Website tool that shows Retail Book Value on SRP/VDP

[Rick Buffkin]

FYI - If you are using a third party tool and you want to keep the visitor on the same page like an SRP or VDP. You can always use your own Lightbox application to do that. I'm using this:

http://fancyapps.com/fancybox/

It works pretty well for me. The UI is completely customizable. You can load anything in the Lightbox from youtube videos, frame-in's to collections of images and pics or just about anything else you can think of.

It works pretty well. Simply load the files on your server and deploy your jQuery via tag manager, tag your images or links you want to display in the lightbox with the correct html Class tag (fancybox) and then presto! Your link, image or whatever will show in the lightbox. It's also responsive as well so it works great on mobile to.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

@Ryan Leslie way to bring up the vault of memories - kkar, lightnup and the infamous Rushing. Wow.

You bring up some good points. I was having a similar discussion this morning around educational data/content, and how much does a dealer website really need if the inventory and service dept phone number is the only items 90% of our visitors are seeking from our websites?

How important is it to display a retail book value on our website?
No matter its importance, if I were to have it displayed on my website there's NO way it would provide a leak outside of my website. And as I stated in my previous comment, I would think a big brand like KBB would have an advantage for consumer trust. Not only would the widget (if it were a widget) need to be light but also mobile friendly.

I wonder if there's an unbiased study that answers the question - How important is it to display a retail book value on our website?

 

[Bryce Naron]

Anyone know of a third party vendor or service that offers a tool/app/widget for dealership websites to display the Retail Book Value for used vehicles and when asking price is less than, highlight this?

I like to think of strategies for online marketing in one of three categories:

1. Increase Interest
2. Increase Leads
3. Increase Buyers

I always come back to two points that hit all three - uniqueness of vehicle, and price of vehicle.

So, stealing from CarGurus, which advertises vehicles with the Book Value being heavily displayed, putting this feature on our website SRP/VDPs would be awesome, and would tie into my whole strategy.

@Nick Spolec what pricing tool do you use? vAuto? If your pricing tool has the retail book value you want to show, I can set this up for you to show on your SRP/VDP pages.

 

[Nick Spolec]

@Nick Spolec what pricing tool do you use? vAuto? If your pricing tool has the retail book value you want to show, I can set this up for you to show on your SRP/VDP pages.

What company are you with?

 

[Bill Simmons]

Does your inventory provider not offer bookouts? Most of them do and we worked with our website company to display the prices that way you are asking: KBB Retail, Our Price, You Save $XXXXXX

 

[kk1258]

I'm positive Kelly Blue Book offers up an API of some sort. I've seen it displayed several different ways on a few independent dealer websites. Friend and long time Refresh community member Evan / @CARBIZ does a really nice job displaying it on their VDP:

View attachment 3174

Carstory does offer a widget that includes a suggested retail price that can be displayed on your VDP. I could be wrong but I don't think it offers much flexibility from the admin side. You install the code on your website and it is what it is.

View attachment 3175


Edmunds offers something. I know because my sales Rep is always bringing it up, but don't recall ever seeing it in action.

I do believe if you're going to offer this consumer facing pricing data on your dealership website, it would be benificial to go with a larger trusted "Brand", like KBB.

No matter who you go with, be sure your website provider can display it in a user friendly environment across desktop and mobile. Since most of these widgets, are just that, a widget, they tend to cause a clunky mobile viewing experience.

CarStory on the mobile view of our DealerOn website VDP - not so great. "Tabs" never make for a good mobile experience.

I need to get this back on my list of top priorities for our website. Just maybe DealerOn has a solution for this that I'm not aware of. And one that moves past the use of "tabs".

If anyone has more examples value build retail pricing being displayed on a dealership website, please share with us.

Jeff

What are your thoughts on carstory/vast these days? I am looking for a value tool and see that carstory is fairly cheap? How would you compare them to Firstlook/Max Digital value tool??

 

[chad.bockius]

For those interested in value reports, I have some news. We just released a major update to the CarStory Market Reports (and yes, they are still free). You can get more information here http://dealers.carstory.com/ or feel free to ping me with questions. Always happy to help.

 

[TomLaPointe]

purecars may have something. I wasn't always a fan of their bell curve for luxury cars in the past, but I know they have evolved a lot