Any - Autotrader - Waste of Time and Money | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

Thu 4 Jul 2013 20:29

Any - Autotrader - Waste of Time and Money - likaleica

Has anyone else found Autotrader as useless as I have for selling a vehicle in recent months ?

I have been trying to sell two vehicles recently - correctly priced - and get almost zero response from Autotrader while eBay, Gumtree and Preloved adverts generate loads of leads.

Added to that, the Autotrader website is clunky beyond belief - I gave up trying to upload extra photos and amend the text in the end. You cannot amend the advert title for heaven's sake ! E mails to their enquiries department are ignored with no replies sent. They will go bust fairly soon I reckon - yet when they were a magazine they were great.

What are others experiences with AT ?

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Thu 4 Jul 2013 20:51

Any - Autotrader - Waste of Time and Money - gordonbennet

Must admit when i'm looking at cars i look at ebay first and only bother with AT if search unfruitful.

Room on ebay for a proper write up lots of good pics and no rip off telephone numbers.

Apart from that yes AT's website is the pits.

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Thu 4 Jul 2013 21:03

Any - Autotrader - Waste of Time and Money - unthrottled

Shame, it used to be a good company-that's what being part of GMG does for you :)

Now the searches are topped by scammers claiming to be selling an immaculate 2013 XKR for only £199.

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Thu 4 Jul 2013 22:16

Any - Autotrader - Waste of Time and Money - barney100

Are the ads up to date?

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Thu 4 Jul 2013 22:48

Any - Autotrader - Waste of Time and Money - Andrew-T

I don't buy/sell cars often enough to judge, but I have had success with Car&Classic on two occasions, and I recently bought via AT, though my son-in-law saw the ad, not me.

Presumably the disappearance of the printed AT is symptomatic of something?

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Fri 5 Jul 2013 00:22

Any - Autotrader - Waste of Time and Money - tony g

Hi all,
I spend about £300 a month on car advertising ,I've tried most different media ,the only one Thats really effective is the autotrader Internet .

Gum tree costs nothing and that's what it's worth ,it's never produced a deal for me .Even though its free I don't use it ,its just not worth the time to list the adds .
E bay is for bargain hunters and dreamers ,the dreamers are convinced that somewhere in its listing, is that elusive bargain car for a £1000 that's worth £3000 .e bay has never produced the profitable sales that autotrader does ,I've bought lots of cars on e bay and resold them on autotrader for a good profit .So it's a good place if your buying ,rubbish if your selling .

Harping back to the great days ! of the magazine is pointless ,Autotrader Internet killed the magazine ,nothing else .

Finally you say you've got your pricing right ! Could it be you have cars that aren't wanted ,price isn't everything ,cars with high mileage ,wrong colour ,big engines ,expensive to tax and insure are difficult to sell at any price .

Finally the price point ,if all the above doesn't apply ,a car needs to be selling at less than £4000 , cars at that price are in the greatest demand ,cars that retail at £6000 upwards are in the domain of car dealers , who offer part exchange and finance .
private sellers can't compete even if they have the right car at a better price than a dealer .

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Fri 5 Jul 2013 01:56

Any - Autotrader - Waste of Time and Money - groaver

I recently sold my Passat cc on AT. Sold and gone in 7 days.

Right price for well looked after motor tends to sell.

I've sold 4 cars through AT over 9 years without delay.

The 5th? It was a Chrysler Neon auto (no sn*****ing at the back).

I eventually traded it in .

AT works for me.

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Fri 5 Jul 2013 10:19

Any - Autotrader - Waste of Time and Money - bathtub tom

Got rid of my twenty-year-old Kia Pride through AT.

It went immediately.

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Fri 5 Jul 2013 11:53

Any - Autotrader - Waste of Time and Money - tony g

(The 5th? It was a Chrysler Neon auto (no sn*****ing at the back).)

Hi groaver,
The neon is one of the few cars I've never bought ,what were they like to own and drive ,were they reliable ?

The only thing I do remember about them was they didn't charge more for an auto gearbox .

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Fri 5 Jul 2013 12:34

Any - Autotrader - Waste of Time and Money - RT

Chrysler Neon auto The only thing I do remember about them was they didn't charge more for an auto gearbox .

Not surprised - it was only 3-speed !!

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Fri 5 Jul 2013 19:31

Any - Autotrader - Waste of Time and Money - groaver

(The 5th? It was a Chrysler Neon auto (no sn*****ing at the back).) Hi groaver, The neon is one of the few cars I've never bought ,what were they like to own and drive ,were they reliable ? The only thing I do remember about them was they didn't charge more for an auto gearbox .

It was a curate's egg. It was reliable during the time my OH ran it. But.

The transmission was crude. Driveline clunked as it engaged drive. I think it had an overdrive too if I remember correctly.

Lots of mechanical noises when idling (belts, metal on metal, etc).

The interior was made of plastic that would shame a Lada. Leather seats that convinced you they were really plastic and faux wood surround on the gear box surround that sat on it rather than was attached to it.

It was bought cheaply 2nd hand as a stop gap.

Never gave any problems but OH was glad to see the back of it.

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Tue 9 Jul 2013 11:55

Any - Autotrader - Waste of Time and Money - likaleica

Tony G says: I spend about £300 a month on car advertising ,I've tried most different media ,the only one Thats really effective is the autotrader Internet .

Can't argue with Tony's obvious expertise in this, but I do think AT is a shadow of its former self when it was a printed mag.

In more than 10 days I have had only TWO leads from AT - one of them a scammer who offered £200 MORE than the asking price, wanted to pay by PayPal and then have the van collected by courier. He would then have cancelled the PayPal payment and stolen the van. Did Autotrader want to know ? No reply to two e mails reporting him and asking him to be blocked from the site. The crook e mailed me again yesterday !

I made a mistake in the advert title - saying the vehicle was 1983 when it is 1984 and to correct a typo. It cannot be edited by me so on July 4 I e mailed autotrader to change it - again not done and it is still wrong.

As for price and saleability, this vehicle is a Classic Bedford Camper Van advertised for £2300 - and I sold it for £2100 on an eBay Classified Ad to the very first person who saw it. I had loads of other eBay inquires and two offers. I turned away six Preloved inquiries and several from Gumtree while I waited for the sale to complete.

I rest my case !

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Fri 5 Jul 2013 17:02

Any - Autotrader - Waste of Time and Money - leef

No issues with them. Sold 2 cars in last few years, most recent in February this year. Gone in 7 days. Never really looked at Ebay for motors. AT did the business, so no complaints here. Ad was easy to put up, got a special offer for the Online only £7.50 for 4 weeks I believe, does anyone still buy the Mag?

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Fri 5 Jul 2013 19:05

Any - Autotrader - Waste of Time and Money - Bobbin Threadbare

I bought my MX-5 via an AT ad. I did advertise my Mazda 6 on there but I had to do so twice and I can't say that the ad was value for money. Cost a fortune to do the ad.

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Fri 5 Jul 2013 19:14

Any - Autotrader - Waste of Time and Money - Andrew-T

Got a special offer for the Online only £7.50 for 4 weeks I believe, does anyone still buy the Mag?

Not any more ....

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