Shopping for a New Car... SUCKS

[joe.pistell]

Lets say you know the YMMT and package you want. Try to use a classified site to buy a new car.

Here are the Trims for a 19 Chevrolet Traverse AND the 'expert' classified sites that are here to help buyer and seller...

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Edmunds is the standout winner, plus, they offer many other shopper friendly tools.

TrueCars was a giant FAIL. It disguises its intent to be a "lead gen dead end". I expect many sophisticated shoppers wont fill in personal info to see inventory. For those that do, they're greeted with a landing page that says... 'these dealers will be calling you'. Ouch.

Other Fails include Car and Driver, US News & KBB.

When I get more time, I'll look into other OEM brands to look into their Trim & Packages to see how well they line up with classified sites.


reference links:
https://www.chevrolet.com/suvs/traverse-mid-size-suv/build-and-price/trim

https://www.cars.com/for-sale/searc...archSource=QUICK_FORM&stkTypId=28880&zc=13029

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for...&sortBy=relevance&numRecords=25&firstRecord=0

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/new/s...=true&modelChanged=false&filtersModified=true

https://www.edmunds.com/inventory/s...erse&radius=500&submodelid=SUV&year=2019-2019

https://www.kbb.com/cars-for-sale/cars/new-cars/chevrolet/traverse/?distance=500&year=2019-2020

 

[joe.pistell]

p.s. A THOUGHT TO OUR INDUSTRY PALS WHO ARE WAY UP THE FOOD CHAIN...

Question:
Why do the Lead Gen sites have perfect trim representation and the classified sites have such poor trim/package representation??

One possible answer:
Guys & gals, you know the Dealer DMS is a totally unstructured mess!!! It needs more of your attention!! Take some data science bandwidth away from the marketing team and use it to bring order to this problem!!! Your shoppers and dealers will thank you.