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Monday, January 29, 2007

Will Cars Sell Better on Craigs List or Autotrader?





Leads #1 and #2


2 days and 2 leads, both from Craigs List


2 leads from Craigs List, 1 from Autotrader


2 leads from Craigs List, 3 from Autotrader


4 leads from Craigs List, 3 from Autotrader




8 leads from Craigs List, 3 from Autotrader



14 leads from Craigs List, 3 from Autotrader



20 leads from Craigs List, 4 from Autotrader





Jim said...

I amy dying in anticipation to hear the results of this one. I have been a big supporter of Craigslist for a few months now. Those who don't know it, don't know it. If they do know it, they use it. I must admit that I haven't seen nearly as much from it as I have autotrader and cars.com, but hey, free is free.


Jake said...

I've been dying to give my results, however there aren't any to give yet. Unfortunately the market seems to be pretty soft in my area. Craigs List started out looking like it would be a quick solution, however as time goes on the ad positioning drops and so do the responses. I can't say that either site is better at this point, but I'm going to play with pricing a little and see what impact that has.

David said...

I find your investigation interesting but highly flawed. In order to make an accurate comparison you really need to use more then one make and model. It is highly assumptive to say "Cars" as you have in you title when you are only sampling one car. I've worked in automotive advertising for quite a while now, in both Print and online. There is a huge difference in what type of medium works best for what type of vehicle. Now I understand that you are only comparing Online media, but the difference is that your vehicle really belongs on a "Buy Here, Pay Here" lot.
Having worked with many different dealers, "Buy Here, Pay Here" lots attract a different type of costomer. They don't care about vehicle ratings, MPG, Horse power, and all the detailed info available on sites such as Autotrader.com and Cars.com. They generally care about one thing, price. Their credit is usually poor or don't have any and they only have X amount which defines there search efforts. They're not looking for a specific vehicle they are looking for what ever will fit their budget. Your specific vehicle would work better in the local newspaper classifieds and even better in a local Hispanic publication (this is experience speaking, not sterotyping)
Try doing the same comparison with say, a late model Honda Accord, Toyota Tacoma, or Ford F150. Your results will be much different. Consumers looking for top selling vehicles research more and want more detailed info at thier fingertips.
By no means am I favoring one over the other, but to draw a conclusion based on one sample is highly flawed. Worse, if you would have done your research you would have known that vehicle is extremely low on internet searches regardless of which site. consumers looking at your vehicle are looking for price, any vehicle. Internet is amazing when someone is looking for a specific vehicle, but my experience shows that cheap cars are searched in local print. Ebay Motors my have worked better then both, as the mentality of those consumers are also different.

Jake said...


Thanks for your comments. I wanted to point out a couple of things. First, one of my conclusions was that if I were selling cars on a regular basis, "first and foremost I would buy the right inventory", so you're absolutely correct in this particular vehicle not being the best for the experiment. I'm not a dealer, so for me to go out and buy 10 vehicles as a sample is not feasible. I have started a second experiment which I'm guessing will produce different results. Stay tuned to that one.

In terms of doing my research ahead of time, I did actually do this for the Pontiac used in this experiment #1. It had a high number of searches combined with a low number of available vehicles (i.e. "high scarcity index") on the high traffic classified sites.

I guess I should point out this is by no means a scientific experiment. Sure it could include a larger sample, more advertising media, etc. but my resources (both time and money) are limited for such an experiment. My intention is only to chronicle my individual experience, and people can take what they want from it.

Thanks again for your comments!

Anonymous said...

i would think a detailed description would most importantly include first the mileage of a vehicle....and 120K is a significant turnoff for a younger woman or someone looking for a first time vehicle for a 16 year old. heck, it's a turnoff for most average drivers. leaving the mileage out of your very "accurate" description is a bait to get callers and a waste of everyone's time. thanks.

Jake said...

Mileage was never left out of the description for any site, so I'm not sure where you got that. I happen to agree with you that if I were to leave it out, it would be a waste of time, however a lot of dealers think differently. Leaving it out would encourage more inquiries, and by having a customer on the phone they're at least a little closer to selling a car than if the customer never called. The reality in my particular case here was that even though mileage was listed on the ads, people called anyway and asked what the mileage was.

The other point I wanted to make was that while a car with 120k miles may not appeal to you, a lot of people are in situations where it doesn't matter. Someone may be a mechanic if something broke down, another person may only have a couple thousand dollars for a car, etc. The mileage may be a turnoff for a first time buyer, I mean, I wanted a brand new car when I turned 16, but the reality is that I had a certain amount of money I saved up and had to settle for something else. There's a car for everyone out there, and if nobody was looking for cars that had higher mileage, everyone would be driving new cars.

