A new Irish used-car site: CarList.ie. Feedback welcome.

CarList.ie

ninty9er wrote: »

I do like the [+] thingy, you could even eliminate the need to navigate away from the search results altogether if only you could get the photos to work properly in conjunction with it

The photo slideshow will work with the [+] by this weekend.

ninty9er

CarList.ie wrote: »

The photo slideshow will work with the [+] by this weekend.

Then I'd suggest that you remove the [+] and just let a click on the car link do what it does now. Much better than having to hit the back button the whole time. Have you contacted you local enterprise board about grants....or a business planner?

Might sound useless, but they're well worth the money

CarList.ie

ninty9er wrote: »

Then I'd suggest that you remove the [+] and just let a click on the car link do what it does now. Much better than having to hit the back button the whole time. Have you contacted you local enterprise board about grants....or a business planner?

Might sound useless, but they're well worth the money

Thanks for the suggestion.

The [+] dropdown feature will show vehicle detail in a compact space by this weekend - it will take up much less space than it currently does. It won't replace the full vehicle view which has the photo browser, google map and contact the seller form (more features are coming soon too). I also need a full page for each vehicle so that Google can index in their search engine and so that people can link to vehicles.

I think that the [+] is a simple way to give users a choice in how they search for and view vehicles.

I'll look into discussing this project with my local enterprise board, thanks for the tip.

TheWaterboy

A good job and looks well.

One point i notice is that when you are changing Makes in the dropdown it takes a long time for the Model dropdown to reload - This should be instant. There are plenty of sites doing this method out there through JS or Ajax.

Like someone else mentioned i think the text is too big - Ive a 20" monitor and there are horizontal scrollbars - prob caused by your footer.

I think if you want to compete with the big boys you need to be better than them - provides something to the dealers that they dont provide. One complaint Ive heard about CBG from a dealer is that you can only upload new cars on one specific designated computer. If you build the correct admin for dealers that makes it easier and quicker to do this thankless job the ure on a winner.

Good luck with it

CarList.ie

TheWaterboy wrote: »

One point i notice is that when you are changing Makes in the dropdown it takes a long time for the Model dropdown to reload - This should be instant. There are plenty of sites doing this method out there through JS or Ajax.

I agree. I'll look into speeding this up, it it quite slow in IE. This should be instantaneous.

TheWaterboy wrote: »

Like someone else mentioned i think the text is too big - Ive a 20" monitor and there are horizontal scrollbars - prob caused by your footer.

The footer doesn't display correctly in IE and is causing the horizontal scrollbars. I reduced the size of the text in the vehicle list and filter bar a few days ago. Are there specific areas of text that you think are too big?

TheWaterboy wrote: »

I think if you want to compete with the big boys you need to be better than them - provides something to the dealers that they dont provide. One complaint Ive heard about CBG from a dealer is that you can only upload new cars on one specific designated computer. If you build the correct admin for dealers that makes it easier and quicker to do this thankless job the ure on a winner.

Good luck with it

I agree and am working on it . Thanks for your feedback.

CarList.ie

TheWaterboy wrote: »

One point i notice is that when you are changing Makes in the dropdown it takes a long time for the Model dropdown to reload - This should be instant.

I've fixed this problem. The Make -> Model selection is now instant:

www.carlist.ie/vehicles

TheWaterboy

CarList.ie wrote: »

I've fixed this problem. The Make -> Model selection is now instant:

www.carlist.ie/vehicles

yup that seems to work fine now.

One other simple thing - when a person clicks on the blog i suggest you open it in a new window. The last thing u want people to do throught a link is to actually leave ure site!

BnA

kbannon wrote: »

Just looking at the dropdowns: if I select BMW I get the option for 3 series, 316, 318...
What is the point in 3 series if it is going to be model specific?

I noticed this too with the BMW's. Did this happen because you allow dealers to manually type in the model if it's not there ? I would reccomend (like Autotrader.co.uk) to just go with 1 Series, 3 Series, 5 Series etc. The more choices you give people, the more likely they'll enter it wrong.

