PistonHeads sale to CarGurus – FAQs
Discussion
On 8 January 2019, Haymarket completed the sale of PistonHeads to CarGurus.
Who are CarGurus?
The formal history of CarGurus is all available here, but - in brief - they've existed for 12 years, having been set up by one of the co-founders of TripAdvisor.
Today, they're the biggest automotive shopping platform in the US and the fastest growing site of their kind in the UK and Canada. They completed an IPO on the Nasdaq in 2017 - so it's fair to say they are doing well.
Just like PH, they put their growth down to doing things a bit differently. Their guiding principle is delivering trust and transparency to whatever they do, and they try to achieve that by using their skills as a tech company to put their audience first.
In the used car marketplace, that translates to empowering anyone considering buying a car with hitherto unseen levels of information so that they can secure themselves the best deal possible. Crucially for the PH community, they are also firm believers in the power of crowdsourcing information, be it buying advice or dealer reviews.
What does this mean for PH?
PistonHeads will remain a standalone brand. CarGurus understand that PH's success is down to the combination of this fantastic community, the people browsing the classifieds and the distinctive editorial tone.
So the goal is to improve all of these things using their tech know-how. Your thoughts and feedback will be essential to how that tech is deployed, both now and in the future. If you have any ideas that you think can help guide and build on the brilliant site we have today, now is your chance to be heard. We will be consulting the community over the coming months to ensure we can deliver a site that suits your needs and continue to do so.
Where is PH going to be run from and who’s on the team?
Our main base will still be in the UK with the team relocating to central London in February. Many of the existing team have transferred over including the entire editorial team; Nic Cackett, Matt Bird, Dafydd Wood and Sam Sheehan. Jack Mansfield will still be looking after the community with Ben Lowden, who’s heading up PH marketing.
There are also some familiar faces returning with Lee Williams as interim director and Pete Dignan (better known as RacingPete) as head of engineering. There are also plenty of faces behind the scenes who’ve come across to the new team in sales, partnerships, product and development roles. We’ll be tapping into the resources available to us in the CarGurus European office in Dublin and head office in Boston as we continue to expand and grow PistonHeads.
Are CarGurus closing the forums?
Absolutely not. CarGurus are a strong believer in communities and how they build a brand. The forums are the heart of PistonHeads and are here to stay.
Are PistonHeads events going to be cancelled?
Not a chance. These are an integral part of the community; we launched our first ever driving tour last year and will continue to build on this in 2019. We’re working on some exciting new venues for Sunday Services, heading to Spa Classic for the first time in May and celebrating our tenth anniversary of going to Le Mans with our partner 1st Tickets this year.
What about advertising?
You may have already noticed we’ve turned off Outbrain. You won’t have noticed that we’ve starting switching off a number of other advertising providers that have been slowing the site down, but we’re on the case and we’re continuing to make improvements in this area. For anyone that is still experiencing fake virus redirects, we’ll be picking up the investigation work carried out by Haymarket, so please continue to report anything here https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
The functionality to adjust your advertising preferences on PistonHeads remains unchanged, which is accessible via the ‘Advertising Preferences’ link in the site footer. If you’re unable to see this link on the current page you’re browsing, you can access it via the homepage footer, classifieds footer or within the Privacy Policy.
Do you have new terms and conditions of use?
Yes, you can find the new PistonHeads terms and conditions of use here https://www.pistonheads.com/terms-and-conditions.
A number of you have expressed concerns over PistonHeads rights to user content that is posted in the forums. However these terms and importantly, our intentions, are no different to how we operated under Haymarket, please refer to clause 4 of the Haymarket T&Cs here http://www.haymarket.com/terms-and-conditions.
The approach is standard, this is not an undue land grab, there is no ill intention or underlying intention to change how the user content is treated, and we believe this drafting approach is consistent with that of PistonHeads' prior owner.
What small fixes are planned for the future?
We are going through a transition period from Haymarket and are currently being supported by Haymarket’s development resource while we build our own team. Therefore any current development on the site is being carried out by Haymarket until we’re in a place to support this internally, which is likely to be later in February.
In the short term we want to stabilise the site and fix a number of backlogged issues before we start any new development. We’ll announce new features and major development work in due course, including reigniting the Board forum.
Is the moderation team changing?
No, our brilliant team of volunteer moderators will be staying the same and will continue to be supported by our professional moderation service. We intend to help them as much as possible by giving them the tools and support they need as well as recruit new members where necessary.