Greg said...

from my experiences as a used car dealer, I have gotten five times more leads from craigslist, than autotrader. Usually I leave my number out of my adds to weed out the annoying questions. I'd rather they just email me the questions. I also don't give directions until they call me an hour before to confirm. That way I don't spend all this time answering questions, and they flake.


Jake said...


The tests I've run have given about the same results, 5 to 1 Craigs List over Autotrader. I'd have to agree with you on not giving a phone number, because I have received a lot of tire-kickers who seem to be lonely and just want to talk. That gets pretty annoying, but I guess you have to take the good with the bad in the car business.

Alan said...

You cannot post the same ad more than twice in a 45 day period, true. But if you delete the old ad and repost the EXACT SAME AD you can do this every 48 hours. I buy a car every few months and drive it until it sells. Not looking to make a profit on any of them, I just like a variety of cars at my disposal. And it keeps me within state laws prohibiting me from selling more than 5 cars a year. I find that reposting the ad every 48 hours (deleting the old ad in the process) is very effective. Once I begin posting ads, I get my asking price within 2 weeks in most cases. Keep in mind I drive $500-$1500 clunkers and make sure they're tagged and inspected and drivable before I resell.

Anonymous said...

Well, as a craigslist expert, I can tell you that I can post the same ad 50-times a day if I want to by using different email addresses. The only day worth doing that is Saturday. I always do multiple postings on that day.
There are programs and services that will post your ad multiple times and have a way to prevent them from being flagged.
Ya, I buy and sell a lot of cars on craigslist. Don't waste your money on Auto Trader or Cars.com. I've done that and it's just that: a waste of money.

Paul said...

It was interesting to follow the experiences with posting the ad. I have operated a web site that has classified ads for cars for over twelve years.
First thing to consider is the web site must match the type of car. My own web site would NOT be a good place to advertise the car you were selling at all. My site is for race and performance cars plus some antiques/classics. Craigslist or ebay (as it was in the end) was the most appropriate site for your particular car. For a fairly new/low mileage car, Autotrader would have been more acceptable and usually seems to offer better price returns.
Also consider that on Autotrader you are competing mainly against dealer ads. On my own site we strictly limit dealer ads so they are less than 3% of total ads at any given time. In this way our advertisers are not competing against dealers and their ad budgets. Also without the hundreds or thousands of dealer ads, we have always found buyers will read (not just search) every ad in the category they are interested in. Our own percentage of items sold is much much higher than much larger sites.
There are a number of other web sites that have similar policies and from my discussions with their webmasters have equal success. For street cars they are usually local and not national in coverage and are worth seeking out.


Mark said...

I heard that Craigslist may be charging dealers in the near future. Has anyone heard the same thing???

Also, keep in mind, AT and Cars.com are not lead generators! They are about Exposure!!! TV & Radio reps sell on % of viewers/listeners, billboard is sold on traffic, newspaper is all about distribution. Why is AT and Cars.com judged on leads??? Believe it or not, many car shoppers do not call or email. Many show-up, contact off of the dealer website, call a local tel#. In fact, most car shoppers visit at least 3 websites prior to making a purchase. I heard the #1 Chevy store in the country say they want to be on the sites that car shoppers are visited within 2 weeks of making a purchase.

I am glad that you mentioned that AT tracks viewed details. If the focus is on increasing the Exposure of the vehicle (Inventory, Price and Photos), than the car will turn quicker. The book "Velocity" by Dale Pollak, is a must read for anyone who is selling used cars today. It is a different game compared to 15-20 years ago and the car shopper is showing up to buy, not shop.

Finally, dealers that have more inventory can have more success since they have more opportunities to have make sales. It seems difficult to come to a conclusion based on listing one vehicle.

I believe a smart dealer will understand that it makes sense to be on a site like Cars.com, AT and Craiglist. Since the Online influence is at 70%, the dollars are moving from Print Classifieds to Online Classifieds.

Thank you for your post. Good luck in 2010!

Jessica said...


Anonymous said...

Thanks for this! Very helpful!

Curious said...

Curious why you decided that the lady that asked about the mileage on the car "wasn't serious".

Personally, I find that sellers that don't put the mileage in the advertisement "aren't serious" about selling their cars :)

dean said...

i think Craig list is more popular then auto-trader. in my opinion i like it better even with less features.

Ruel Spot said...

It all depends on what you are looking to get of the deal. Most people will opt for Craigslist because it's a lot more personal.