Autotrader

[JimmyConwayNW]

How is everyone finding using Autotrader at the moment?

It seems to me to be quite hard to actually just message the seller without an account / login and being pushed to reserve a car on there rather than anything else.

Don't know if I am just in grumpy old man stage.

[a_dreamer]

Is that them just trying to track effectiveness?

They charge based on listing while others like carwow charge based on creating leads. Can imagine the dealers trying to play both sides trying to lower the fees they are paying. Especially if the market is softening.

[Trevor555]

It seems everything we do now we have to create an account???

I just booked an excursion with an independent company for a cruise.

"To retrieve your tickets, create an account"

Or

"download our app"

What about us grumpy old wrinklies that don't want a smartphone?

[POIDH]

Trevor555 said:

It seems everything we do now we have to create an account???

I just booked an excursion with an independent company for a cruise.

"To retrieve your tickets, create an account"

Or

"download our app"

What about us grumpy old wrinklies that don't want a smartphone?

Fist-bumps fellow old wrinkly who hates being made to create account, download app, and generally have to comply so they can market the heck out of me...

[Virtual PAH]

Seen a few car dealers on YouTube moaning about Autotrader forcing them to offer online reservations for up to 21 days with Autotrader holding the fully refundable £99 deposit and their 'deal builder' that offers automated trade-in valuation, finance quotes, and reservation without the potential buyer even making contact with the seller. Then Autotrader want a percentage of the sale price for offering this online sales route.

Ripe for messers to cause dealers aggro or rivals to reserve their stock and cancel later.

This is why Autotrader is in BIG trouble!
Chops Garage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRJ_dW8P_WU

Feels like Autotrader are pushing their monopoly status to breaking point, on top of the ridiculous fees they already charge, so like Rightmove rinsing the estate agents they can only go so far before someone comes along and offers a better experience and the market segregates away from one king dictating the market. "No Kings" doesn't only apply to Trump.

[TheBinarySheep]

Virtual PAH said:

Seen a few car dealers on YouTube moaning about Autotrader forcing them to offer online reservations for up to 21 days with Autotrader holding the fully refundable £99 deposit and their 'deal builder' that offers automated trade-in valuation, finance quotes, and reservation without the potential buyer even making contact with the seller. Then Autotrader want a percentage of the sale price for offering this online sales route.

Ripe for messers to cause dealers aggro or rivals to reserve their stock and cancel later.

This is why Autotrader is in BIG trouble!
Chops Garage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRJ_dW8P_WU

Feels like Autotrader are pushing their monopoly status to breaking point, on top of the ridiculous fees they already charge, so like Rightmove rinsing the estate agents they can only go so far before someone comes along and offers a better experience and the market segregates away from one king dictating the market. "No Kings" doesn't only apply to Trump.

It seems like Autotrader is positioning itself to handle almost the entire sales process, trade-in valuations, finance arrangements, warranties etc, leaving dealers to simply source and prepare the vehicles. I can understand the logic behind streamlining the customer experience, but it raises the question, can dealers actually sustain their businesses on vehicle sales alone if they're essentially reduced to being just the preparation and logistics arm?