO vehicles in front of ready-to- buy shoppers.” ...keep reading

 

[Rob]

Bumping this thread because, welI I personally no longer hear anything about their vehicle listing portal, I have all of our vehicles listed and never receive a lead from CarFax. Anyone else using CarFax but with some success?

What prompted me to think about this was a PR in my inbox this morning.

HYUNDAI LISTS CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED VEHICLES FOR SALE ON CARFAX.COM

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Ca. (March 7, 2018) – Hyundai Motor America is making it easier to shop for and buy Hyundai Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) vehicles by listing them for sale on Carfax Used Car Listings. At Carfax.com, online shoppers can choose to see only Hyundai CPO vehicles in their search results and are ensured a free Carfax® Vehicle History Report™ with every Certified Hyundai. Potential buyers then quickly connect with the Hyundai dealer directly from the vehicle listing, which helps accelerate the buying process.

“Our Certified program has grown significantly since its inception,” said Jose Froehlich, senior manager, certified pre-owned, at Hyundai Motor America. “Continuing that trend means being on the shopping and research sites people turn to most when shopping for pre-owned cars, and that’s Carfax.com. This is an excellent opportunity to expand our relationship with Carfax and place Hyundai CPO vehicles in front of ready-to- buy shoppers.” ...keep reading

Our friendly neighborhood Carfax rep is coming in this week to pitch me. One of our stores used them a couple years ago for a few months with no results. Hard to imagine much has changed - does anyone at all go to CarFax to shop for cars?

 

[Steve Stauning]

Not only do my dealers see few leads from Carfax, but the closing percentages are lower than expected for a used car classifieds websait. Part of the issue could be the spamming Carfax does to your customer after they submit a lead. They send email after email with comparable vehicles (mostly not yours) in the market.

This confuses the average used car buyer (who was ready to buy your car until Carfax kept telling them "wait, there's more...")

They have a great brand, but could use some real help on the product side of the house before their listings will enjoy any real success.

 

[Rob]

Not only do my dealers see few leads from Carfax, but the closing percentages are lower than expected for a used car classifieds websait. Part of the issue could be the spamming Carfax does to your customer after they submit a lead. They send email after email with comparable vehicles (mostly not yours) in the market.

This confuses the average used car buyer (who was ready to buy your car until Carfax kept telling them "wait, there's more...")

They have a great brand, but could use some real help on the product side of the house before their listings will enjoy any real success.

Pretty safe bet that my upcoming pitch won't say anything about that competitive spamming.

 

[George Nenni]

While my sample set is low (only a few dealers using CF premium) the results seem strong. Lead numbers from their portal shoppers looks strong, CPL around $26. Referral traffic highly engaged, 4.9 pages per session, 3.5 minutes per session. I respect @Stauning and his article around the email tactics cause alarm for sure. With the crazy spending and ROI numbers I see, dealers need more new, disruptive lead-gen solutions with lower cost per lead, VDP, strong referral traffic, etc.

 

[Alexander Lau]

I work in web traffic (cost per acquisition / goal conversions) and sales attribution. I don't see fantastic numbers out of Carfax (across the board).

 

[John Colascione]

Carfax, for 'used cars listings' seems dead on Long Island, despite their inundating TV campaigns.

 

[derrickwoolfson]

Their lead platform model is for crap. I thought they were joining the lead bandwagon to make some quick cash. I also think that it can (and has) devalued perfectly good pre-owned vehicles as consumers are turned off by a vehicle owned by more than one person, which is the case quite often when it comes to the lower price point range (14-16k) unit. Their VDP's are boring and bloated. "Show me the CarFax"

 

[derrickwoolfson]

I work in web traffic (cost per acquisition / goal conversions) and sales attribution. I don't see fantastic numbers out of Carfax (across the board).

Same for us. We sold 2-3 units a month off it. And the set rate was abysmal. Customers also said they never inquired - so I guess if they are able to get the customers email they are auto sending it?