I think you have to pay attention to your competitors as well. If they are on AT & cars.com, than if it is affordable, you need to be there as well.
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Is anyone else having this issue with Cars.Com and Autotrader?
- Thread starter Mitchell Brenner
- Start date
Considering the vast amount of vehicle information and large number of photos that are provided in most online listings these days, whether on AT, cars.com or the dealer's website, there's virtually no reason for a shopper to email or call the dealer - other than to ask if the car is still available. A very high percentage of people will view the vehicle(s) online and just come to the dealership without calling or emailing first....not counting long distance shoppers, of course. Maybe instead of "Internet" Department," dealers should call it the "Long Distance Incremental Business That We Otherwise Wouldn't Have Had" Department.
Relying on calls and emails to judge the effectiveness of a digital marketing effort is missing the point of being online in the first place. You're there because that's where the customers are, not because you can more easily count emails and phone calls.
Relying on calls and emails to judge the effectiveness of a digital marketing effort is missing the point of being online in the first place. You're there because that's where the customers are, not because you can more easily count emails and phone calls.
Mitchell, I looked at some of your descriptions:
2007 ACURA MDX GREY WITH EBONY LEATHER INTERIOR, AWD, POWER EVERYTHING, POWER SEATS, REAR A-C,DUAL ZONE CLIMATE CONTROL, CLOCK, DIGITAL INFORMATION CENTER,THIRD ROW SEATING, STORAGE COMPARTMENTS, KEYLESS ENTRY, V6, AUTOMATIC AND BUILT IN BLUE TOOTH.
That looks too much like a VIN explosion. I would suggest that you turn off the caps lock button.
2007 ACURA MDX GREY WITH EBONY LEATHER INTERIOR, AWD, POWER EVERYTHING, POWER SEATS, REAR A-C,DUAL ZONE CLIMATE CONTROL, CLOCK, DIGITAL INFORMATION CENTER,THIRD ROW SEATING, STORAGE COMPARTMENTS, KEYLESS ENTRY, V6, AUTOMATIC AND BUILT IN BLUE TOOTH.
That looks too much like a VIN explosion. I would suggest that you turn off the caps lock button.
What kind of CTR are your dealers seeing? My dealership goes about 3.5% on a bad month and 4.5% on a good month.
Carsoup.com is always much higher at around 6-7% although there may only be 700 SRP opposed to the 20000+ that ATC/C.C bring in.
Carsoup.com is always much higher at around 6-7% although there may only be 700 SRP opposed to the 20000+ that ATC/C.C bring in.
✨ AI Highlights
Mitchell Brenner reports a sharp decline in leads and traffic from Cars.com and Autotrader despite optimizing his listings with quality photos, video, and competitive pricing, prompting other dealers to share similar concerns about declining performance from these platforms. Responses reveal mixed experiences—some dealers attribute drops to platform-wide traffic issues or market conditions, while others suggest the problem may be dealer-specific (call-to-action taglines, inventory quality) or caused by competitors saturating their markets with better optimization. The consensus insight is that dealers should request performance metrics (SRP and VDP data) from their reps to benchmark against competitors and determine whether the decline is market-wide or unique to their dealership.
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