Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

Car Sales Insider Calls Time on Dodgy Car Sales Websites

A leading car sales entrepreneur has become so fed up of losing business to rip-off car sales advertising sites he has threatened to speak to the Office of Fair Trading to ask them to investigate.

Michael Webb launched www.JustCarsOnline.co.uk in the UK 5 months ago and in that time he has had over £150m worth of stock placed on his site by car showrooms and private advertisers looking to sell their car.

He has quickly won market share thanks to the “Hold till Sold” advertising unique selling point that allows private car sellers to pay just one fee and the car remains advertised until it is sold.

The Internet is now the place to advertise a used car for sale. However there are several pitfalls in the market place that many unsuspecting advertiser may well fall foul of.

Michael made the following observations about some of the industry goings-on based on his years in the car sales trade and having carried out significant research for the launch of www.JustCarsOnline.co.uk

“These sites that offer two week advertising programs for more money than some websites charge for hold until sold packages are really just trying to drain as much revenue from the customers as possible. I think it is fair to say that a used car on average will take longer than two weeks advertising to sell”.

“Local papers are also over inflating their prices. The cost of a basic advert in a local paper is extreme, and considering the coverage it would receive compared to a website with a high volume of traffic it does not seem to be in line with the pricing of the online options.”

“The Internet is beginning to fill up with websites that basically over inflate their price claiming to put your car on many websites, thus giving you the most exposure for your money”.

“However if you dig a little deeper into this, you'll find that they basically will be adding you to a few websites with strong traffic, and then add you to a load of websites that basically have no traffic, branding or public awareness at all”.

“Quite often the companies who claim to put your car advert on 100's of websites own the majority of these themselves, all looking exactly the same with the only difference being that the colours of the site templates change. I have worked in the motor industry in a senior sales role for the last 5 years, and I have never heard of any of these websites”.

“The Internet is also making it too easy for “canvassers” to crawl websites and contact advertisers. JustCarsOnline has received complaints from private advertisers regarding companies contacting them and making false claims that buyers are lined up to purchase their car, and then requesting up front payment to disclose the buyers details”.

Launched only 4 months ago www.Justcarsonline.co.uk is unique in that it has the ability to alert showrooms on shortages of cars according to customer searches and also enables people searching for cars to give permission for the site to pass on their contact information if they cannot find the car they are looking for.

Valet companies are also able to benefit thanks to the site being packed with the secret tips of the trade on how to sell a car, such as how a rigorous cleaning process inside and out can speed up the selling process. Prime advertising slots are available to valet companies next to these helpful hints along with the ability to be profiled on the post-sale page.

To see the site in action visit www.justcarsonline.co.uk .


Notes to Editors:

For further info contact Andy Barr on 01452 300683 or andy@10yetis.co.uk

1.No private or personal data is handed over to a third party, only information about the type of cars being searched for in a specific region.

2.JustCarsOnline has a strict policy to never canvass its customers.

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Media Quiz:

Prize for the 1st person to send the correct answer to andy@10yetis.co.uk

Q: Which actor voices the character of Bart Simpsons arch enemy, Side Show Bob?

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