Been lurking here for awhile and decided to sign up today. For the dealers in the US, how were your sales on September through October? At the moment, we're using autotrader.com and though we have a decent ROI, it's not satisfying my boss. Anyone know a better source for getting leads online? I'm open to suggestions. Thanks in advance.
Try Truecar.com or if you're a member USAA... Truecar.com will also give you national sales statistics.
Can you tell me your experience with truecar.com? Have you had any luck with craigslist by the way? I've heard it's a great place to get leads from. I'm also looking to do some SEM but it does take time to get the ball rolling. Thanks.
When I had a dealer license and sold cars part time on the side, nothing beat Craigslist for leads. Probably about 80% of my cars sold through Craigslist. Even when the buyer came through somewhere else, I had other CL leads lined up. I now work for a company that specializes in generating leads from several sources including CL. If you want more info, I'd be happy to assist you. Ebay was second, but the cars rarely sold through the auction itself. What it did was advertise the car and get me leads on the side. Autotrader was dead last. No cars sold, barely any phone calls at all. And by far the most expensive. They've done a horrible job of adapting to modern times. Of course, YMMV. I was an independent dealer selling lower end transportation and entry-level luxury cars to Joe Citizen. My marketing and demographics was much different than the typical franchise dealer.
