Auto Trader used car ads to appear on Autocar and What Car? sites

Auto Trader has entered a new partnership with Haymarket Automotive to power the used car pages on its Autocar and What Car? websites.

Classified ads on Auto Trader’s marketplace will be searchable via the Autocar and What Car? sites, reaching an extra 24.9 million consumers each year.

In addition to powering the used car pages, the partnership will include Auto Trader as accredited sponsor of editorial used car reviews and feature articles, all of which will include Auto Trader branding to help drive further awareness among What Car? and Autocar’s respective audiences.

Rachael Prasher, managing director, at Haymarket Automotive, publisher of both What Car? and Autocar, said: “This is a brilliant partnership between two of Britain's biggest and best-know car-buying brands. Visitors arrive on the What Car? website at every stage of their car-buying journey, from their earliest research to when they are ready to buy, and the opportunity to connect our class-leading used review visitors to the biggest used car buying marketplace makes perfect sense.

“I'm delighted at the opportunity to work with Auto Trader and look forward to developing the relationship as we enjoy success together."

The used car classified ads currently featured on Haymarket Automotive’s sites are provided by Heycar. The Auto Trader partnership will launch on July 1.

What Car? also operates a New Car Buying Platform, which launched in March 2020.

Auto Trader’s chief operating officer, Catherine Faiers, added: “We’ve long been an admirer of What Car? which has a heritage as long and as rich as our own, with both brands synonymous with the UK automotive retail sector.  At a time when the industry is facing new challenges, this partnership gives us an exciting opportunity to bring new buyers onto our marketplace much earlier in their journey, and in front of our retailer partners’ stock. In return, we’re able to provide What Car? users easy access to the UK’s largest and most trusted marketplace for cars, helping them find their perfect next car.”

Auto Trader has also struck-up a new partnership with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which will see the used car marketplaces data become an official economic barometer for the authority.

The ONS will use data from Auto Trader to feed its measures of inflation, including the Consumer Prices Index in a move which the online used car marketplace described as an “important milestone” which highlighted growing influence of its pricing data.

The used car pricing data will be utilised for experimental estimates in June and included in the headline inflation measures from next year as the ONS aims to more accurately represent the rise in prices of used cars, one of the main drivers of UK inflation in 2021 and 2022.