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Autotrader- is it me?
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I did mention how to exclude these companies in my post above in this thread here, glad it still works fine though since it makes location based searches useless otherwise.0
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photome said:facade said:I'm getting thisThey should be sorted by distance, but are in a random order, possibly sorted by who paid the most for their advert.The lack of info and pictures is obviously down to the seller, I managed to find a couple that have the requisite info (heat pump & reverse camera).tbh I'm shocked at how high the prices are, I thought they were pretty much giving EVs away now!I want to go back to The Olden Days, when every single thing that I can think of was better.....
(except air quality and Medical Science)
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Johnmcl7 said:The pictures and videos attached to the item are the choice of the seller from what I can see and some have a good variety of pictures of the car and sometimes a video, some have a poor selection including many that are adverts for the gararge.
You can search the spec and features by clicking View Spec and Features then using the search box at the top although depending on the brand they may have different names for it. On one model it is marked as a reversing camera but another higher spec model it's a 360 view monitor so doesn't show on the search.
The listings for virtual cars that are not at your location at all but listed as being there is incredibly annoying and clearly Autotrader aren't going to change this (I assume they're getting extra money from these companies), you can filter them by keywords putting -cinch and -arval which will exclude them. I have a base search set up with these two excluded and it makes location based searching usableThanks for these tips.I kind of accepted the virtual cars popping up as located close to me because if they are delivered to my door they might as well be zero distance away. (except no use if you want to touch a car before you buy it)However sorting cheapest-dearest throws massively expensive virtual cars throughout the bottom end seemingly at random, so it is very likely some sort of paid service to defeat the sort function.(I put all the 2022 EVs in price order and throughout the £5k Amis there are £25k cars, which is stupid for any algorithm, if I want a £5k car I'm never going to look at a £25k one, maybe shunt a couple of £5.5k or £6k cars down a bit to tempt me, also unless that £25k car appears multiple times I'll miss it anyway when I scroll down to a realistic price expectation for a £25k car)Presumably what Autotrader make on the service is their extra profit, they don't care if it puts me off using the site as they make nothing off me, and the advertisers don't know that I was put off and therefore didn't see their car to buy it...Until it puts hundreds of thousands of visitors off a month and published visits nosedive there is no reason for Autotrader to careI wonder if the lack of info is because big traders just copied and pasted current specs off manufacturers websites, and got burnt with returns because older cars were not to advertised spec. ?with BMW you just type the VIN into a decoder and it will give the full build spec though, so hardly difficult.I want to go back to The Olden Days, when every single thing that I can think of was better.....
(except air quality and Medical Science)
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I agree on both your points. I live in the north of Scotland so the distance search is really important since even a car in Scotland could be some distance away whereas those in England are too far to consider unless I was already going on a trip. Given many dealers will now deliver across the country you could argue that they could all advertise as being at your location as well. I guess they can't be losing much money from it because it's been a problem for a while now.
I think the way Autotrader works they want the spec listed in the spec section and keep the description for a general summary of the vehicle. I can't imagine there were many returns issues because so many dealers list the wrong spec for cars with the usual disclaimer that they may not be correct. There was a BMW that came up locally with the drive assist package (the one that has the better cruise control package which is rare) and I was considering going for a look. However a friend pointed out very quickly the car didn't have the virtual dashboard nor any of the fancier drive assist features or options the car was advertised. I've since noticed a lot of other BMWs have the wrong spec as well and while I get dealers may miss one or two minor features I'd expect them to at least check the car has the major features they're advertising it with.0 -
Johnmcl7 said:
I think the way Autotrader works they want the spec listed in the spec section and keep the description for a general summary of the vehicle. I can't imagine there were many returns issues because so many dealers list the wrong spec for cars with the usual disclaimer that they may not be correct. There was a BMW that came up locally with the drive assist package (the one that has the better cruise control package which is rare) and I was considering going for a look. However a friend pointed out very quickly the car didn't have the virtual dashboard nor any of the fancier drive assist features or options the car was advertised. I've since noticed a lot of other BMWs have the wrong spec as well and while I get dealers may miss one or two minor features I'd expect them to at least check the car has the major features they're advertising it with.
Which might be in a crossover year. Or even worse in post covid with the parts issues. So some manufactures changed spec on the fly. BMW being one of the big ones, who produces cars & then offered to customers minus some of the spec ordered, just to stop extended delays.
Price wise
You have to remember that the price shown maybe no where near the actual price paid when they sell.Life in the slow lane0 -
born_again said:Johnmcl7 said:
I think the way Autotrader works they want the spec listed in the spec section and keep the description for a general summary of the vehicle. I can't imagine there were many returns issues because so many dealers list the wrong spec for cars with the usual disclaimer that they may not be correct. There was a BMW that came up locally with the drive assist package (the one that has the better cruise control package which is rare) and I was considering going for a look. However a friend pointed out very quickly the car didn't have the virtual dashboard nor any of the fancier drive assist features or options the car was advertised. I've since noticed a lot of other BMWs have the wrong spec as well and while I get dealers may miss one or two minor features I'd expect them to at least check the car has the major features they're advertising it with.
