• Stop being a LURKER - join our dealer community and get involved. Sign up and start a conversation.

CarGuru's 100% Rate Increase!! 2nd time in 2 years

Hello all,

I received a nice "Happy New Year" email from Carguru's stating that my rate would be increasing Feb 1st by 100%. I can continue with Carguru's at this new rate or my account would be cancelled. Carguru's has taken us from $750.00 monthly to $2620.00 and now in Feb to $5640.00. All in just under two years. Inventory has not changed significantly. I tried to negotiate the last rate hike and they had a "take it or leave it" stance. They definitely bring us a significant amount of our business but at this rate i'm not sure what to do.

I'm not here to bash CarGuru's. They definitely do a great job. I just cant understand these HUGE rate increases. When i signed up I was told the rate was based on inventory. Then i was increased because I opened up two additional locations which I've since closed. Now the hike is due to the traffic they bring us?

Has anyone has the same experience with them? If I drop them will these leads find us on another 3rd party platform? I'm basically everywhere else!

see copy of email attached

@mbmotorsports - Which package/level are you on with CarGurus? That seems like a really significant rate increase...did they add more features or value? Or just charging more for the exact same tool/feature-set?
 
@mbmotorsports - Which package/level are you on with CarGurus? That seems like a really significant rate increase...did they add more features or value? Or just charging more for the exact same tool/feature-set?

courtney, we have the higest package with almost 200 cars in stock. Carguru's has been very professional in addressing my concerns posted on this forum.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Patrick A Ruster
Good Evening, My name is Craig Petersen w/ eBay Motors. We have introductory subscriptions ranging in the 1k to 2k range. Our subscription pricing typically doesn't change for 2 to 3 years. If you'd like to schedule a discovery call, just contact me via the forum. We can keep things purely educational.
 
Hello all,

I received a nice "Happy New Year" email from Carguru's stating that my rate would be increasing Feb 1st by 100%. I can continue with Carguru's at this new rate or my account would be cancelled. Carguru's has taken us from $750.00 monthly to $2620.00 and now in Feb to $5640.00. All in just under two years. Inventory has not changed significantly. I tried to negotiate the last rate hike and they had a "take it or leave it" stance. They definitely bring us a significant amount of our business but at this rate i'm not sure what to do.

I'm not here to bash CarGuru's. They definitely do a great job. I just cant understand these HUGE rate increases. When i signed up I was told the rate was based on inventory. Then i was increased because I opened up two additional locations which I've since closed. Now the hike is due to the traffic they bring us?

Has anyone has the same experience with them? If I drop them will these leads find us on another 3rd party platform? I'm basically everywhere else!

see copy of email attached
Attribution is your answer.

If you can show them how well they are doing and how well you are doing, it's a win; win. It's a case by case basis. The analysis that I've seen, CarGurus drives a ton of conversions (traffic).
 
Cargurus sent us the same dreaded email for the 2nd year in a row. It is very discouraging when we have not changed anything.,. no new features.. no extra inventory and now they want a 50% increase. My stores budget didn't increase so now I have asked for a reprieve with the rate hike but I am not sure I will be able to keep them even though I like them. Anyone have any ideas??
 
Cargurus dealer pricing algorithm makes about as much sense as their car pricing algorithm. Their goal is to make $300 per close from their leads. So, if they send you 50 leads/mo, they expect you'll close 5 of those, and will charge you $1,500/mo. They will negotiate, but it's a long process. We got them to almost match our previous years amount, but in the end ended up cancelling, and going back to their free service.
 
The dealers I work with who are using CG are charged anywhere from $700 to $2k per rooftop per month, including independents, single rooftops and groups. Cost per leads around $20-30, cost per sale averages around $200. When you compare cost/VDP, cost/lead with other major portals, CG seems to deliver pretty high value IMO. In CG's Q3 financial results from WSJ, said average annual revenue per subscribing dealer (AARSD) in the U.S. was $11,526, an increase of 16% compared to $9,939 in the third quarter of 2016. I expect rates will continue to climb, with a goal of $24k in AARSD.