Consumers are now being told if a car they are considering buying on Auto Trader is fairly priced.
Following a launch on its iOS and Android apps, Auto Trader has rolled out ‘price indicators’ across all consumer platforms.
Adverts on Auto Trader will now be labelled as having a ‘great price’, ‘good price’ or priced low in comparison to similar cars. The ‘priced low’ label indicates that a vehicle is priced significantly lower than the market average.
Karolina Edwards-Smajda, Auto Trader retailer and consumer products director, said: “In an increasingly competitive market where car buyers are savvier than ever before, price transparency is vital in building trust.
“It’s simply no longer an optional extra, but standard spec. That’s why we created price Indicators, to not only help our customers’ advertisements stand out from the crowd, but to also build that all important trust, helping them to sell more cars, more quickly.
“We know value is subjective and a buyer will make up their own mind whether the car they’ve seen represents good value for them or not.
“However, by labelling an advertisement based on the price of the car compared with the rest of the live market today, dealers are empowering them to make an informed decision - creating confidence in their brand in the process.
“Indicators offer car buyers greater transparency on the price of a car than ever before – vital in an industry where just 7% of car buyers claim to trust dealers and 76% of consumers claim transparent pricing is an important factor in their car buying process.
The indicators are determined by comparing car prices against Auto Trader market valuations.
The calculations are based on make, model, derivative, age, mileage and adjusted for any optional extras on the car. Auto Trader combine and analyse data from approximately 500,000 trade used car listings every day, as well as additional dealer forecourt and website data*, ensuring indicators are an accurate reflection of the live retail market.
Customers of Auto Trader’s Retail Check and i-Control will get adjusted guide prices specific to the car they are appraising, along with the market average guide prices, providing a clear view of the market and what the car could be worth.
Cars under £1,500, over £50,000, nearly new cars under six months with less than 300 miles, cars over 15 years old, Cat C/D cars, imports and private listings won’t feature the price indicator labels.
* OEM, fleet and leasing disposal prices, as well as pricing data from over 3,500 car dealership websites
Jeremy has been a journalist for 30 years, 20 of which have been in business-to-business automotive. He was a writer and news editor on AM-sister brand Fleet News for three years before setting up the AM website. For the last five years he has been Bauer B2B’s head of digital helping to manage the digital assets of AM, together with Fleet News, Commercial Fleet, Rail and Smart Transport.
Ash - 31/05/2017 15:07
Think this is confusing to the public, the way the "low price" is coloured grey to mask it. What is better "great price" or "good price". If they really wanted to be fair why didn't they have Expensive, average value & great value???