I agree with Puredealer, as do most Internet/E-commerce analyst. Generating your own website traffic will bring in a better quality lead, will close anywhere b/w 5-15% higher than your lead providers (Assuming you are working them correctly), and will cost you a fraction to do it (Assuming that you teach yourself how to do it). Even if you have to spend money, if done intelligently, you still will spend far less annually.
However if you are more interested in a 3rd party site then I suggest checking into Autovantage/Carpoint. I believe them to be best, atlleast with new cars.
You know, for that matter, I think they are all worth about the same. Which isnt saying a lot.
I dont know of many dealerships closing their 3rd party leads above 10% (Although there are some), and I know a lot of dealers closing their website leads anywhere from 15-25%. Good thing about these guys though is that they merged about 6 months ago. This created a 2 portal system both of which drove traffic to their own site very well to begin with. Now I have recognized on average that most lead providers have dropped about 20% across the board from last year when it comes to number of leads generated. I believe that is primarily due to the consumers beginning to realize that they still have to go to a dealer to buy the vehicle. All evidence suggests that these 3rd party sites are still keeping their traffic numbers up but people are beginning to use them as info sites instead of getting their auto quotes. Even though, prior to the merger, carpoint suffered the same loss, and I believe Autovantage was as well, as the rest of the providers, after wards their volume numbers began to surpass lasts year. Quality of the leads IMHO remained the same or changed little. I also believe that within a year to two that even with the combined efforts they will not be as valuable as they are today, and they will probably lose volume next year when measured to 2001.
However, you will be more successful IMHO to spend the money on your own site. My company didnt believe me at first but now they have witnessed the results. Bottom line is this.
Your website closes 15 25% or more of its self generated leads. Providers (most would agree) 10% or less.
Website can be pushed with very little cost. I now receive more leads than any of my providers and I spent less than $1,000 to achieve it for the entire year. Providers, well they cost me b/w $5K & 12K. Some dealers pay more, especially import lines (most anyway) due to their increased traffic on the World Wide Web.
You do the math........
The Toyota store, which isnt nearly as successful as our Lincoln-Mercury's Internet operations, have spent a lot more with providers due to them receiving 3 times as many leads as our Lincoln-Mercury products. South East Toyota assisted their dealers and helped provide them with an Automark site. Which iss good for the most part, however now we are dealiong with a proprietary site. Meaning they do not have any ownershiop rights, or customizable control. Now anytime we want to do any real marketing changes its could cost extra $$$.
So if you have a proprietary site (One in which a company maintains for you at a monthly service fee), then it could/will cost you much more. However there are tricks that, if you spend the time to be a student of e-commerce, you can learn that will accomplish the same tasks (Driving traffic) by spending far less.
Just remember one thing. The Internet is the only non-traditional media available right now. It changes more rapidly than any other Industry ever. Its still a baby and like a baby it grows fast and you always having to keep up. Get your mind to think out-of-the-box and utilize the tools that have been available to most dealers for the last 5 years. Just by making proper use of todays Internet and the services on the Internet you can drive traffic and in most cases you dont have to $$ a dime!
Of course this is just my professional opinion.
Email me if you would like
John Holladay
Internet/E-commerce Manager
Parks Automotive Group Florida
jholladay@parksflorida.com[This message has been edited by doc (edited 12-20-2001).]
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[This message has been edited by doc (edited 01-15-2002).]