car dealers with "coming soon" stock

[KungFuPanda]

Cootuk3 said:

Do dealers get bulk discounts on AT so it makes sense to list asap?

Yes of course they do.

I’m less of a conspiracy theorist than others so I presume that they just want to get the cars out there before they are prepped in order to garner as much interest as they can.

[fflump]

valiant said:

Early bird catches the worm and all that.

Dealer gets a car in and advertises it straight away as there’s probably a punter looking for that exact spec, colour and price whilst he sorts out photos and any prep and whatnot.

Don’t think there’s anything untoward going on except a hurry to get it sold and to appear top in the ‘newly listed’ segment of AutoTrader.

This. I picked up an under-priced used-approved Cayenne PHEV in the colour/spec I wanted before pics went up. The Porsche Centre sent me a couple of pics of the un-prepped vehicle and I went down the following week as the discs/pads needed changing.

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

davidbeaumont said:

Some ads even run for over a year and then end with no pictures eg www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203614724069 or www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203672523090 . What's that about?

Well I wouldn't buy a car from them, they have a terrible reputation locally.

[Disastrous]

KungFuPanda said:

Cootuk3 said:

Do dealers get bulk discounts on AT so it makes sense to list asap?

Yes of course they do.

I’m less of a conspiracy theorist than others so I presume that they just want to get the cars out there before they are prepped in order to garner as much interest as they can.

It is indeed this. You’d be surprised how many cars are sold unseen without images so makes sense for them to list asap and follow up with images after prep. It’s also frightening how much stock a major dealer group will list every day so not feasible for staff to image all of them.

[CoreyDog]

My guess would be for SEO, it can take Google and the like anywhere between 24hrs and 3 weeks to pick up a new webpage and include it in search results. If the dealer lists it before they have the car in stock, good chance it will end up on Google when the car arrives resulting in more interest.

I do it often on our website with a “coming soon” header. Means I might already be on page 1 of Google Search results before the stock arrives. Just allows for a faster turn around time..

[Condi]

NMNeil said:

Random ad from my local Nissan dealership. Note the lack of any prices but just a constant "Contact us". Fill it in and they will never let go of a possible sale.
https://www.roswellnissan.com/VehicleSearchResults...

In the UK that would be illegal, so isn't very applicable to the majority of people here. Obviously different rules where you are.

[NMNeil]

Condi said:

NMNeil said:

Random ad from my local Nissan dealership. Note the lack of any prices but just a constant "Contact us". Fill it in and they will never let go of a possible sale.
https://www.roswellnissan.com/VehicleSearchResults...

In the UK that would be illegal, so isn't very applicable to the majority of people here. Obviously different rules where you are.

Unfortunately you are probably correct.
What doesn't help is that car dealers in many states have a monopoly on car sales, so they have enough political clout to fight any changes such as requiring the prices to be advertised.