Cars.com and Auto Trader, Get Rid of One?
Currently our dealership advertises on both Cars.com and Auto Trader. My GSM is convinced we do not need to be on both, and that we will sell the same amount of cars if we drop one. I have a lot of hesitations about this. Over the past 6 months we have sold 11 cars from Auto Trader and 15 cars from Cars.com; not to mention the cars we have sold from our website due to the traffic from Auto Trader and Cars.com.
Since we are locked in with lower rates with Auto Trader he would like us to get rid of Cars.com (their rates are stable and we could go back at any point). Cars.com has a relationship with our local newspaper and we get more leads from them. Over the last 6 months we had 171 from Cars and 120 from Auto Trader.
I really could use some help here. Thoughts? Advise? Has anyone tried this before?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brian Pasch on -
Jackie
Your question in this blog post assumes that these two websites are not better than what dealers can do on their own websites. My contention, is that when dealers evaluate their own marketing dollars and the cost per VDP view, that they are kicking the wrong dog.
What you should be asking in this post is: Which advertising investments/strategies used by dealers have a better cost per VDP than Cars.com or Autotrader.com?
It would be a shame to foster a discussion that says that both services are not a viable combination for dealers to sell more cars without a discussion on who/what platform is doing a better job at turning dealers into VDP factories.
Maybe the dealer community is not ready to look in the mirror of their own website analytics!
Dealers who do, often don't spend much of their times thinking that Cars.com or Autotrader.com deliver a shitty ROI....and as a disclaimer...there are some markets where Cars.com or Autotrader.com may not have a cost per VDP that is less than the dealer can generate.
In those cases, the question is valid but in my work...90% of the time, the dealer's own marketing budget generates VDP views at a significantly higher cost.
So, go back to your GSM a take all the marketing dollars you spend each month driving traffic to your dealership website (radio, TV, print, billboards, direct mail, etc) and look at the VDP views generated by those investments on your website. Calculate the cost per VDP and compare those costs to Cars.com and Autotrader.com.
If you need help calculating those costs, send me an email: brian@pcgmailer.com and I'll send you a spreadsheet that will help you get to the numbers from Google Analytics.
I bet when you see the numbers you make be looking at other areas to improve the ROI of your marketing dollars. For some additional background, you may want to watch the recent webinar I presented to dealers entitled "Turning Dealers Into VDP Factories" which you can watch here: VDP Webinar
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Permalink Reply by Jackie Cahill on
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Thank you Brian, just watched your Webinar, very helpful! I am very interested in calculating our cost per VDP, so I will absolutely be sending you an e-mail!
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Permalink Reply by Ron Rozier on
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Jackie
My first question to you would be, are you sure your contract rate with AutoTrader is lower than the one with Cars.com?
I have never ever known Autotrader to be lower, unless you have their low tier package. It has been my experience with Autotrader that you have to pay to play in the top tier searches, therefore they are normally higher. For me personally I have never liked AutoTrader and always prefer Cars.com and I got much better results from Cars.com, but in some markets AutoTrader does pull a little better traffic. But depending on the size of the dealership, I may use both, because in most cases, one sale can pay for the package for the entire month. So don't cut your nose off to spite your face as the old saying goes.
Besides the amount of cars sold, what other data are you using? Such as phone calls and emails click throughs and map clicks that come from each one, which one is giving you the most calls and leads.
It is never an easy decision to cut any form of advertising until you have looked at all the data first and make sure that you are making the right business decision. Sometimes GM's and GSM's make personal decisons on these matters because the Rep from one or the other could have rubbed him or her the wrong way one morning and interrupted his coffee break.LOL
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Sorry, I guess I was not clear on that point. Our AutoTrader rate is higher than our Cars rate, but we are locked in with a low rate package right now because we have been with AutoTrader for so long. My GM is afraid that our rates will go up with AutoTrader substantially if we leave and then come back.
