Cargurus, Please tell me how this benefits your customer (aka... The Dealer)????

[Rick Buffkin]

Who wants to build some bots?

Lacing up the bot shoes! I have massive database of alias Carguru email addresses I can use!

 

[Alex Snyder]

Sean Bradley sent this. It is long, but the real problem only takes 2 minutes to hear. Danny Zaslavsky (the dealer in the video) nails it. This video starts at that point (6 minutes 23 seconds in):



If you can't watch the video, here's the issue: CarGurus isn't treating dealers like partners. He says they don't make him feel as though they are interested in his success. They're only interested in getting money out of him.

I also liked his statement about being a lead provider or not. So many vendors don't want to be labeled a "lead provider," but it is a bit like a smoker. If you smoke a cigarette you're a smoker. If you send a lead you're a lead provider. Sure, you can be a smoker, and a dad, and a good boss, and whatever else you are, but you're going to pick up that label with that one action. CarGurus absolutely is a lead provider.

 

[Dan Sayer]

I think one other thing important to mention regarding the algorithm (as it relates to the conversation at 12:45) is that we get a lot of leads on "back row beauties" because CarGurus says they are a Great Deal. All our cars go through inspections and the ones we don't fix we disclose with a full inspection sheet listing out all the issues as well as try and add those to the first line of the comments field (things like HAIL). Issue we were having is that CarGurus has no way to convey to a shopper that this car is priced well below market because there are issues (other than safety, those are addressed) and so shoppers would get mad at us because they think that we control the way CarGurus shows the value. CarGurus should have an "exempt" from Market comparison option with language regarding "this car may have items that the dealer has opted to not repair due to cost (hail, a/c, radio, cosmetic issues, etc). Please contact dealer for details" or something to that effect.

 

[Will @ car.media]

Thanks for your reply @Brendan Dolan. I understand your point but there are so many other ways to show this if they insist on showing it by showing it else where on the site. All this does is create doubt in the customers mind. They see a price on a car and they think they can buy that car for that price. This is close to the same BS that CarJoJo is doing. The difference is we are actually sending pricing info to Cargurus. Back to my original question. How does this benefit the dealer? How does it benefit the dealer when the dealer is displaying a sale price on a vehicle and the site provider decides to show transaction prices lower than the dealers sale price. Think about all the time and energy put into this BS. Why would they not try and develop something to actually help build value in the dealers product. thats being displayed on the website instead of only focusing on price.

One could argue that the "Avg. Sale Price" is a unique competitive advantage that CG offers to generate traffic to their site which, in turn, generates VDP view volume at scale. The examples you cite are all showing averages below the listed price, but it goes both ways. Some dealers will have inventory listed below average price. It's easy to throw stones at most of these 3P lead sources, but remember that CG has actually innovated some product in a market that's been stagnant for a decade, and they're a market leader in SEO. Moreover, I find them to be fairly open to suggestions and responsive to customer feedback. While I'm not advocating for the model whatsoever, I do think CG is sort of the lesser of all other evils when it comes to lead gen.

 

[Alexander Lau]

 

[Brad Burlingham]

Ryan, thanks for posting the article. really good stuff. is there anywhere to get that full study or was it just two posts on experian??

Google works the same way. If it keeps showing listings that don't interest people, then people will stop using Google.

This is a good example of where metrics and analytics can become a distraction to what's important. Ultimately you have to see how a site like CG is helping you move metal. You can't really count on the provider's metrics and reporting for those answers. You need to have objective an empirical information.

Are you familiar with Experian's Automotive Sales Attribution Study?

 

[Dan Sayer]

So, I guess AutoTrader is taking advantage of the CarGurus bashing by also providing price validation on Used listings but using dealer-friendly all-green-but-slightly-brighter-shade indicators LOL. Email from AT yesterday with headline "All-New Autotrader Update:“Good Price”&“Great Price”Icons on Used Listings"

To drive shopper engagement and urgency, we've launched “Good Price” & “Great Price” indicators across SRPs and VDPs for used vehicles that are priced within the Kelley Blue Book Fair Market Range.*

In addition to seeing the indicators on listings, shoppers can also filter their used vehicle search results by “Good Price” and “Great Price.”

• Vehicles with a “Good Price” indicator are those priced within the Kelley Blue Book Fair Market Range, but above the Fair Purchase Price.
• Vehicles with a “Great Price” indicator are those priced within the Kelley Blue Book Fair Market Range, below the Fair Purchase Price.

We will be adding these indicators to New Listings in the future.

 

[ryan.gerardi]

I like it

Who wants to build some bots?

That is really funny, man.

 

[ryan.gerardi]

Ryan, thanks for posting the article. really good stuff. is there anywhere to get that full study or was it just two posts on experian??

Yes, here is the full study on the Experian blog.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Yes, here is the full study on the Experian blog.

Thanks for sharing Ryan.