There are many places to promote your vehicles online...pick from Craigslist, eBay Motors, Autotrader, Vast, etc. Which site is your bread and butter? Which site gives you the best ROI? Any that are overrated? Have you shifted your focus to more social media sites like Facebook and Twitter?
Which vehicle marketing site do you find your best results?
- Thread starter KoreyB
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- May 1, 2006
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- Alex
At Checkered Flag in the Hampton Roads market (need to mention market because I see big differences) Cars.com would outperform Autotrader.com at stores with average inventory cost above $17,000. ATC seemed to be better when the average inventory cost was below $14,000. But I haven't looked at it in a while and it could be different today. I was also looking strictly at what sold - not solely conversions.
I know none of my response really helps anyone aside from Checkered Flag, but I throw this out just to show that there are different ways of judging which advertising source is better.
PPC trumped both of them hundreds of times over though.
I know none of my response really helps anyone aside from Checkered Flag, but I throw this out just to show that there are different ways of judging which advertising source is better.
PPC trumped both of them hundreds of times over though.
- May 1, 2005
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- Jeff
This is sometimes a tough question and as Alex points out can change from region to region AND can also sometime change depending on who's strong with their traditional advertising at any given time.
My dealer in Frederick - average vehicle under 20K is doing a great job with AutoTrader but not as well with Cars.com. This is of course using every form of measurement and tracking I can possibly do.
I have a Mercedes dealer 20 mins West of Frederick and does very will with AutoTrader and Cars.com and these vehicles are all above the 20K mark.
Funny you bring this up. I was just sitting with my GM at my Nissan store, the one that doing a great job on AutoTrader and we started to review their reports/scoreboard.
99-100% price to market
Their inventory to market demand is double the regions average
Comments are drilled in (thought could be better)
And get this...the dealer is NOT on the Partner Package.
I don't know - Cars.com hasn't been performing as well as I'm used to. We'll see.
Eitherway - get your inventory merchandising 101 down, track your reports and performance and see what which one - both - or neither gets the job done.
My dealer in Frederick - average vehicle under 20K is doing a great job with AutoTrader but not as well with Cars.com. This is of course using every form of measurement and tracking I can possibly do.
I have a Mercedes dealer 20 mins West of Frederick and does very will with AutoTrader and Cars.com and these vehicles are all above the 20K mark.
Funny you bring this up. I was just sitting with my GM at my Nissan store, the one that doing a great job on AutoTrader and we started to review their reports/scoreboard.
99-100% price to market
Their inventory to market demand is double the regions average
Comments are drilled in (thought could be better)
And get this...the dealer is NOT on the Partner Package.
I don't know - Cars.com hasn't been performing as well as I'm used to. We'll see.
Eitherway - get your inventory merchandising 101 down, track your reports and performance and see what which one - both - or neither gets the job done.
- Apr 7, 2009
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Come 'on Alex, Dealers need to devote more time and resources to FaceBook and Tweets!! I know it's true because he said it works! Dealer: Where the Money Is
Our best performance consistanly comes from Honda's site and our own site ( automedia one / dealeron).
Response time is key regardless were your leads are coming from !
Response time is key regardless were your leads are coming from !
Thanks for the comments guys. I can see that there is a lot of variability. Goes back to testing - A/B, market-to-market, PPC vs Autotrader.com, etc.
@alexsnyder Wow, PPC, wouldn't have though that. Local within 90 miles by model/make PPC works best?
@jeffkershner Agreed!
@danoneil How do customers get to your site? SEO, lead through Honda?
@alexsnyder Wow, PPC, wouldn't have though that. Local within 90 miles by model/make PPC works best?
@jeffkershner Agreed!
@danoneil How do customers get to your site? SEO, lead through Honda?
- May 1, 2006
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You have to put a little elbow grease into it and the mileage varies by make. Unless you're in BFE Montana, I suggest starting with a 30 mile radius and seeing how that works for you before stretching things out further. That radius is a very generic recommendation - it really depends on the market.
Hi Alex, Did you try PPC for new, used or both and did you find any difference in performance for the categories?
- May 1, 2006
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PPC for everything! New Sales, Used Car Sales, Service, Parts, Bodyshop, Recalls.....everything. Yes, there are differences in performance by Make, Model, Type, etc.
The real trick is being able to recognize these differences and make changes as needed. Most PPC vendors can do this, but I like being able to actually see what is doing what on my own time and being able to make changes to those PPC campaigns myself....with a little help from my vendor.
From my personal experience , based on an average inventory of 75 used cars , average priced , nothing crazy , Autotrader.com or Cars.com are having about the same results , 2-3 cars / month average . Would you guys say that those are low results or really we should not expect more from them ?
Those numbers are in a Ford Store in LA
Daniel
Those numbers are in a Ford Store in LA
Daniel
