Posts By: Andrew Johnson
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Now that the search is over and we have finally purchased our second car, I have had time to reflect on the car buying experience and how a few well known “car yard” websites helped my partner and I save both money and hours of wandering around dealerships trying to pinpoint the exact make, model, year, colour and variant for our liking.
Don’t get me wrong, salespeople can be very knowledgeable and going for a test drive is a necessary part of the car buying process but unfortunately dealerships are limited by the stock they hold and in our case we found that they didn’t have quite what we were looking for. Fortunately for consumers, the online marketplace provides us with an alternative way to shop for cars.
The big players in the “online car yards” game are Gumtree, Carsales and the new-ish kid on the block Carsguide. With the majority of Australian dealerships listing their cars on these websites daily and private sellers logging on to list their own vehicles for sale, it is no wonder that Australian’s do most of their car shopping online these days. Let’s take a snapshot of how the top 3 online car yards sit in the market and the pros and cons of each.
Gumtree (Free, Easy and Local) – Includes car loan repayment calculator
Not just a car listing website, Gumtree is the place where you can buy and sell everything but the kitchen sink. On second check, you can actually buy the kitchen sink!
Gumtree has a dedicated section on their website where any private seller or dealer can list their cars for sale and at the time of writing this article, there is a selection of 181,246 cars to gawk over. If you are like me, you will spend hours scrolling through the endless feed of listings on your PC or mobile and forget where the time went.
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Pros for Private Sellers
- Posting a single advert is free.
- iPhone and Android App for easy posting.
- Login with Facebook or Google Account
- Load up to 10 Pics on regular listing
- 3 Options for increasing your ad visibility. (Highlight, Top Ad, Homepage Gallery)
- Clean and simple interface
Pros for Dealers
- No Cost Per Lead, Signup Feee or Annual Fees
- Physical address and logo on every listing. (Unique to Gumtree)
- Login with Facebook or Google Account
- Every lead contains the customer’s Name, Email, Phone Number
- Dealership Page – Contains logo, opening hours, address and contact details.
- Automatic feed from dealer software that lists cars directly on the site.
- Dealers can be contacted directly.
- Dealer Dashboard to view activity on listings
- Website link is included in every listing to drive traffic directly to the dealer.
Pros for Buyers
- Large selection of cars to choose from.
- Comprehensive search criteria
- Ability to apply for car finance directly inside listings.
- iPhone and Android apps for easy searching
- Widget that shows how many cars are listed (in ticker form)
- Can search cars from the main area of Gumtree and the dedicated gumtree.com.au/cars section.
Cons for Private Sellers
- No option to have Ad managed and professional pics taken of your vehicle.
Cons for Dealers
- None that I could find. Help fill this space by commenting on our social media channels.
Cons for Buyers
- The iPad/Tablet app is the same as the phone app and looks like it wasn’t purpose built for a tablet.
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Carsales (Where the buyers are)
Carsales.com.au currently markets itself as “Australia’s No.1 because it works!” Now, is it just me or is that like saying we are the best because we are great? At the time of writing this article, Carsales lists 219,276 cars for sale which sits at the top of the table for vehicle listings. This begs the question, are there more sellers on Carsales, less buyers, or both?
To their credit, Carsales has been a big player in the online car sales industry for a long time and have helped many Australian’s buy and sell their cars. However, competition has really heated up lately and the juggernaut that is Carsales has some worthy challengers in the ring.
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Pros for Private Sellers
- iPhone and Android App for easy posting
- Login with Facebook or Google Account
- 3 Options for increasing your ad visibility. (Standard Listing, Premium Listing, Premium Plus Listing)
Pros for Dealers
- Automatic feed from dealer software that lists cars directly on the site.
- Every lead contains the customer’s Name, Email, Phone Number
Pros for Buyers
- The largest selection of cars to choose from.
- Comprehensive search criteria
- iPhone and Android apps for easy searching
- Confidence in selling ability with popups showing cars sold in the past 15 mins.
Cons for Private Sellers
- The minimum cost to list a car is $65 for the standard listing. There is no “Free” listing option on the Carsales network.
Cons for Dealers
- Cost per enquiry. Pricing model is a “cost per lead” model and often leads will not result in a sale.
- Listing can’t contain any links or information that shows the identity of the dealership.
Cons for Buyers
- Can’t see which dealership the car is located at without making an enquiry.
- No logos or Dealer Details within the description
- No ability to contact the dealer directly. Dealers are sent details and they pay for your lead.
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CarsGuide (The New way to buy and sell cars.) – Includes car finance calculator
CarsGuide has had a lot of media coverage lately and are seen as the David fighting the Carsales Goliath. They pitch themselves as “The new way to buy and sell cars” and push the notion that selling a car is free. In fact I just heard a CarsGuide radio advertisement on MMM that said something along the lines of “Free to post, free to change, sell your car for free today.”
At the time of writing this article, CarsGuide has 111,751 cars listed for sale in Australia. This figure is approximately half that of Gumtree and Carsales and is quickly climbing. I wonder if they are selling more cars than they can list?
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Pros for Private Sellers
- Posting an advert is free.
- Premium Listing is only $15
- iPhone and Android App for easy posting.
- Login with Facebook or Google Account
- Load up to 3 pictures on free listing
- 20 pictures on premium
- Clean and simple interface
Pros for Dealers
- Dealer name, location and distance from buyer is included in every ad. Dealer location is shown on a map.
- Custom Phone Number for Tracking leads.
Pros for Buyers
- A huge selection of cars to choose from.
- Comprehensive search criteria
- iPhone and Android apps for easy searching
- Clean interface and ability to see where the car is located.
Cons for Private Sellers
- No option to have Ad managed and professional pics taken of your vehicle.
Cons for Dealers
- No pricing model directly on the website. To find out pricing you need to contact an account manager.
Cons for Buyers
- Currently there are less cars to choose from than Gumtree and Carsales.
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The Winner?
It really depends on whether you are a buyer or a seller and whether you prefer to fork out money right at the start of the sales process or to pay as you go. If you are a dealer wanting to list your stock, do you prefer to have branding, advertising and the ability to offer car finance within your listings or blend in with the crowd?
Have you had an experience with selling your car on any of these websites? We would love to hear about it! Jump on our Facebook, Twitter or Google+ page (links in our footer) and leave a comment to let us know your experience.
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