Cox Auto Trader Makes Strategic Moves to Improve Online Automotive Advertising Business

[Need another print book]

I'm sad for the people that lost their jobs. The print gave us a lot of biz to and are rep was great.
They have too many wesbites they're trying to sell, and I guess it'll be part of autotrader.com now - which we only use the free listings, the cost is just too much.
We get bunch of traffic from web searches most of are customers find us on google.com, theres so many ways online for people to find cars, like easyautosales, carsearch, autopopulous, and everycarlisted which are all free. I don't see how thye can keep charging more for their websites.

 

[Longtime Cox/Traderpub employee]

Actually, that is not correct, Cox did not buy anything. When Trader Publishing was started in 91, it was half owned by Landmark, half owned by Cox. In 06, Landmark was getting tired of messing with Cox (I assume) so Cox was deciding on if they wanted to take over the whole thing or not. Cox decided it did not want the whole thing and took their half. The automotive stuff when to them, everything else went to a newly formed company of Landmark, Dominion. Dominion is actually more or less the old Trader. Anyway, it seems to me like cox never wanted to take their half but were forced, and in hindsight, seems every step they have made since then had been deliberate move to run the company into the ground in my opinion. I know our office is still generating good revenue, and our dealers are really mad right now.

 

[Matt]

Scott @ CarsForSale.com

Your website is a pretty blatant copy of AutoTrader.com. You need to make your website a little more original... geez

 

[andy sypherd]

I totally agree that Cox did everything they could to eliminate these publications. I was a long time employee and unfortunately saw the writing on the wall so I got out about 5 weeks ago. All they kept saying is "print is dead". Well about 40 percent of the public still uses print so I am not sure how that is not enough?? And as for the few people they have offered positions on the autotrader.com side they will use them and then get rid of them as well. I am sad for all those who worked hard for this orginazation because Cox never intended to continue forward anyway. They are a very greedy company who does not care about the employees or the clients they serve. If I were a car dealer I would reeveluate any adertising decision in the future that involves using a Cox product. Because being a former employee I can tell you they are not looking out for them as a customer the decisions they make are only based on Cox best interest. Therefore the customer suffers from their poor decisions and does not receive what they have been promised.

 

[Josh R.]

I work for Auto Trader and the thing that has me worried and mad is that for some reason our branch gets paid on our receivables not on our sales. So I have thousands of dollars in unpaid commission owed to me. Since they are going to close the branch, how do I have any control over those collections and how can I be assured that I will get paid. I think that part of our final pay and/or severance package should be getting paid in full for this money. We worked for it, we earned it, and 99% of the other branches would have already paid their reps for it. Talk about getting ripped off. This is discrimination at the fullest.

 

[Brian S.]

I feel for you Josh. Anytime a company puts incentives on collections and concentrates more on that than new business sales, something is up, like it's going to be put on the block or dumped. Good luck trying to get paid in full from them, I'm sure they'll spin your head with promises & stories, I wish you luck.

 

[MMK]

I'm surprised that no one has commented here that these decisions were made in the wake of a truly atrocious year for the automotive industry. It's most certainly unfortunate, but given what is happening in the economy and in the automotive industry- it seems completely unreasonable to blame management for the environment that created the necessity for this decision.

 

[Longtime Cox/Traderpub employee]

MMK, do you work for Cox right now? If not, then it is reasonable to assume that you probably do not know what is going on. Being there before Cox, and after Cox, its clear they were steering toward shutting the thing down eventually right from the get go. Uncle Joe's state of the company addresses since he has taken over have been nothing but bad news. Every one. He then came up with this 3 phase plan. Im sure anybody who was there remembers all this, what these big changes were supposed to be for the better etc. Well I guess we know what phase 3 is.

 

[Living the Dream]

I became a Cox employee when my city was acquired by them. I was thankful for the the generous severance I received when the original founder sold out and I decided to give my new employer a chance. It was fun to be a part of a very successful organization and I was well paid for my time. Everyone in the organization cared about the customers we served and we were one of the most profitable cities in the country. In my opinion, the company began to focus more on cutting costs than it did on customer satisfaction. I felt that the company did not want to listen to my ideas so I decided to quit about 4 years ago. It is sad to see so many people hurting because upper management did not adapt to the changing market conditions.

To all of those about to be laid off: The sooner you let go of your past and forgive your last boss for all the suffering you had to go through, the better off you will be in the future. Most of the middle managers I worked for at Cox were only guilty of carrying out orders from the top and the people at the top were just trying to keep their jobs. If upper management had been more responsible, the company could have been better off, even in a down market. Now more than ever, dealers need a decent place to advertise and it is too bad that something that used to be free as part of a print package now costs more and more every year. Good luck in your job hunt and make sure you get a job with a company that cares about you and the customers you will serve. I am glad I chose to quit on my terms instead of waiting for the train wreck but there are some good companies out there that will hire you as long as you put your best foot forward. Keep in touch with your friends and network as much as possible. When you are in a job interview, avoid bad-mouthing your last boss and you will soon be living the dream. Good luck with your job search.

 

[WOW!]

I don't know if I am more suprised that they just killed the magazine or they would actually try to bring back auto trader as a paid publication in order for Cox to satisfy their distribution contracts???!!!

How can these "big wigs" come to the conclusion that print is dead. Most of our qualified leads came from Auto Mart and another free statewide publication here in Michigan (shall remain nameless here). Both pulled WAY more than autotrader.com. and both seam to do a robust business - we would have been screwed this year without these two magazines. Print may be dead in 10 years but for now I think this is a HUGE mistake for them.

I have a freind who owns a motorcycle shop and says Dominion is next and that in some Illinois markets they are eliminating cycle trader and pushing customers to their web sites because Cox wont deliver them!!

Pure stupidity!!!