What makes a good car dealer website

[kingBadger]

Question is in the subject really, I would love to get opinions on what you look for in a really good car dealers website. Do you just dive straight to the stock and then the phone number? Or are there other things that you really like... or maybe even that you wish the websites had.

Many thanks if anyone would like to share views!

[jammy_basturd]

Personally I don't use them that much - just find car on AutoTrader, eBay or PH and phone the trader from there.

Whether it's true in this particular case or not, when I've bought from a trader I've not expected any warranty to be honoured, so I've bought it as if it was a private sale.

But if I was to use a dealer website, I want to be able to find a car at least as easily as on AutoTrader. Filter options (price, mileage, make, model, etc). Lots of high quality photos, good description, specification. Maybe a little diagram of marks, scratches, dents, etc? As much information about the car as possible really.

Secondly, I'd want information to affirm trust. What warranty/guarantees are offered with the car - what is included and what isn't. Customer testimonials, etc.

[northwest monkey]

Decent pictures - especially of the interior. Gets on my nerves when you have 20 pictures of the outside and none of the inside

[MrSparks]

Videos! But not videos of pictures in a slideshow, that's pointless.

I often wonder why people don't film a 2 minute walk around and a few minutes of driving of the vehicle for sale. In my opinion it'd give a better overview of the actual car and would make me more inclined to go see if it I was in the market.

Surely doesn't take long to make 4-5 mins of video per car? Unique?

[Landlord]

northwest monkey said:

Decent pictures - especially of the interior. Gets on my nerves when you have 20 pictures of the outside and none of the inside

Absolutely agree. Also if there are photos of the interior, ones that don't show important parts of the car - driver's seat bolster for example. Or ones that are of an open door and taken from 10' away so show next to nothing about the standard of the interior.

[northwest monkey]

lepetitoeuf said:

Landlord said:

northwest monkey said:

Decent pictures - especially of the interior. Gets on my nerves when you have 20 pictures of the outside and none of the inside

Absolutely agree. Also if there are photos of the interior, ones that don't show important parts of the car - driver's seat bolster for example. Or ones that are of an open door and taken from 10' away so show next to nothing about the standard of the interior.

Absolutely, I find it incredible that people are selling cars with photos that look like they've been taken on a shonky cameraphone. As photos are the primary way you display your product these days, that should be No.1 priority.

This is the sort of crap I mean....

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...

[kingBadger]

Great, thanks for the comments so far, keep them coming. Photos has to be the number one grouch for me, it's not a lot different when you're looking at estate agent websites tbh!

[Vaud]

Offer a mobile number.

But always a landline and clear address. I want to know it is a real business, not a trader from a house.

[AdeTuono]

MrSparks said:

Videos! But not videos of pictures in a slideshow, that's pointless.

I often wonder why people don't film a 2 minute walk around and a few minutes of driving of the vehicle for sale. In my opinion it'd give a better overview of the actual car and would make me more inclined to go see if it I was in the market.

Surely doesn't take long to make 4-5 mins of video per car? Unique?

Very common in US. Many examples on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23_OH7O6UYg

[bristolbaron]

northwest monkey said:

This is the sort of crap I mean....

yep, bugs the hell out of me, but I think thats more of a private seller issue - adverts with four photos down the same side of the car because they cant be bothered to move it from where its parked next to a hedge or wont take a photo from the road side!

here's one of mine, photos taken face on and at the corners, plus a decent shot through passenger door to show drivers bolster.. job done!
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...

In terms of what should be on a good site - as above, a simple search tool - surprising how many dealers don't have one!

[Pit Pony]

Keep it up to date, hour by hour.

Have a price that is the same on each and every sales medium they use (I found a car at 4 different prices on ebay, autotrader, their website and the window screen, and haggled from the lowest price by £150 - 5% off, but impressed my wife because she thought I'd haggled £450 off - 15%)

[cuneus]

Pictures as other have said including the wheels

A bit of honesty wouldn't go amiss and a sense of humour sells well

editing to add there was one website I saw that had a mini "tax disc" with amount p.a. for that car - thought that was quite good

Edited by cuneus on Thursday 5th June 22:15

[ChasW]

Decent pictures plus one of each wheel. Pics of service documents help too. Essentially decent pics remove some of the risk of turning up and finding a tatty car with questionable history. Also some evidence of the provenance of the dealer's business. Lots of dealer pics are clearly taken on a domestic driveway.

[Voguely]

Not listing a car as 'POA' - few things annoy me more. Just tell us the price.

[Frimley111R]

Concise descriptions, no 'PAS, e/w, etc', i.e stuff every car has anyway

Details of MoT, s/h

Good pics inside and out (don't bother with engines unless they look special for some reason).

[pharmvrs]

Honesty that extends to service history and as already mentioned up to date stock holding, nothing worse than turning up to view a car that has full history that cannot be located!