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Dale Pollak VS Michael Rose AT DSMC

IMO, where an industry has a 'branded solution', Google's un-branded solution will have a harder time making an impact. AirTravel one of these spaces (PriceLine, Expedia, Kayak, Orbitz, etc...). Getting a quote for term life insurance... not so much.

Google coming into our space is really a call to arms for AT and Cars. They will have to maintain or increase their traditional advertising to keep share.

That is true but cars are just... a little bit unique thing.

What I wonder is if consumers will feel more confident about the contact/buying process just because Google is involved VS Autotrader or Cars.com.

I think at the begging Craig's List had some of that when people felt is was consumer buying from consumer instead of from a professional salesperson (so people didn't feel at a disadvantage in negotiating skills).

Will Google bring the "Costco" effect (they look after me) to this arena?
 
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This sounds like all my friends when they have to update their facebook or phone. They don't like it and they voice their opinion. However, its needed. Some go forward willingly some resist moving forward. No one is taking anything away from you. You have all the same rights Autotrader does. The paid advertising portion of google is clicked on dramatically less than the organic section. We choose to pick the small problems to make a big deal about. I also bet your competition loves the fact they don't have to compete with you on 3rd party classified sites.

I respectfully disagree with your opinion of autotrader and others. I would recommend doing a bit of research on your statement. Dataium actually has some very intelligent data concerning how many people found your website from autotrader by opening a tab then searching "Dealer Name". This will point out that you can't possibly point to Autotrader and say they are stealing your "leads" when in actuality they are delivering the power of big time advertising (Nationally) and allowing you to participate in that advantage. I used to sell cars all of the country but that could have never been possible if we didn't use autotrader, cars, etc... You have the same opportunity to use the same tools and you can choose to take advantage or not.

Chat has proven to be successful because the customer gets to keep themselves anonymous until they choose to change that. I believe customers are making fake email addresses to buy cars anyway. Lets be real here!

Not trying to take shots but I believe your response to this post is an emotional statement that doesn't have any valid proof. I believe the changes are going to help the car business evolve. You will now have to be more creative in your sales process.

Adapt or be left behind. Google getting in the game is long over due. I understand that the automotive industry spends more money on paid advertising on Google than any other vertical. Embrace it and find how you can get a competitive advantage and evolve yourself and your dealership.

Knowing Google this will possibly evolve to the ability to put inventory on your places pages as well as standard search results. Its the natural evolution!

Google Cars? NO.
Cars.com? NO.
AutoTrader? NO.

When will dealers wake up and generate their OWN leads. You all realize that if you CUT OFF AutoTrader for example, and they had zero $$$ from dealers, they would STOP taking up terms like "used ford city" in the searches... And Wow, fancy this, a dealer that's in that city would get the traffic that goes DIRECTLY to their website. And have own their leads, and not have to pay other people for them! Dealers are the root of the problem here, they are paying AT, Cars.com, etc $$$ to screw them over. Keep funding these big car search sites and watch as they keep throwing $$$ to rank for all your city terms.

How any dealer can be okay with Google coming in and stealing all their traffic is beyond me... Does anyone really want to pay for leads, and not even be given the customer's info, and only a proxy e-mail that's not real? I don't. Not to mention, a lead that's also being resold over and over? No thanks. Dealers should be against AT, Cars.com, Google Cars, HARD. Not giving away complete control.

/post. in b4 no one can use their brain to understand this.
 
H Ryan!

I agree with nearly everything, I'd like to weigh in on:

... The paid advertising portion of google is clicked on dramatically less than the organic section. We choose to pick the small problems to make a big deal about....


Google Advertising: Think Nobody Clicks on Google Ads? Think Again! | WordStream
Clicks on paid search listings beat out organic clicks by nearly a 2:1 margin for keywords with high commercial intent in the US.
Now, to be clear here, organic searches still get more clicks overall than paid search – but not all keyword searches are created equal. Keyword searches with high commercial intent – meaning, keywords where a searcher is looking to buy a product or service (for example: “buy stainless steel dishwasher”) – are worth far more to businesses than your basic informational keyword searches (for example: “who is Thomas Edison”). Our research found that for these valuable, high commercial intent keyword searches, paid search advertising listings gave the “free” organic search listings a resounding beat-down. Naturally, we’ve illustrated the results in an infographic.




google-ads.png
 
I believe the changes are going to help the car business evolve. You will now have to be more creative in your sales process.

Ryan,

You are correct, bitching about changes will not stop the changes!

All we do here is bring up to light what is happening in the industry and try to figure out if it has real weight or not and based n that try to learn how to react to it so we can continue to sell cars.

