Has Carzone had it?

ivanc

Recently we decided to turn our two really well cared for cars into one for economic reasons. As in the past, I chose Carzone to advertise because it seemed to be a place where serious buyers came rather than Tyre Kickers.

So first I put our immaculate 2005 FSH low mileage X-Trail Petrol up on Carzone at a really sharp €6,000 price tag and - nothing. I got one call from the Auto-Trader ad I paid extra for and one call from the carzone on-line ad. In the end a friend of a friend of a friend bought it through word of mouth. (and got a real bargain).

So then I paid another €35.00 to advertise the wife's 2007 Civic, again at less than the going rate, but in terms of ad views I might just as well have put a "for sale" sticker in the window, forgotten about it and save myself a few bob.

The last time I put a car on Carzone (A Lexus IS200 in 2009) I had calls coming out my ears - but now it's just tumbleweed.

So - from your experience has Carzone had it?

Atlantic Dawn

I think it's still the main site for all dealer stock but the private sales have vanished, I'd say only 10% of the cars on it now are private sales where in the past it was more like 30%.

mike65

Don't use it but the introduction of charges killed it - donedeal is where the private buyers are now (and our very own adverts.ie of course!).

Mc Love

It has, has it. Word of mouth, sale signs on car windows, done deal & adverts.ie are the way forward

mickdw

It was taken over by autotrader and for whatever reason, they took away the best thing about it- the fact that the car was left up til sold for a one off fee. They then went and turned the search function into a complete disaster to further destroy the site.
I think they have now gone back to the one off fee but when you lose the traffic to somewhere else, its hard to get it back.
Its finished IMO

clown2brown

Carzone is just outright piss, donedeal is the spot, alot of mates that keep an eye out for the cars aswell as myself just stick to donedeal for the good stuff

Rightly or wrongly if I was spending €20K ish on a car carzone would be my first port of call. As I only buy cheap sh1tters I never use it though :pac:

EPM

It's good for dealer stock but that's about it. Their screening of ads can be questionable at times. The amount of scam advertisements is nuts.

VolvoMan

Carzone self destructed itself when it was absorbed by Autotrader and they got rid of all the features that made it so popular. They first of all replaced the old, easy to use website with a slower, more complex one. Then they jacked up the prices and got rid of the facility where the car stayed up on the site until it was sold.

ivanc

mike65 wrote: »

Don't use it but the introduction of charges killed it - donedeal is where the private buyers are now (and our very own adverts.ie of course!).

Have it on Done Deal but I'm not sure it's the place for real cars. Ads there seem to be from boy racers with modded heaps of junk looking to swap for pornography.

squod

Carzone = overpriced tat. Until they solve that equation it's the facing the wall.

ivanc

At least, if you click it, it will make my hits on carzone look better...feeling ripped orf at mo tho....

<snip>

Atlantic Dawn

They started to get selective too with their adverts they would accept, I remember they banned a northern dealer from having his stock online after pressure from SIMI, I'd say now they would bite the mans hand off for the business.

FlashD

If you're buying /selling privately then here's another vote for Done deal

faw1tytowers

I have been watching over the past few months and I think alot of it stays for months so things must be slow. Alot is also over priced, so I do hope everyone still haggles.

bazz26

No offence but I think no matter where you advertise a petrol X-Trail you will find it difficult to shift it. SUVs are out of fashion and petrol ones even more so.

Wildly Boaring

"So - from your experience has Carzone had it?"

YES

Sold my Passat before Christmas.

Had on both Donedeal and Carzone. All calls I got were from people who'd seen it on Donedeal.

May even still be on Carzone for all the good it did.....Useless

And what's worse is they have salesmen ringing around constantly to get people on. One told me "Ah donedeal's only for selling couches"

ivanc

faw1tytowers wrote: »

I have been watching over the past few months and I think alot of it stays for months so things must be slow. Alot is also over priced, so I do hope everyone still haggles.