Someone else mentioned the Autotrader.co.uk search function as being excellent. I use it a lot too (dreaming) and I would largely agree but the one part of it that bugs the crap out of me is the selection of the year. Particularly for older cars.
The options are :
Up to 1 year old
Up to 3 years old
Up to 5 years old
Up to 7 years old
Up to 10 years old
More than 10 years old
But very often when looking for a car you are looking for a particular year because a new model or face lift came out that year and it can be hard to tie it down. I often end up having to do a text search for the year I want which is pretty crap.

The Carzone Year selection is much better. Just pick the year you want. Bang... no problem. But as the poster said above, the rest of the Autotrader search is excellent.

One final tip I'd give you. Unlike Carzone, make sure your server can take the traffic.

Best of luck.

CarLover

CarList,

This thread is a very good example of utilising resources to their maximum - Boardies being your very own outsourced software test team

It BeeMee

One little point : you use the proper "Š" for Škoda
But it means Skoda isn't included between Seat and SSangyong... instead it appears after Yamaha.

Now it's all very nice for aesthetics, but....

pontovic

Well done. I like it alot. Very simple to use, fresh and clean. I like when the photos pop up and the screen goes dark.

I hope you trounce carzone.ie, because in the 5 years I have been using that site they haven't done any work on it seemingly. The people who run that site strike me as deadweights who make money because they're the only ones who have a car dealer site in Ireland. Those who innovate and deliver something better should prosper, whereas those who procrastinate should flounder. I wish you the best of luck.

Well done.

Giblet

Seems ok, but the UI seems derivative of carzone. I know someone working on a new site which looks unbelievable and has great tools to help people find the cars they want.

BostonB

Personally I'd look for a car within 10~20 miles of where I live. That could be in any of about 4 counties Searching by counties only is very limiting IMO.

CarList.ie

FrankLavery wrote: »

You need to be able to copy ads from other sites as dealers don't like uploading more than once. Have you found a way to do this? Are you going to do it manually?

Yes, there are a few ways for a dealer to automatically add their vehicle data to the site.

JHMEG

Is it legal to copy ads from other sites?

CarList.ie

BostonB wrote: »

Personally I'd look for a car within 10~20 miles of where I live. That could be in any of about 4 counties Searching by counties only is very limiting IMO.

Thanks for the suggestion, I've just deployed this feature to the live site.

The 'County' dropdown now has entries such as '[Near Wicklow]' and '[Near Sligo]'. These will restrict the search to county and its surrounding counties. For example, searching for vehicles '[Near Offaly]' will search the following counties:

Roscommon, Westmeath, Kildare, Laois, Tipperary, Galway & Offaly.

CarList.ie

JHMEG wrote: »

Is it legal to copy ads from other sites?

It possibly would be, however I'm not copying ads from other sites.

CarList.ie

I'll soon be allowing private sellers to list their cars on www.carlist.ie. If you would like a free private seller account, you can signup here:

http://www.carlist.ie/sell

smash

CarList.ie wrote: »

It possibly would be, however I'm not copying ads from other sites.

really... ?

CarList.ie

steve06 wrote: »

really... ?

Yes, I have a number of tools which help a dealer upload their vehicle information to carlist.ie. None of these tools copy information from any portal website such as carzone.ie.

The vehicle data in your example is the same as it *is* the same vehicle from the same dealer.

smash

yea but dealers enter their information in carzone's software, so do you purge from this software?

CarList.ie

steve06 wrote: »

yea but dealers enter their information in carzone's software, so do you purge from this software?

There are a number of different database types that my software supports importing from including the database used by CarZone. The dealer grants my software access to their vehicle data on their machine.

smash

Somehow I don't think that's quite legal as JHMEG said... unless carzone know you do it and you have an agreement with them.

CarList.ie

steve06 wrote: »

Somehow I don't think that's quite legal as JHMEG said... unless carzone know you do it and you have an agreement with them.

