What makes a good Carzone ad?

Dancing_Priest

I've just taken responsibility for Carzone at the garage where I work.
I have a few thoughts of my own, but its been so long since I've went shopping for a car that I'm probably a bit out of touch.
What I'm wondering is, when you're shopping for a car what information would you like to have about the car?

My thoughts are

At least 3 high quality shots of the cars interior
A clear shot of the car's mileage
A shot of the NCT, Tax Disc
4 shots of the exterior
/ Leading to a total of 9 Photographs.

On the subject of photographs, how important is the quality?

With regards to the description of the cars on Carzone, is there any information that dealers are leaving out that you find necessary or similary what information are dealers putting up that is totally useless and irrelevent?

Any thoughts, rants, or experiences would be greatly apperciated.

Drummerboy08

Im not sure about the pics of the tax and NCT discs. Anyone wanting to buy the car, wont buy it on the pictures alone, they will want to inspect the car and drive it. If you say there is tax and NCT on it, but it turns out there isnt, then your a liar and most people will walk away. I think your wasting two pics on them.

I would take good pics from the front and rear quarter panels, from the side of the car, and maybe the rear.

I'd take one from the drivers door of the interior of the car, and one of the dash.

Dont be tempted to add in stuff like "minter of a car", or "road rep had it previously, genuine motorway mileage" sh*te either. It'l only make you look like a dodgy dealer. Keep it simple and factual.

And remember, the ad wont sell the car, its the service of the garage and salesmen that count.

Dancing_Priest

Cheers, for the input.
I know a good add wont sell a car.
But....
If I was a buyer I wouldnt bother calling a dealer who made no effort with their add.
The way I see it, I want the customer to have enough information so that they can decide for themselves whether the car and the dealership is right for them before taking things further.

I'd also love to know what ye expect after contacting a dealership about a car.
How long is too long to be waiting for a reply to an email? In general what do you expect as a customer making an enquiry?

smash

I find that a photo of a service history and receipts spread across a desk helps, rather than just saying "FSH" and then you arrive to find 1 book with 4 stamps!

And make sure you get the full car into the photos.... in good light!

Drummerboy08

steve06 wrote: »

And make sure you get the full car into the photos.... in good light!

Yeah, there is nothing as bad as half the car in the photo!

I think you hit it on the head there OP. The idea is to give the punter enough information about the car - its current condition, past history. Once they can see the dealer is fairly professional, and the car may be for them, they should get in touch.

Also bear in mind, there are alot of people out there who are just looking for a bargain. The dont car what car it is, as long as it represents good value.

smash

one other thing, if you can get a decent camera with a wide angle lens it will make the photos look better and give you a better viewable range, especially for the interior!

lifer_sean

What makes a good Carzone advert ? ... a low price !

You can have all the nice pics you want, but if the price is wrong you'll get no calls.

If the price is the lowest around you will still get calls even if there are no photos (but photos will help of course).

-Chris-

My 2c...


1) Get a decent camera, nothing looks worse than blurry cameraphone shots
2) Take your photos in the morning or the evening, you'll get clearer photos
3) Take 5 exterior & three interior photos (see below), and photo of keys & paperwork
4) Take all the photos either with a nice backdrop (a local green), or with the garage in the background
5) Make sure the car fits in each photo
6) Use Picasa to balance your exposure etc. (use the Batch Processing > "I'm feeling lucky" function)
7) Use Irfanview to put a "watermark" on it - I put the dealer webaddress across the bottom right. It stops people nicking your pictures for scam ads
8) Be thorough in your description, don't use cliche phrases, price it correctly


In terms of photos, I'd take 5 of the outside - front, offside, nearside, rear with boot closed, rear with boot open.
For interior I'd take one across the rear seats, one across the front seats (I prefer taking this from the passenger side, I think it gives a better view of the dash and steering wheel etc.) and one of the clock cluster showing the mileage.
The 9th photo would be of keys & docs for a second hand car, and of one of the alloy wheels for a new car.


If you want a masterclass in presenting a car online, check out www.autoquake.co.uk. I'm really impressed with the way they do it.

L-M

My 2c,

For pictures: Personally i would go with a plane background, your not selling the tree's and the scenery. So get the car at a nice angle, and clean. Get the full 9 photo's your allowed. Put the car at an angle to a wall if you can find one.

Get 3 pics of the outside.
1.The front
2.Front quarter showing most of the front and side
3.The back.
4.Get a shot with the boot open.
5.A shot from the passenger side in across the interior, with the seats as far back as they will go. Make sure it's clean.
6. Push the front seats forward, and take a picture from the back door, in across the rear seats/interior.
7.Sit into the back, reclined the drivers seat back a bit, and get a picture straight onto the steering wheels, as what you would see if you were driving. (Resting the camera on the headrest works well for this.)
8.Get a direct shot of one of the wheels, the cleanest perhaps.
9.Be imaginative with this, get a nice shot of one of the badges or something, make sure it's clean. On that note make sure everything you take if spotlessly clean.

Make sure to include the Cars NCT, if the nct is out, say it will be sold with a fresh NCT test. Include all the details you can. Make sure to include all the features, and the service history. Only put in FSH if it has one.

