cars.com price increase

[Rick Buffkin]

They tried an increase here but didn't succeed. Getting Dropped kicked with both feet from the whole group.

 

[Kelly Wilson]

After a year back on Cars with a newspaper tie in...we're (the Buick/GMC store) off again. The store gave up their AT account to go to Cars and we saw a drop in floor traffic, leads, calls and sales. Nothing happens in a vacum. We also had a CRM change, a manager change, and 100% BDC staff rotation. After 2 full months back on AT, we're seeing about a 5% increase. We are currently getting many more leads and sales through our unpaid listings on CarGuru than the compared times on AT or Cars.

 

[Alexander Lau]

We took a break from Cars.com for a year or so also because of poor lead quality and almost zero ROI. About 2 months ago we decided to give it another shot and I can assure that nothing has changed for us. Actually, if anything, I've noticed that the leads are even worse now. It's almost 100% consumed by people who want to finance a $5,000 car with no credit, job, or cash. Not sure if it's a recent change, but I think the huge Road Loans ads all around our inventory probably have something to do with it.

Don't waste your time, put your money into website usability, AdWords, Bing and potentially Gemini and make sure you keep them accountable with a tool like https://www.adyapper.com.

 

[Alexander Lau]

I have had messages from a dozen people citing rate increases of up to 145% of their current rates with Cars. They couldn't justify the old rates and now they're gouging for more.

It's a huge waste of money, same can be said of AutoTrader.com. I've viewed hundred of ROI reports over the years and they all say the same thing, "Dealers, it's probably not wise to keep spending money on these 3rd party systems, when they don't convert."