CarGurus and PistonHeads combine listings to boost audience

CarGurus will combine its online dealer offerings with that of PistonHeads, following its acquisition of the business in 2019.

The new arrangement is expected to provide expanded audience reach and greater stock visibility for dealers across both sites.

Dealers will be offered one integrated subscription for listings and related services across both platforms, giving increased visibility for their stock and access to significantly more car buyers.

The audience overlap between the two sites is less than 10%, resulting in a combined audience of more than six million unique monthly visitors.

Wendy Harris, UK managing director at CarGurus and PistonHeads, said: “Our commitment to dealers has always been to challenge the status quo as we help them reach their business goals, and the pandemic has only strengthened our resolve.

“Combining our CarGurus and PistonHeads product offerings expands audience reach and stock visibility for dealers on our platform and maximises their return on investment. This creates tremendous new opportunity to deliver even more value for our dealer partners.”

Since acquiring PistonHeads in 2019, CarGurus has invested heavily in enhancements to the site, applying the company’s engineering expertise to improve the user experience as well as the performance of classifieds. The result has been an 86% year-over-year increase in leads to dealers.

PistonHeads remains the leading premium car marketplace in the UK, with a third of visitors having a household income of more than £100k. Under CarGurus, PistonHeads has also strengthened its reach to buyers for mainstream vehicles, with 37% of buyers looking to spend up to £20k on their next car.

The CarGurus and PistonHeads integration comes on the heels of CarGurus’ announcement that it will waive February marketplace subscription fees for dealers currently on CarGurus UK and PistonHeads platforms in response to the latest lockdown.

In addition, the company will offer subscribing dealers free trials of its Area Boost product, enabling dealers to expand their reach for vehicles available for contactless delivery.