I think consistency is another thing. If you take pictures at one angle in one spot, take all the cars at the same angles. Don't, for the life of you take a picture of the car parked in the car lot. Get it out against a plain backgound.

pred racer

Dancing_Priest wrote: »

I'd also love to know what ye expect after contacting a dealership about a car.
How long is too long to be waiting for a reply to an email? In general what do you expect as a customer making an enquiry?

If I made an e-mail enquiry in the morning I would hope to recieve a reply of some sort that day, if in the evening then the next day. For me I get an answer pretty much straight away and for you only have to look and reply to emails 0nce/twice a day. From what Ive experienced (and has been done to death here before about email selling etc) the email address for most car dealers is just writing on a website and all mail gets forwarded to a black hole somewhere, coz Ive never gotten an answer yet.

On photos etc, I dont really care that much, if the car looks like its what im after ill go to see it, so once the pics are half decent( if they are blurred and obviously taken with a bad phone I go to the next ad) and show the actual car! The rest of the info in the ad is what attracts me, Price milage etc.

On a purely personal note dont put crap in as extras when its been standard on every car since the model T

Owen

Dancing_Priest wrote: »

How long is too long to be waiting for a reply to an email? In general what do you expect as a customer making an enquiry?

An immediate reply. If you don't have a blackberry, or iPhone, get one. You can reply to customer's mails instantly - even at night - at least acknowledging their eMail, and that you'll be passing it to a salesperson as soon as possible.

pred racer

ned78 wrote: »

An immediate reply. If you don't have a blackberry, or iPhone, get one. You can reply to customer's mails instantly - even at night - at least acknowledging their eMail, and that you'll be passing it to a salesperson as soon as possible.

This is the service I would like, but I would be happy with same or next day!

Luke Crowley

Here's my €0.02:

Rule One is that you cannot take enough pictures of the interior. This is where the buyer will spend most of their time, and it helps if you can imagine yourself behind the wheel when you're looking at the Carzone ad. I'd say the ideal ratio is 6/3 of interior/exterior photos.

A few detail shots of the switchgear/instruments/centre console always help, and if the car has equipment on the overhead panel or between the front seats, take pictures of that.

For the exterior, a couple of good-quality three-quarter view shots are all that is required. Chances are the buyer will already know what the model they are interested in looks like, so all they want to see is if it's straight and if the colour and wheels are nice.

A simple one, but one that I always see dealers getting wrong is getting the equipment list right. Put in everything the car has, and nothing it doesn't. For example, many older cars have automatic temperature control for the heater, but no air conditioning. In this case, many advertisers will say the car has 'climate control'. However for a lot of buyers, climate control implies that air conditioning is automatically included. In this case, it's better not to say anything about air conditioning or climate control. Also, don't list anything twice to try and make the equipment list look longer than it is. Be honest about what the car has and hasn't got.

For the price, just make it reasonable and always include it in the ad. Ads with no price or 'POA' tend to be skipped over, unless the buyer really, really wants that particular car.

And now some examples of how not to do it:

Exhibit A: http://www.carzone.ie/search/Austin/A40/200840190277320/advert
Dreadful exterior pictures, price is a bit steep, 'Enquiries by phone please, Call between 9am & 6pm only' sounds pretentious and offputting.

Exhibit B: http://www.carzone.ie/search/Morris/Minor/800cc-Ve/200840190267385/advert
Exterior pictures are good, but no interior pictures and an absolutely crazy price. The tagline running on ('Very Rare to find one in') doesn't help either.

Exhibit C:http://www.carzone.ie/search/MG/MGB/200840190277291/advert
One picture isn't enough, and you should always be truthful about the mileage and prevoius owners. Same as before with the 'Enquiries by phone...' line, too.

Exhibit http://www.carzone.ie/search/Other/Other/Austin-C/200840190287571/advert
Call it what it is. Someone searching for this model won't find this ad unless they go trawling thorughthe 'Other Other' ads. Also, if the car is left hand drive, you should really say so in the tagline.

That's what I think anyway.

LeoD

Spent around 3 months looking for a car recently and the thing that put me off most ads on Carzone and CBG were the ridiculous prices. In the end I came to the conclusion that 95% of dealers were chancers so bought privately.

Guy:Incognito

Interior shots are key imo. I hate nothing more than looking at a car on carzone and it's just all exterior shots from 100 angles. I know what the outside looks like and if its relatively dent and scrape free they all look the same.


Comfy interior shots give you stuff to have a good look at and get as much of a feel for the car as you can from pictures.

I like nothing more than going to Parkers and looking at the 40 or 50 interior detail shots of a lot of the cars in the reviews section.

PauloMN

AudiChris wrote: »

If you want a masterclass in presenting a car online, check out www.autoquake.co.uk. I'm really impressed with the way they do it.

Well impressed with that. Was looking at an A4 there, and thinking to myself "pity there's no interior shots" until I realised there are separate sections for exterior and interior shots.

Excellent website. I like the way any damage/dents are highlighted with further photos.

Why don't any Irish dealers do that? Honestly not trying to open a can of worms on it, it's a genuine question, but I think that example of proper effort to sell cars is what people do not see in Ireland from dealers here, and hence the apathy towards the industry here.