Whether I like that Google makes money in the process, or Autotrader charges too much, or that Cars.com own the searches, who cares? My board has to be full at the end of the month.

Think about this:

Wouldn't you like to be the only Ford dealer in your sate?
Have exclusive rights to TV and radio for any truck advertising?
And people that buy from you pay .20 less per gallon of diesel.


Every business aspires to dominate its market. That's how we get better at things.
 
I agree with this. 2:1 seems high but I can't really challenge it seeing I have done 0 research and you have. I will trust your research. Even if we took all the Autotrader's and Cars.com's away dealers would still pay for ads on Google.

What would Joe do if he owned a dealership? Would you use autotrader.com? Cars.com? Google Cars?

H Ryan!

I agree with nearly everything, I'd like to weigh in on:




Google Advertising: Think Nobody Clicks on Google Ads? Think Again! | WordStream
Clicks on paid search listings beat out organic clicks by nearly a 2:1 margin for keywords with high commercial intent in the US.
Now, to be clear here, organic searches still get more clicks overall than paid search – but not all keyword searches are created equal. Keyword searches with high commercial intent – meaning, keywords where a searcher is looking to buy a product or service (for example: “buy stainless steel dishwasher”) – are worth far more to businesses than your basic informational keyword searches (for example: “who is Thomas Edison”). Our research found that for these valuable, high commercial intent keyword searches, paid search advertising listings gave the “free” organic search listings a resounding beat-down. Naturally, we’ve illustrated the results in an infographic.




google-ads.png
 
Yago,

I agree everyone should want to dominate their market. The gentleman above stated don't do autotrader.com, cars.com, or google. Seriously? Thats his business of course but I think the rebellious attitude is a bit over played by many on this board. If you are in my market you won't dominate me by pulling out of at.com, cars, and google ;). The auto industry is changing faster than ever right now and I just want to see dealers embrace it and move forward.

Ryan,

You are correct, bitching about changes will not stop the changes!

All we do here is bring up to light what is happening in the industry and try to figure out if it has real weight or not and based n that try to learn how to react to it so we can continue to sell cars.

Whether I like that Google makes money in the process, or Autotrader charges too much, or that Cars.com own the searches, who cares? My board has to be full at the end of the month.

Think about this:

Wouldn't you like to be the only Ford dealer in your sate?
Have exclusive rights to TV and radio for any truck advertising?
And people that buy from you pay .20 less per gallon of diesel.


Every business aspires to dominate its market. That's how we get better at things.
 
Must read too:


The Next Place You Buy a New Car Could Be Google | Wired Business | Wired.com


A couple notes just so people read in between the lines; just because Pash or Wired say stuff doesn't mean much:


“Google couldn’t officially sell the car,” Pasch says, “but they could really facilitate the entire transaction.”

Maybe, but Google could buy Autonation and develop this as an in-house tool just like Autonation owns its own lead network (AutoUSA).


Toyota Sunnyvale’s inventory system is now linked up directly to Google, so every time a new car arrives on the lot, it shows up in searches.

Wow, we didn't know about that technology! OK some things are not that new, feeds nowadays take no time to propagate, the change in business model 'SE-3rd party-->lead to the new SE is the 3rd party--controlled lead-->' is what is really interesting.
 
This idea of facilitating or brokering the deal is not a new concept. Carsdirect does it still today. When I worked at one of the 4 dealers I was at I sold an average of 5 to 8 Carsdirect broker deals. They did everything except delivery. I didn't even speak to the customer prior to the appointment being set. I washed the car, gased it up, and delivered the car typically on cd.com's paper. Finance guys loved that!

Must read too:


The Next Place You Buy a New Car Could Be Google | Wired Business | Wired.com


A couple notes just so people read in between the lines; just because Pash or Wired say stuff doesn't mean much:


“Google couldn’t officially sell the car,” Pasch says, “but they could really facilitate the entire transaction.”

Maybe, but Google could buy Autonation and develop this as an in-house tool just like Autonation owns its own lead network (AutoUSA).


Toyota Sunnyvale’s inventory system is now linked up directly to Google, so every time a new car arrives on the lot, it shows up in searches.

Wow, we didn't know about that technology! OK some things are not that new, feeds nowadays take no time to propagate, the change in business model 'SE-3rd party-->lead to the new SE is the 3rd party--controlled lead-->' is what is really interesting.
 
This idea of facilitating or brokering the deal is not a new concept. Carsdirect does it still today. When I worked at one of the 4 dealers I was at I sold an average of 5 to 8 Carsdirect broker deals. They did everything except delivery. I didn't even speak to the customer prior to the appointment being set. I washed the car, gased it up, and delivered the car typically on cd.com's paper. Finance guys loved that!

Ryan,

Were you called the "spooner"? :)