Our dealerships recently enrolled with CarGurus enhanced listings with the upmost reluctance. The main factor for enrolling was that we grossed more off their "free" leads in 2016 than our paid listings on AutoTrader. Figuring that we could only improve if we actually had the customer's real contact information, we are giving them a shot for the next 3 to 4 months to see if it moves the needle. I am not a fan by any means of paying for 3rd party sites but, in my humble opinion, it is a necessary evil of our industry that you can at least be found on these sites as part of your marketing efforts.
However; I have a MAJOR concern with CarGurus "Instant Market Value". I am told that this is a representation of our "local" market but I find that extremely hard to believe. For example, I typed in 2013 Honda CR-V within 50 miles of my zip code. 60% of the vehicles listed were my vehicles and every single one was supposedly overpriced by over $2000+. How??? We ARE the market. There is not another Honda dealer for 100 miles in any direction and we have 4X the Pre-Owned Honda Inventory vs. our closest competitor yet we are somehow "overpriced" for our market? I now have one star reviews on CarGurus because the customer feels that we are trying to take advantage of them because CG said that we overpriced our low mileage, HCPV.......
I was shown their pricing adjustment tool which basically showed that if I took every overpriced car and marked to a <$1000 gross I could get close to listing on page one. Has anyone else gone toe-to-toe with CarGurus over this?
However; I have a MAJOR concern with CarGurus "Instant Market Value". I am told that this is a representation of our "local" market but I find that extremely hard to believe. For example, I typed in 2013 Honda CR-V within 50 miles of my zip code. 60% of the vehicles listed were my vehicles and every single one was supposedly overpriced by over $2000+. How??? We ARE the market. There is not another Honda dealer for 100 miles in any direction and we have 4X the Pre-Owned Honda Inventory vs. our closest competitor yet we are somehow "overpriced" for our market? I now have one star reviews on CarGurus because the customer feels that we are trying to take advantage of them because CG said that we overpriced our low mileage, HCPV.......
I was shown their pricing adjustment tool which basically showed that if I took every overpriced car and marked to a <$1000 gross I could get close to listing on page one. Has anyone else gone toe-to-toe with CarGurus over this?