THREE cars advertised on autotrader - NONE in stock!
Discussion
I'm sure they all sold this morning? 
IF it's some kind of scam to get you interested, it doesn't bloody work it's just very annoying. I've narrowed down the choices; mileage; manual; engine size; specs; etc, location, checked on googlemap to see how viable they are to visit, then phone to make sure and BAM "oh we seem to have sold that one, but we have got....(one that's completely off spec for my requirements)". Two main dealers and one independent.
It ain't hard to update a list is it? spanners
Serious buyer; got the money; if it's in stock and correct (as per ad after I've narrowed them all down) it would be sold - easy money.
IF it's some kind of scam to get you interested, it doesn't bloody work it's just very annoying. I've narrowed down the choices; mileage; manual; engine size; specs; etc, location, checked on googlemap to see how viable they are to visit, then phone to make sure and BAM "oh we seem to have sold that one, but we have got....(one that's completely off spec for my requirements)". Two main dealers and one independent.
It ain't hard to update a list is it? spanners
Serious buyer; got the money; if it's in stock and correct (as per ad after I've narrowed them all down) it would be sold - easy money.
It may just be because of the Christmas holidays. Sales depts will be open most days but admin will either be off or just one or two in. Often they will be the ones who take sold stuff off stock and they will be dealing with the more pressing matters. It's certainly not in our interest to leave sold cars on for the reasons you point out. Frustrating for the customer though when it happens.
It's a pretty old technique - put a really attractive car up and draw you to the showroom only to be told "that's it just disappearing round the corner"
I schlepped over to some God-forsaken south London dealer from my then home in Ealing years ago and had this treatment. He had, of course, got another nominally similar car on the forecourt but not at anywhere near the attractive price of the original one.
I schlepped over to some God-forsaken south London dealer from my then home in Ealing years ago and had this treatment. He had, of course, got another nominally similar car on the forecourt but not at anywhere near the attractive price of the original one.
motco said:
It's a pretty old technique - put a really attractive car up and draw you to the showroom only to be told "that's it just disappearing round the corner"
I schlepped over to some God-forsaken south London dealer from my then home in Ealing years ago and had this treatment. He had, of course, got another nominally similar car on the forecourt but not at anywhere near the attractive price of the original one.
yeah part of the reason I'm annoyed is because I actually drove to see the first one - I didn't ring first. It was an independent dealer, reasonably local to me so I didn't really consider it. They also had it on their own website as well as autotrader. Still wasted an hour and a half though.I schlepped over to some God-forsaken south London dealer from my then home in Ealing years ago and had this treatment. He had, of course, got another nominally similar car on the forecourt but not at anywhere near the attractive price of the original one.
Perd Hapley said:
Autotrader needs some kind of flag button on ads. Then if some trader gets 20 flags for crap like "ACTUAL MILEAGE IS 150,000 NOT 1500" they can be booted off the site.
Do you really think Autotrader are interested in having banned advertisers? I admit it would be a better buying experience, but the buyers don't make the money.Perhaps Autotrader could offer a slight discount (2%?) if a seller has sold X amount of cars without complaint about the quality of the adverts.
MX7 said:
Do you really think Autotrader are interested in having banned advertisers? I admit it would be a better buying experience, but the buyers don't make the money.
Perhaps Autotrader could offer a slight discount (2%?) if a seller has sold X amount of cars without complaint about the quality of the adverts.
Except the biggest problem with Autotrader adverts is aPerhaps Autotrader could offer a slight discount (2%?) if a seller has sold X amount of cars without complaint about the quality of the adverts.
holes putting prices of, say, £695 when they want £6950 - and so circumventing the higher fees for cars priced over a grand. Autotrader seem quite spectacularly stupid when it comes to the obscene amount of crap adverts, and it is costing them money..MX7 said:
Do you really think Autotrader are interested in having banned advertisers? I admit it would be a better buying experience, but the buyers don't make the money.
Perhaps Autotrader could offer a slight discount (2%?) if a seller has sold X amount of cars without complaint about the quality of the adverts.