Who are CarGurus?
The formal history of CarGurus is all available here, but - in brief - they've existed for 12 years, having been set up by one of the co-founders of TripAdvisor.
Today, they're the biggest automotive shopping platform in the US and the fastest growing site of their kind in the UK and Canada. They completed an IPO on the Nasdaq in 2017 - so it's fair to say they are doing well.
Just like PH, they put their growth down to doing things a bit differently. Their guiding principle is delivering trust and transparency to whatever they do, and they try to achieve that by using their skills as a tech company to put their audience first.
In the used car marketplace, that translates to empowering anyone considering buying a car with hitherto unseen levels of information so that they can secure themselves the best deal possible. Crucially for the PH community, they are also firm believers in the power of crowdsourcing information, be it buying advice or dealer reviews.
What does this mean for PH?
PistonHeads will remain a standalone brand. CarGurus understand that PH's success is down to the combination of this fantastic community, the people browsing the classifieds and the distinctive editorial tone.
So the goal is to improve all of these things using their tech know-how. Your thoughts and feedback will be essential to how that tech is deployed, both now and in the future. If you have any ideas that you think can help guide and build on the brilliant site we have today, now is your chance to be heard. We will be consulting the community over the coming months to ensure we can deliver a site that suits your needs and continue to do so.
Where is PH going to be run from and who’s on the team?
Our main base will still be in the UK with the team relocating to central London in February. Many of the existing team have transferred over including the entire editorial team; Nic Cackett, Matt Bird, Dafydd Wood and Sam Sheehan. Jack Mansfield will still be looking after the community with Ben Lowden, who’s heading up PH marketing.
There are also some familiar faces returning with Lee Williams as interim director and Pete Dignan (better known as RacingPete) as head of engineering. There are also plenty of faces behind the scenes who’ve come across to the new team in sales, partnerships, product and development roles. We’ll be tapping into the resources available to us in the CarGurus European office in Dublin and head office in Boston as we continue to expand and grow PistonHeads.
Are CarGurus closing the forums?
Absolutely not. CarGurus are a strong believer in communities and how they build a brand. The forums are the heart of PistonHeads and are here to stay.
Are PistonHeads events going to be cancelled?
Not a chance. These are an integral part of the community; we launched our first ever driving tour last year and will continue to build on this in 2019. We’re working on some exciting new venues for Sunday Services, heading to Spa Classic for the first time in May and celebrating our tenth anniversary of going to Le Mans with our partner 1st Tickets this year.
What about advertising?
You may have already noticed we’ve turned off Outbrain. You won’t have noticed that we’ve starting switching off a number of other advertising providers that have been slowing the site down, but we’re on the case and we’re continuing to make improvements in this area. For anyone that is still experiencing fake virus redirects, we’ll be picking up the investigation work carried out by Haymarket, so please continue to report anything here https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
The functionality to adjust your advertising preferences on PistonHeads remains unchanged, which is accessible via the ‘Advertising Preferences’ link in the site footer. If you’re unable to see this link on the current page you’re browsing, you can access it via the homepage footer, classifieds footer or within the Privacy Policy.
Do you have new terms and conditions of use?
Yes, you can find the new PistonHeads terms and conditions of use here https://www.pistonheads.com/terms-and-conditions.
A number of you have expressed concerns over PistonHeads rights to user content that is posted in the forums. However these terms and importantly, our intentions, are no different to how we operated under Haymarket, please refer to clause 4 of the Haymarket T&Cs here http://www.haymarket.com/terms-and-conditions.
The approach is standard, this is not an undue land grab, there is no ill intention or underlying intention to change how the user content is treated, and we believe this drafting approach is consistent with that of PistonHeads' prior owner.
What small fixes are planned for the future?
We are going through a transition period from Haymarket and are currently being supported by Haymarket’s development resource while we build our own team. Therefore any current development on the site is being carried out by Haymarket until we’re in a place to support this internally, which is likely to be later in February.
In the short term we want to stabilise the site and fix a number of backlogged issues before we start any new development. We’ll announce new features and major development work in due course, including reigniting the Board forum.
Is the moderation team changing?
No, our brilliant team of volunteer moderators will be staying the same and will continue to be supported by our professional moderation service. We intend to help them as much as possible by giving them the tools and support they need as well as recruit new members where necessary.
Edited by BenLowden on Wednesday 16th January 13:19
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