Carsforsale.com | Listing VIN Online

[Todd Martin]

Hey guys,

Evaluating Carsforsale.com for a couple of small dealers I'm advising to get their DMS set up and websites hosted online.

Carsforsale.com looks good to start with, but I checked a few of their dealer websites and they do not list a VIN on the VDPs? Its either behind a form or a captcha.

Couple questions -
1. Is it a good thing not to list the VIN online? Does the dealer not lose out on potential leads in this case as the search engines do not see the VINs? Apart from Google, there are many vertical specific search engines I'm sure that are crawling dealers listings and putting in a VIN there seems to be beneficial to dealers rather than hiding it?
2. Are there any other alternatives to Carsforsale.com that I shall consider?

Best,
Todd

 

[mikeelmore]

Hey guys,

Evaluating Carsforsale.com for a couple of small dealers I'm advising to get their DMS set up and websites hosted online.

Carsforsale.com looks good to start with, but I checked a few of their dealer websites and they do not list a VIN on the VDPs? Its either behind a form or a captcha.

Couple questions -
1. Is it a good thing not to list the VIN online? Does the dealer not lose out on potential leads in this case as the search engines do not see the VINs? Apart from Google, there are many vertical specific search engines I'm sure that are crawling dealers listings and putting in a VIN there seems to be beneficial to dealers rather than hiding it?
2. Are there any other alternatives to Carsforsale.com that I shall consider?

Best,
Todd

Todd,
I think you're viewing a VDP on Carsforsale.com (their main site)and not a actual dealer site, as I have verified a couple of separate dealer sites that prominently display the VIN. My experience is CFS is trying to control and get the contact information via the CTA(call to action) button through their VDP's
But absolutely you are correct that you want to show the VIN on your online advertising and your website.
In my humble opinion

 

[Todd Martin]

@mikeelmore Thanks for the reply.

I checked both, their main site and a few dealer websites hosted by CFS. While I get it why they capture the lead on their main site, but many of their dealer websites are handling it the same way by keeping the VIN behind a contact form. May be they have an option that lets you choose whether you'd like to display it publicly or put it behind a form?

Bad idea for dealers though, I'm not sure if dealers are aware how much traffic they lose out in the deal. And even Carsforsale is hurting its own case I believe by being so protective of it, they are losing out on a lot of traffic from 3rd parties that would otherwise be attributed to them and they could report to dealers.

 

[George Nenni]

I haven’t spent a ton of time looking at CFS but they cost $100/month and generate leads at a cost of $25 or below. Small sample set since most dealers don’t track leads well in CRM.

 

[Racer X]

I agree with others, the VIN should be visible. Site vendors to consider - Dealer E Process, Dealer Inspire, DealerFire (DealerSocket).

 

[Alexander Lau]

You can list the VIN (it's not going to do much for SEO). The fact of the matter, very few VDPs index well particularly due to their dynamic behavior (platform).

 

[craigh]

You can list the VIN (it's not going to do much for SEO). The fact of the matter, very few VDPs index well orn at all due to their dynamic behavior.

This is why I love archived VDPs - they stick around long enough to be indexed and actually pop up in results.
We get a decent amount of traffic coming in on sold units, which is traffic that otherwise may have never found the site.

 

[Alexander Lau]

This is why I love archived VDPs - they stick around long enough to be indexed and actually pop up in results.
We get a decent amount of traffic coming in on sold units, which is traffic that otherwise may have never found the site.

Right! If a platform or site is smart enough to archive them awesomeness. I'm a firm believer that archived / unavailable inventory can easily create leads for similar uses vehicles. Actually, I've measured it.