No, but I think it's in their interest to police their site. I wasn't suggesting that traders be instantly auto-banned, but that they should be reminded to list their stock correctly and banned if they still try to manipulate search results. If a search includes too many cars outside a buyer's criteria they won't bother searching Autotrader in the future. Perhaps Autotrader could offer a slight discount (2%?) if a seller has sold X amount of cars without complaint about the quality of the adverts.
Perd Hapley said:
No, but I think it's in their interest to police their site. I wasn't suggesting that traders be instantly auto-banned, but that they should be reminded to list their stock correctly and banned if they still try to manipulate search results. If a search includes too many cars outside a buyer's criteria they won't bother searching Autotrader in the future.
I didn't say instantly, and your suggestion would still lead to banned sellers, which isn't in their interest regardless of the quality of the adverts. I think Autotrader is run very badly overall, but I don't think banning anyone is the solution. I'd have a 'Report' button, and remove inaccurate adverts but refund 50% of the fee. Sellers will soon realise that it's simply not worth sodding about, and they could still offer a slight discount for the trade sellers with a good track record.
MX7 said:
Do you really think Autotrader are interested in having banned advertisers? I admit it would be a better buying experience, but the buyers don't make the money.
Perhaps Autotrader could offer a slight discount (2%?) if a seller has sold X amount of cars without complaint about the quality of the adverts.
The dealers might write the cheques but the full system needs both paying advertisers and happy free users, it can't survive without both. So in a way, the buyers do make the money.Perhaps Autotrader could offer a slight discount (2%?) if a seller has sold X amount of cars without complaint about the quality of the adverts.
The ads that piss me off most are the ones saying "we will buy your Audi for cash today", listed at £500 so that it shows up at the top when sorted by price. And the other tossers posting "hire this car for a weekend". Again priced to appear first...
Tyrion said:
The dealers might write the cheques but the full system needs both paying advertisers and happy free users, it can't survive without both. So in a way, the buyers do make the money.
The ads that piss me off most are the ones saying "we will buy your Audi for cash today", listed at £500 so that it shows up at the top when sorted by price. And the other tossers posting "hire this car for a weekend". Again priced to appear first...
Obviously you need buyers, but I thought that was a given.The ads that piss me off most are the ones saying "we will buy your Audi for cash today", listed at £500 so that it shows up at the top when sorted by price. And the other tossers posting "hire this car for a weekend". Again priced to appear first...
As to the "£99 Hire For A Weekend" adverts, Report>50% refund would sort that out very quickly too. Alternatively, there could be New/Used/Hire sections.
Perd Hapley said:
I agree, that would work nicely.
McSam said:
Except the biggest problem with Autotrader adverts is aholes putting prices of, say, £695 when they want £6950 - and so circumventing the higher fees for cars priced over a grand. Autotrader seem quite spectacularly stupid when it comes to the obscene amount of crap adverts, and it is costing them money..
Those advertisers are pretty stupid too, since the adverts never get seen by potential buyers who are searching using their price range in the search selection!holes putting prices of, say, £695 when they want £6950 - and so circumventing the higher fees for cars priced over a grand. Autotrader seem quite spectacularly stupid when it comes to the obscene amount of crap adverts, and it is costing them money..Before I learned never to buy from a dealer, I phoned numerous dealers enquiring about specific cars. I won't go into details because it would bore even me, but suffice it to say that every single interaction revealed dodgy dealings, lies, laziness, incompetence or generally scammery - everything from advertising the wrong car to not thinking Cat D was an important point to list on the ad.
McSam said:
MX7 said:
Do you really think Autotrader are interested in having banned advertisers? I admit it would be a better buying experience, but the buyers don't make the money.
Perhaps Autotrader could offer a slight discount (2%?) if a seller has sold X amount of cars without complaint about the quality of the adverts.
Except the biggest problem with Autotrader adverts is aPerhaps Autotrader could offer a slight discount (2%?) if a seller has sold X amount of cars without complaint about the quality of the adverts.
holes putting prices of, say, £695 when they want £6950 - and so circumventing the higher fees for cars priced over a grand. Autotrader seem quite spectacularly stupid when it comes to the obscene amount of crap adverts, and it is costing them money..Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff