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Is anyone else having this issue with Cars.Com and Autotrader?

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Mitchell Brenner

Mitchell Brenner

Boss
Sep 16, 2009
111
2
First Name
Mitchell
#1
We have seen a sharp decrease in the effectiveness in our Cars.Com and Autotrader business. Leads are down. Phone calls are down. Hits to our website from them are down. Of course their only answer is to always ask us what we're doing wrong so let's get that out of the way. We have custom comments on all our Pre-Owned Vehicles. We use First Look software to insure that our vehicles are priced correctly and we check it daily. We have 25 - 50 photos per vehicles and video on our AutoTrader site.

Is this a problem others are having?:cry:
 
Last edited:
#2
Mitchell- before I go look, I'm gonna be lazy and ask- what's your call to action in your ads/batch tagline? Check mine out here:
2006 Mini Cooper, $15,793 - Cars.com

Whenever I hit them with the same thing about traffic, I get the same answer. However it does seem to be something I can correct- whether it be change up my batch tagline or have them change the number- I get quite a few wrong number callers from both Cars and AutoTrader. Yes, my quantity of "leads" has decrease as well, yet my quality that actually contact the dealership thru email or phone has really improved. They are more immediate funnel than 30+ days out like they used to be.
One thing that's been discussed in the Memphis market is the fact that more and more the people are just coming in- they are printing maps, they are printing the details pages and the vehicle is selling within 3 days of whomever printing those off- and I'll see someone sourced as just "Internet- dealership website"...or they say some point during the deal- "well when I saw it online, it was priced at..."- hence the tagline I have...and lots of times we get they really "don't remember where online", or "it was a relative that did the search for them and they were just on the internet, don't bug me with details" attitude...
Hope maybe re-writing your batch tagline helps- I did earlier in the month and it generated traffic- don't know if it's truly the correlation, yet sometimes it's the real little things.
 
#3
Our traffic has been down and may be related to the lack of advertising they are doing. The one thing that I do not like about cars.com leads is the fact that leads do not or can not select what trim level they are hoping to find. I have a separate template for cars.com leads asking for clarification. Most of the time, we do not hear from the customer.
 
#4
sburges2 said:
Mitchell- before I go look, I'm gonna be lazy and ask- what's your call to action in your ads/batch tagline? Check mine out here:
2006 Mini Cooper, $15,793 - Cars.com

Whenever I hit them with the same thing about traffic, I get the same answer. However it does seem to be something I can correct- whether it be change up my batch tagline or have them change the number- I get quite a few wrong number callers from both Cars and AutoTrader. Yes, my quantity of "leads" has decrease as well, yet my quality that actually contact the dealership thru email or phone has really improved. They are more immediate funnel than 30+ days out like they used to be.
One thing that's been discussed in the Memphis market is the fact that more and more the people are just coming in- they are printing maps, they are printing the details pages and the vehicle is selling within 3 days of whomever printing those off- and I'll see someone sourced as just "Internet- dealership website"...or they say some point during the deal- "well when I saw it online, it was priced at..."- hence the tagline I have...and lots of times we get they really "don't remember where online", or "it was a relative that did the search for them and they were just on the internet, don't bug me with details" attitude...
Hope maybe re-writing your batch tagline helps- I did earlier in the month and it generated traffic- don't know if it's truly the correlation, yet sometimes it's the real little things.
Click to expand...

I read through your seller notes and it looks like you repeat a phrase." Drive to Millington, TN-here at Homer Skelton Ford of Millington you can expect more: customer care, vehicle service and of course, savings to your pocketbook. Prices may change daily, Call us now to lock in your price and set your VIP appointment! " .. just fyi..
 
#5
Here in Reno I have the same problem. I think the problem are the other dealers in our markets... Lets's face it, most of the auto delaers don't even know where there business is coming from.I have a rep that wants to take me to lunch every week... i keep tell him that I don't want his lunches ... I want to sell more cars of cars.com.:cursin:
I bealive that cars.com is betting all theier money on the ignorat dealers and try to bs the one that ask the questions... the one that track their performace. I think they are overpriced ...and low quality ...

For 2009 we recieved 214 email leads... only sold 6 cars, very sad. I know they generate calls, people print maps and direction, my inventory its not perfect, I only list on avreage of 50 used cars per month... however I am not happy with cars.com...give me a breake I can sell cars from Autobytel leads but not from cars.com ????:drunk:
 
#6
I agree. I hate those "ignorat dealers":D


Stefan said:
Here in Reno I have the same problem. I think the problem are the other dealers in our markets... Lets's face it, most of the auto delaers don't even know where there business is coming from.I have a rep that wants to take me to lunch every week... i keep tell him that I don't want his lunches ... I want to sell more cars of cars.com.:cursin:
I bealive that cars.com is betting all theier money on the ignorat dealers and try to bs the one that ask the questions... the one that track their performace. I think they are overpriced ...and low quality ...

For 2009 we recieved 214 email leads... only sold 6 cars, very sad. I know they generate calls, people print maps and direction, my inventory its not perfect, I only list on avreage of 50 used cars per month... however I am not happy with cars.com...give me a breake I can sell cars from Autobytel leads but not from cars.com ????:drunk:
Click to expand...
 
#8
The first thing I would do is compare your dealership to others in your market that are of similar size and inventory, and who you think is your competition.

Ask your ATC or Cars rep to provide you with the "Appeared in Search Results" or SRP, and the "Clicked for details page" or VDP. Since each dealership is different, divide the VDP by the SRP to get a click through rate. While not an exact science, it will start you with a good baseline for comparison to your store.

If one store had a drastically higher click rate then your, find out what that store is doing different.

You will also be able to see if the whole market is down (it is) or just your perception. Tough market now. The dealers that make themselves different through custom and unique comments, photos, and video will come out ahead - and you might even see this in the resutls your reps provide.

--Drew
 
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