Autotrader website and distances

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Wed 25 Aug 2010 21:21
Autotrader website and distances - Jonesy127

How on earth does the Autotrader website work out distances from one's search address to where the car is situated?!

A couple of examples: car 1, shown as 79 miles away from my home address; turns out to be 95!

Car 2; shown as 71, is in fact 89.

Finally car 3; shown as 75, actually 98.5!

All 'actual' distances calculated by Google maps. Dealers used for calculation only have one site.

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Wed 25 Aug 2010 22:21
Autotrader website and distances - Mike H
Probably from the centre of your postcode area to the centre of the sellers postcode area. Some areas are reasonably large, and can encompass whole villages.
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Thu 26 Aug 2010 11:00
Autotrader website and distances - BorisTheSpider

Possibly measured as the crow flys as this would have several advantages

  • to make cars seem closer than they are.
  • easier to write the code for the website.

Boris

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Sat 14 Nov 2015 17:21
Autotrader website and distances - Andrew-T

Possibly measured as the crow flies as this would have several advantages

Yes, it's always a straight line measurement. Would take too long to do a satnav-type calculation for everything. So no doubt there may be some interesting distances from Ramsgate to Ipswich, for example?

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Fri 13 Nov 2015 14:36
Autotrader website and distances - MotorDetective

I recently got pretty frustrated with Autotrader (UK) and their location distances, so I built a free tool that will actually locate any of its vehicles (cars, bikes and vans). It also does this for vehicles on MotorCycleNews.com... check it out: motordetective.com. It's in early beta right now, but hopefully it will be useful to people. Happy locating! :)

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Fri 13 Nov 2015 19:11
Autotrader website and distances - Cyd

most websites like Autotrader, ebay and many others use straight line distances not road map routes. Why? It's cheaper

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Sat 14 Nov 2015 16:40
Autotrader website and distances - grumpyscot

Auto Trader quoted Kirkaldy being a mere 8 miles from my house. In reality, it's over 40! It forgets that cars can't cross open water!

Edited by grumpyscot on 14/11/2015 at 16:41

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Sat 14 Nov 2015 19:03
Autotrader website and distances - NARU

I'd quite like a drive in an Amphicar. Not sure I'd want to own one though

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Sun 15 Nov 2015 17:44
Autotrader website and distances - Benet

I've noticed this problem. These distances are rough and ready

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Sun 15 Nov 2015 18:33
Autotrader website and distances - gordonbennet

I don't really see the problem, its quite obvious the distances will only be a guide seeing as they must be calculated as a straight line.

Still usefull though as a guide.

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Mon 16 Nov 2015 20:25
Autotrader website and distances - Happy Blue!

Correct. All the satnav apps I use start off with identifiying a 'as the crow flies' distance to the destination and then produce a driving distance once the program has worked out the route. It's just a guide - not worth getting your knickers in a twist over.

Besides, why rules out places over say 150 miles away - the car that's perfect for you might be 151 miles away.......This country is not so big that you wouldn't consider buying a car just because its a bit far away.

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Mon 16 Nov 2015 23:24
Autotrader website and distances - galileo

Besides, why rules out places over say 150 miles away - the car that's perfect for you might be 151 miles away.......This country is not so big that you wouldn't consider buying a car just because its a bit far away.

With due respect, there have been several recent posters who have bought cars at a distance, had problems with them and then being faced with long trips to return for repairs. In some cases needing to arrange transport back, too.

So if all goes well, fine, but to quote Dirty Harry, "do you feel lucky?"

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Tue 17 Nov 2015 13:00
Autotrader website and distances - Happy Blue!

Do I feel lucky - Yes

I have bought my last four cars at a distance - one was over 250 miles away. Admittedly they were 'expensive'; i.e. all over £18,000 so not bangers. Three were exactly as described if not better; one not so good but certainly not a lemon. I did not inspect any of them before they were delivered to me. If I had inspected I perhaps would have not bought one.

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