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Ranking the third Party lead aggregators

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T

Tpm Algie

Green Pea
Oct 2, 2009
6
0
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eData Solutions
#1
I'm brand new to this forum but I'm quickly discovering it is a great resource for information!

I'm attempting to estimate the size of the third party lead aggregators like AutoUSA, Dealix, Auto Trader... By size I mean the total number of number of leads they generate for their delaers in a day or week or month. I'm also trying to estimate an average price/per lead for the industry. Can anyone help me identify the biggest volume lead providers? What is an average price/per lead?
 
#2
An average price per lead is around $20. The larger dealers pay about $18 per lead and the smaller dealers are around $22. There are many exceptions to the rule, but that seems to be the general area. Some lead providers will tell you $24 and others will say $17, but $20 seems to be the average.

Size-wise, I'm sure the data is out there for AutoUSA and Dealix in a press release, but I don't know those figures. AutoTrader will tell you they aren't in the Third-Party Internet lead game, so you'll probably never find anything on them. AutoTrader is more successful when they're mysterious.
 
#3
Tpm Algie said:
I'm brand new to this forum but I'm quickly discovering it is a great resource for information!

I'm attempting to estimate the size of the third party lead aggregators like AutoUSA, Dealix, Auto Trader... By size I mean the total number of number of leads they generate for their delaers in a day or week or month. I'm also trying to estimate an average price/per lead for the industry. Can anyone help me identify the biggest volume lead providers? What is an average price/per lead?
Click to expand...

I have found working in the vendor world across most the U.S., you will find many different prices in many different states/cities.

I also found that while I was an Internet Director AutoUSA worked great for me at one dealer and not at all at another.

I have seen leads for $30 and some for $8.

As for Autotrader and any other used car classified sites, you can't measure off leads that other dealers are getting. Your inventory may be less, more, prices my be high, low, etc...You typically pay a subscription for these not a per lead basis. You can expect to pay anywhere from $1200 to $5,000 or even $6,000 monthly for these services.

When I was in the business I always found pretty good success with the following...
NEW CAR LEADS:
Carsdirect.com
Autousa.com
PPC Campaigns
Credit Unions
Costco Auto Purchase program

USED CAR LEADS
Autotrader.com
Cars.com
Craigslist.com

I am not a big fan of Dealix but some dealers think they are gold. They have a site but if you go to "Dealix.com" you don't see a site for leads. The claim they get leads from a site like invoicedealer.com or something but it doesn't get much traffic. They are a reseller of leads bought and sold on the wholesale market. As much as we would all like to trust the wholesale market, you can't.

I would invest in a good pay per click campaign. That is what these companies are doing to get the leads to sell to you. If you work referrals because they return the highest closing ratio and biggest profit per deal than why wouldn't you drive more traffic to your site if those are the highest closing ratio of all your online adventures.

I haven't been directly involved with these vendors for about 3 years so things may have changed.
 
#5
Tpm Algie said:
great information thank you! I wonder if I may have misidentified some of the SEO companies as lead generators/aggregators. Are these aggregators:
  • Autobytel
  • adtel
  • Bule Sky Marketing
  • Jumpstart
  • Cars.com
  • Carsdirect.com
  • Dealer Link


I'm interested to hear if anyone has had any personal experience with any of the listed businesses (or any others that aren't listed). If you do have some info to share please post here or send me a PM and maybe we could talk on the phone.
Click to expand...

x
 
#6
* Autobytel
* adtel
* Bule Sky Marketing
* Jumpstart
* Cars.com
* Carsdirect.com
* Dealer Link
Click to expand...



From my experience...

Autobytel - Mostly Junk
Jumpstart - Ok but they are looking to junk there leads business (I bet my phone rings after this comment)
AutoUSA - Usually the better of the 3rd party lead providers
Dealix - I find success with Dealix to be depended upon region and make (but that goes for most of them)
ZAG - great leads that close well but ZAG can be pain to deal with
 
#10
CFrentzen said:
Anyone have any experience with CarsDirect?
Click to expand...

I used them my entire career and even worked there. Great place to work by the way. Their lead quality had dropped off for a while. However they have so many different programs, its all about finding the right one for the dealer.

When I left they had.....Connect (New), Platinum (New), Autos Pay Per Lead (New), and Used subscription. They great thing about carsdirect.com is that they capture a lot of their own leads. All the leads come from their large market of websites. They are actually under the umbrella of "Internet Brands". If you look at their website you will notice they are the owners of many of your very own most popular forums. I assure you that the management there is VERY good! They are on their game. However, all lead providers quality went down over the last few years. Carsdirect hung their hat on quality and when quality went down they were left with little. Oh, they are also big in the secondary lead business. I had some dealers that would sell their soul for more carsdirect.com secondary leads but others who canceled quickly. I believe it is all how your store is set up. If you have a good rep (problem) you should be fine. They don't have nearly the amount of reps as AT or Cars so you may not see them as much. Carsdirect.com is based in LA and has a huge presence there.

Not to mention I wouldn't work at a dealership without their broker program. They pretty much do all the work for you and you sell the car for next to nothing. I had months the broker business sold 13 cars for me. It was an important part of our business. I built a good working relationship with my rep and would call for deals every 4 or 5 days and see what they had working for me.

If you have any more questions feel free to give me a shout.
 
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