Which might be in a crossover year. Or even worse in post covid with the parts issues. So some manufactures changed spec on the fly. BMW being one of the big ones, who produces cars & then offered to customers minus some of the spec ordered, just to stop extended delays.
Price wise
You have to remember that the price shown maybe no where near the actual price paid when they sell.0 -
facade said:born_again said:facade said:I'm getting thisThey should be sorted by distance, but are in a random order, possibly sorted by who paid the most for their advert.The lack of info and pictures is obviously down to the seller, I managed to find a couple that have the requisite info (heat pump & reverse camera).tbh I'm shocked at how high the prices are, I thought they were pretty much giving EVs away now!
EV's are cheap to run. So 2nd hand are making good money now. Especially given the VED
Click on Filter/Search Make sure that under sort that Distance is selected.
Still get some out sync, but that is retailers paying.
Someone did post a way of getting ride of the likes of Carsa etc a while ago.I know that, but I'm bombarded with youtube clickbait and other "news" articles claiming that EVs are worthless after 3 years, no-one wants to buy them, they loose 50% of their value every year etc.This doesn't seem to be reflected in the asking prices though.I just fancied swapping my oil tanker Citroen on something a little more sensibly sized and slightly better built.My EV lost 50% of its price in the first year. Which is why I bought it at one year old. But it was an old model and about to be discontinued. Nobody was paying the list price any more.
It's a new market. EVs are still finding their price.If it sticks, force it.
If it breaks, well it wasn't working right anyway.0 -
Ectophile said:facade said:born_again said:facade said:I'm getting thisThey should be sorted by distance, but are in a random order, possibly sorted by who paid the most for their advert.The lack of info and pictures is obviously down to the seller, I managed to find a couple that have the requisite info (heat pump & reverse camera).tbh I'm shocked at how high the prices are, I thought they were pretty much giving EVs away now!
EV's are cheap to run. So 2nd hand are making good money now. Especially given the VED
Click on Filter/Search Make sure that under sort that Distance is selected.
Still get some out sync, but that is retailers paying.
Someone did post a way of getting ride of the likes of Carsa etc a while ago.I know that, but I'm bombarded with youtube clickbait and other "news" articles claiming that EVs are worthless after 3 years, no-one wants to buy them, they loose 50% of their value every year etc.This doesn't seem to be reflected in the asking prices though.I just fancied swapping my oil tanker Citroen on something a little more sensibly sized and slightly better built.My EV lost 50% of its price in the first year. Which is why I bought it at one year old. But it was an old model and about to be discontinued. Nobody was paying the list price any more.
It's a new market. EVs are still finding their price.
i haggled but could only get it down to £19kTold the sales guy I was looking to pay under £15k. Laughter. Coughing. Security staff called.
But I persevered and found an 11 month old example in the top spec and colour, approved used, five year warranty, with 3k on the clock for just £13k. Free driveway insurance and a free tank of electricity.0 -
born_again said:<snip>
Price wise
You have to remember that the price shown may be no where near the actual price paid when they sell.
Insurers always say that when paying out on a write-off, but the reality is dealers have no haggle room as (if you can get it to work....) we sort adverts by price and only go to the ones at the bottom end (with the "great price" & "low price" tags), so they can't over-price to be able to "knock a bit off/do a deal" because they simply won't get any customers through the door in the first place.I want to go back to The Olden Days, when every single thing that I can think of was better.....
(except air quality and Medical Science)
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WellKnownSid said:Ectophile said:facade said:born_again said:facade said:I'm getting thisThey should be sorted by distance, but are in a random order, possibly sorted by who paid the most for their advert.The lack of info and pictures is obviously down to the seller, I managed to find a couple that have the requisite info (heat pump & reverse camera).tbh I'm shocked at how high the prices are, I thought they were pretty much giving EVs away now!
EV's are cheap to run. So 2nd hand are making good money now. Especially given the VED
Click on Filter/Search Make sure that under sort that Distance is selected.
Still get some out sync, but that is retailers paying.
Someone did post a way of getting ride of the likes of Carsa etc a while ago.I know that, but I'm bombarded with youtube clickbait and other "news" articles claiming that EVs are worthless after 3 years, no-one wants to buy them, they loose 50% of their value every year etc.This doesn't seem to be reflected in the asking prices though.I just fancied swapping my oil tanker Citroen on something a little more sensibly sized and slightly better built.My EV lost 50% of its price in the first year. Which is why I bought it at one year old. But it was an old model and about to be discontinued. Nobody was paying the list price any more.
It's a new market. EVs are still finding their price.
i haggled but could only get it down to £19kTold the sales guy I was looking to pay under £15k. Laughter. Coughing. Security staff called.
But I persevered and found an 11 month old example in the top spec and colour, approved used, five year warranty, with 3k on the clock for just £13k. Free driveway insurance and a free tank of electricity.If you just want an EV for a short city commute, the school run and nipping to Tesco's, there are a few delivery mileage Dacia Springs on Autotrader at £10,700.I really like the Zoe, but the newer ones are only good for between 40- 60,000 miles before the motor bearings need a very expensive replacement. (Wouldn't be a problem for me if I got one with 10,000 on the clock, but the cheap ones have 30,000)I want to go back to The Olden Days, when every single thing that I can think of was better.....
(except air quality and Medical Science)
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