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Permalink Reply by Emil Whittle on
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I agree with another one of the replies. Do you really pay less for Autotrader? We recently cancelled Auto Trader because of the overwhelming cost. Cars.com is cheaper. At the end of the day the GM needs to compare his ROI through all his advertising avenues. It's like this. Lets say for grins your paying $2500.00 per month with Autotrader. For the last 6 months thats $15000.00 you are paying $125.00 per lead. Beyond the number of leads what is the number sold through them for the last 6 months? You need to compare the total gross of all sold against what you paid too. Before quitting a Cars.com or Autotrader source rememeber that unlike alot of paid leads these leads are more genuine. We cancelled Autotrader because it was not yielding near the sales compared to the expense in our smaller market stores. On anoter note, Investing into your own website is always where I would start so you can generate your own leads.
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Permalink Reply by Ronald S. Davis on
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What market are you in?
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We are in Connecticut
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Permalink Reply by Mathew Koenig on
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Obviously they're both good in their own right and you don't WANT to ditch either one. HOWEVER, if your boss leaves you no option just look at your results. Cars.com helped you deliver almost 30% more vehicles than autotrader so if you don't have a choice about having to drop something...keep the one that performed the best for you.
Also, since cars.com isn't a tiered listing like AT, you get good placement without paying extra.
I used to be sales training manager with Cars.com before launching my company and from a former employee perspective it's my opinion that their model is more consumer friendly, which means more consumer opportunities in most markets.
Good luck,
Mat Koenig
Founder
KonigCo
www.konig.co
AutoCapture is the best tool for connecting Dealers with Buyers online. Find out more at www.konig.co/autocapture
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Permalink Reply by Robert Hildreth on
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Hello Jackie,
This is a question I ask myself every time I walk into a new dealership. I just cancelled Cars.com and kept Autotrader for my 2 stores I run. My stores are in the Bay Area and in 2 different cities more then an hour apart. 1 Location is Domestic and in an Auto Row....The other is an Import store and a destination location.
Before doing anything drastic here is what I would suggest. 1. First check your walk-in sales. Many customers who are sourced as walk-in sales. Actually they were internet generated but poorly sourced. Without you knowing it you may be generating more sales then you accounted for.
I noticed your numbers that you tracked which could be low for the amount you are paying. 2. Check your sales that are sourced with your website. Click through's from Cars.com and Autotrader.com will not show if they went to your website then submitted information. It really is not an easy task to do this accurately....and I spend a lot of my time making sure we have the most accurate information on sourcing before getting into the ROI and VDP measurements.
After I feel I have the source of sales as accurate as possible then I look at Cost per VDP (Vehicle Detail Page) as well as CPL (Cost per lead) and finally CPS (Cost per sale). Once loaded with this information I can start making decisions on what is working and what is not....this is all assuming you have good pictures, notes and are using all the tools we have as a manager. I know this sounds like a lot....and frankly it is...but if it is not being measured correctly then you are just guessing at the data.
My last bit of advice is....that at times I have liked Autotrader.com for the store and at times Cars.com...sometimes I have liked both. If you have data that supports keeping both; keep them. But before you make that final decision there is on last step.
In my opinion you should pull the front and back end of each Internet sale. Put that up against the costs for the provider. If you are selling more from Cars.com but your costs per sales is higher....you can make the intelligent suggestion as to which should go based on this data. And then hopefully recycle that money into either another 3rd party or more into SEO/SEM for your website.If it is all too much then see if you can get assistance from your reps from each company. I have found most of them to be very helpful and insightful. Be clear on what you need as sometimes they cannot help themselves and just wish to sell more product. If you stay on point as to your needs I would bet they would get you some of the information you need on a monthly basis.
My best to you and a successful selling year!
Robert Hildreth
Internet Director
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Permalink Reply by MANNY LUNA on
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Over the past 6 months we have sold 11 cars from Auto Trader and 15 cars from Cars.com
Jackie Cahill 26 cars in the last 6 months does not meet our quality standards, with the price of Auto Trader alone we can help you sell 26 cars in one month!~
let me know if you would like more info!
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