The dealer owns copyright on their vehicle information and photos and this data is stored on their own machine. I don't see any issue here.

smash

Just a warning!

http://www.carzone.ie/index.cfm?fuseaction=TermsConditions

Intellectual Property / Copyright
All materials published on the Carzone web site including, but not limited to, product descriptions, photographs, images, illustrations, pricing information, reviews and video clips ("Information") is protected by copyright and owned or controlled by WEBZONE.
You hereby acknowledge that all trade marks, trade names, service marks, rights (registered or unregistered) in any designs, applications for any of the foregoing; trade or business names; innovations, inventions whether or not capable of protection by patent or registration, registered design and topography rights; know-how, including software, software architecture, design or code including source and object code, data specifications, drawings, instructions, programs, developments, methods, techniques and improvements; secret formulae and processes; rights protecting goodwill and reputation; database rights and rights under licences and consents in relation to such things, rights in the nature of unfair competition rights, and rights to sue for passing of and all rights or forms of protection of a similar nature to any of the foregoing or having equivalent effect anywhere in the world; copyright, trade marks and other intellectual property rights in and relating to the Carzone web site (hereinafter referred to as "Intellectual Property") are solely owned by WEBZONE. You may not reproduce, publish, transmit, distribute, display, modify, create derivative works from, sell or participate in any sale of, or exploit in any way, in whole or in part, the Intellectual Property. All other trademarks, product names and company logos cited herein are the property of their respective owners.

All web site design, text, graphics, the selection and arrangement thereof and all software are copyright of Webzone. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Except as expressly permitted by these terms and conditions, you may not copy, reproduce, redistribute, download, republish, transmit, display, adapt, alter, create derivative works from or otherwise extract or re-utilise any of the contents of the Website. In particular, you must not cache any of the contents for access by third parties nor mirror or frame any of the content of the Website nor incorporate it into another website without our express written permission.

CarList.ie

steve06 wrote: »

Just a warning!

http://www.carzone.ie/index.cfm?fuseaction=TermsConditions

Thanks for that. I have read their Terms & Conditions.

They may claim to have copyright of the dealers data but claiming it is not sufficient. The dealer does own the copyright of their vehicle information and photographs.

I am not the only website that lists similar data to carzone. Most dealers already upload their data to many websites.

smash

CarList.ie wrote: »

They may claim to have copyright of the dealers data but claiming it is not sufficient. The dealer does own the copyright of their vehicle information and photographs.

still though, you're not taking information from a dealer... you're taking it directly from a database within software owned by a competitor.

If dealers directly put information into your system themselves it would be different, but you're leeching from copyright software.

CarList.ie wrote: »

Most dealers already upload their data to many websites

This is because those website are carzone partners aren't they.

CarList.ie

steve06 wrote: »

This is because those website are carzone partners aren't they.

There are many competing websites such as mine, I'm not talking about carzone sites with different branding such as RTE motors.

--amadeus--

Bit of a grey area TBH, but it would be easy to get around. I'm sure you could build a little app that the dealer entered the car data into that then squirts it to both the carzone database and yours (or indeed CBG, AutoTrader, etc). Doing that would significantly ease the work for a trader and they would be very happy to use it, and from there advertise with you. It also means that you use the data before carzone gets it, bypassing thier T&C's.

Other than that, nice site, intuitive to use and some nice features. The only thing that Carzone has that you don't is the ability to browse by category. So for example I'm into classic cars. On Carzone I click a link and all cars older than a given age are returned. Essentially all it does is run a custom query but you could do it for a series of sub categories (Diesel, "Eco Friendly" (low emission, hybrid or bio fuel), Low Tax, Family Friendly (7 seats) and so on)

Good luck - with Carzone shifting the way they charge the time is ripe to do something like this.

CarList.ie

--amadeus-- wrote: »

Other than that, nice site, intuitive to use and some nice features. The only thing that Carzone has that you don't is the ability to browse by category. So for example I'm into classic cars. On Carzone I click a link and all cars older than a given age are returned. Essentially all it does is run a custom query but you could do it for a series of sub categories (Diesel, "Eco Friendly" (low emission, hybrid or bio fuel), Low Tax, Family Friendly (7 seats) and so on)

Good luck - with Carzone shifting the way they charge the time is ripe to do something like this.

Thanks, I hope to add the ability to browse by category in the near future. For now, you can use the year filter to lists cars older than a certain year, eg:

vehicles older than 1990