Autotrader search results?

Autotrader search results?

Author
Discussion

J4CKO

Original Poster:

42,774 posts

207 months

Wednesday 7th February
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Anyone else noticed, you put your criteria in, for example BMW M4 2016 to 2020, coupe etc.

So its M4, M4, M4, M4 oh and, and look heres an Audi RS3 !

It happens on every search, Porsche Cayman and got some random Peugeot plonked in, or an almost brand new M4 in with my 30k ish ones, cos of course I can stretch a bit to 63 grand from 30.

Its done on purpose as its says "You may also like", but its so annoying, if I want an RS3 I will search for them, I might like some new shoes, some craft beer and some Milfs but if I ask for M4s, just give me M4's ffs.

Its like going for a Pizza and ordering a Tandoori hot, chicken, peppers, chillis etc, oh and by the way we have chucked some Anchovies on and a bit of pineapple for no apparent reason.


RazerSauber

2,536 posts

67 months

Wednesday 7th February
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Aren't they usually promoted posts? I've seen it since forever. Browsing sheds in the £1000 and under category and all of a sudden "Sure you don't want to blow 24 grand on a 1 series?". It's literally adverts among adverts.

stressd

19 posts

13 months

Wednesday 7th February
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And Amazon are even worse for doing that.

joropug

2,698 posts

196 months

Wednesday 7th February
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It’s most annoying when at first glance , it’s what you’re looking for - I.e looking at 5 series and a newer lower mile 3 series comes up. From the thumbnail you might not realise it’s a 3 until you open it

J4CKO

Original Poster:

42,774 posts

207 months

Wednesday 7th February
quotequote all
joropug said:
It’s most annoying when at first glance , it’s what you’re looking for - I.e looking at 5 series and a newer lower mile 3 series comes up. From the thumbnail you might not realise it’s a 3 until you open it
Exactly that, they need to stop it, its more annoying than helpful.

DanL

6,436 posts

272 months

Wednesday 7th February
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J4CKO said:
joropug said:
It’s most annoying when at first glance , it’s what you’re looking for - I.e looking at 5 series and a newer lower mile 3 series comes up. From the thumbnail you might not realise it’s a 3 until you open it
Exactly that, they need to stop it, its more annoying than helpful.
It’s not supposed to help you - someone is paying for that placement, I’d think.

If you’re searching for cars with a price type of cash it makes no sense. But I seem to recall you can also search based on finance cost, in which case someone might well be tempted to look at a newer or different car for around the same monthly payment…

joropug

2,698 posts

196 months

Wednesday 7th February
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More fool them - I’d love to know how many of those badly placed adverts resulted in a confirmed sale!

It would be much better list some sponsored cars just outside of criteria, just above budget, just outside mileage or age range, much more likely to result in a sale.

romft123

981 posts

11 months

Wednesday 7th February
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according to their search parameters South Wales is only a few miles......BY ROAD from Nth Cornwall!!!

joropug

2,698 posts

196 months

Wednesday 7th February
quotequote all
Yes that’s annoying.

God help you if you ever want to buy a Lexus. For some reason every model / engine configuration is listed separately.

garypotter

1,719 posts

157 months

Wednesday 7th February
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Agreed i have stopped looking at auto trader as it is like Bing!! i want to look at a specific vehicle and it gives you everything else

Robertb

2,076 posts

245 months

Wednesday 7th February
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J4CKO said:
joropug said:
It’s most annoying when at first glance , it’s what you’re looking for - I.e looking at 5 series and a newer lower mile 3 series comes up. From the thumbnail you might not realise it’s a 3 until you open it
Exactly that, they need to stop it, its more annoying than helpful.
The other thing that irritates is when you sort by closest distance first, then it seems to willfully put a promoted ad from a dealer 200 miles away at the top.

RazerSauber

2,536 posts

67 months

Wednesday 7th February
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Robertb said:
The other thing that irritates is when you sort by closest distance first, then it seems to willfully put a promoted ad from a dealer 200 miles away at the top.
Facebook Marketplace is the king of sorting. 90% of results disappear when you sort by anything apart from the default option.

MitchT

16,223 posts

216 months

Wednesday 7th February
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I've noticed this too. I'm searching for a BMW 440i Coupé but I might also like this 1.5 Nissan Juke! Errr, NO!!

boyse7en

7,110 posts

172 months

Wednesday 7th February
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romft123 said:
according to their search parameters South Wales is only a few miles......BY ROAD from Nth Cornwall!!!
I get that problem too. I'm in North Devon, and according to AT, Bridgend is only 45 miles away. You just have to swim.

romft123

981 posts

11 months

Wednesday 7th February
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boyse7en said:
romft123 said:
according to their search parameters South Wales is only a few miles......BY ROAD from Nth Cornwall!!!
I get that problem too. I'm in North Devon, and according to AT, Bridgend is only 45 miles away. You just have to swim.
I have actually written to Autotrader asking why they use this search pattern. Taking out the drivel, it was basically because we are too lazy to set up a bespoke search engine.

OutInTheShed

9,308 posts

33 months

Wednesday 7th February
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I'm in South Devon, they've not sent me any ads for French cars yet!
I do have a boat.....

I sometimes use a Mid Somerset postcode to search

TBH, I have been known to look at the odd 'you might also like' ad for 4x my budget, so I expect it's my fault they think this technique works.
Sorry!.

Maybe it helps £7k for a shagged out car with a 'curious' MOT history and cheap tyres look better, when you see just how comically expensive quite ordinary nearly-new cars can be?

Maybe there are some people who get better VFM by pushing their budget for a car which will last longer. I'm begining to wonder....

Ryan-tspg1

19 posts

9 months

Wednesday 7th February
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I think they do it to gain 'impressions' to provide promising analytics to those who have paid for the listing to further justify the initial listing fee.

Irritating! Like watching a YouTube video and a stream of mandatory adverts pop up that are totally irrelevant

joropug

2,698 posts

196 months

Wednesday 7th February
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Ryan-tspg1 said:
I think they do it to gain 'impressions' to provide promising analytics to those who have paid for the listing to further justify the initial listing fee.

Irritating! Like watching a YouTube video and a stream of mandatory adverts pop up that are totally irrelevant
Nothing a Thailand VPN and a cheaper YouTube premium rate won’t sort! Best £2 a month I spend !!!

Truckosaurus

12,037 posts

291 months

Wednesday 7th February
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joropug said:
Yes that’s annoying.

God help you if you ever want to buy a Lexus. For some reason every model / engine configuration is listed separately.
They changed it a week or two ago to just the two-letter model name (plus the odd separation like RC and RC-F or RX and RX-L)

samoht

6,277 posts

153 months

Wednesday 7th February
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Yeah, it annoyed me so much I set up some local CSS rules to filter them out.