Jesus, I'd haggle if they could generate just one reply from them. Trading on past successes me thinks. A bit like estate agents.

shabbyalonso

scanlone wrote: »

And what's worse is they have salesmen ringing around constantly to get people on. One told me "Ah donedeal's only for selling couches"

I got a call the other day myself, from some lady from carzone. She said she had seen my ad on donedeal and was wondering if it had sold, what the interest was like - a million and one questions and for some reason, I actually took the call!! I'm not selling a mainstream car and she started babbling on about some nonsense or other and then came the pitch. I told her I used carzone in the past to successfully sell a car - that was about 3 yrs ago but that I wouldn't use it now as the site overall is slow, the prices are overpriced it appears, the fee is crazy (at this point she confirmed that it's back to the once off fee in that once up, it stays until it sells) and that it appeared that more people were looking on done deal. So, there ya go, my 2 cents worth!

ivanc

bazz26 wrote: »

No offence but I think no matter where you advertise a petrol X-Trail you will find it difficult to shift it. SUVs are out of fashion and petrol ones even more so.

Agreed. But mine was something really pristine. Less than 50K on a zero five with a FSH, treated like a baby and genuinely immaculate.

Maybe I'm old school but really caring for your motors means a lot to me.

Saw this on Done Deal earlier http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/1946171 and just love the notion of care.

johnos1984

ivanc wrote: »

Agreed. But mine was something really pristine. Less than 50K on a zero five with a FSH, treated like a baby and genuinely immaculate.

Maybe I'm old school but really caring for your motors means a lot to me.

Saw this on Done Deal earlier http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/1946171 and just love the notion of care.

What is it with Donedeal and cars getting airborne in the NCT center

Captain Seller wrote:

It's NCT'd untill May and it will fly through it again.

MetzgerMeister

shabbyalonso wrote: »

I got a call the other day myself, from some lady from carzone. She said she had seen my ad on donedeal and was wondering if it had sold, what the interest was like - a million and one questions and for some reason, I actually took the call!! I'm not selling a mainstream car and she started babbling on about some nonsense or other and then came the pitch. I told her I used carzone in the past to successfully sell a car - that was about 3 yrs ago but that I wouldn't use it now as the site overall is slow, the prices are overpriced it appears, the fee is crazy (at this point she confirmed that it's back to the once off fee in that once up, it stays until it sells) and that it appeared that more people were looking on done deal. So, there ya go, my 2 cents worth!

Going by the questions she asked, I wouldn't be surprised if Carzone/AutoTrader buy out DoneDeal!

Yakult

einheisserschre wrote: »

Going by the questions she asked, I wouldn't be surprised if Carzone/AutoTrader buy out DoneDeal!

Dear god no :rolleyes:

They would only drag it down with them.

skippergonzo

i sold my 2006 jeep in 48 hours off donedeal 2 lads bidding for more than i advertised it for after 3 weeks on cbg and carzone with no calls
I was really annoyed when carzone got rid of the button for classic cars

Owen

I've had the phone calls from Carzone every time I put an ad on Donedeal - I haven't done many, maybe 3 cars in the last 2 years, but each time the Dublin number pops up on the phone. "Hi, I see your x for sale on DoneDeal, I'm calling from Carzone and was wondering if you would be interested in advertising your car with us" ... "No, you're too expensive and no one views your site anymore unless they're considering buying from a Dealer" ... "Well, we have new special offers for private sellers" ... "Go on" ... "It's 40 Euro and we hold it until it's sold" ... "How's that new? It's been like that for 8 months!", cue end of phone call.

If Carzone were willing to drop their private ads to say 5-10 Euro they'd have some chance. But 40? Gimme a break.

ivanc

Just been back on Done Deal to see how views were overnight - I have to say I absolutely hate the site - it's chaotic and having a "bump" thing rather than a properly developed search facility means that getting seen is the luck of the draw.

Place is full of skanger ads - if you lay down with dog's you'll get fleas and all that!

Nobody ever used CBG - clunky piece of nothingness - so why start now?

There has to be somewhere else.:mad:

whippet

I sold my MKV GTI recently .. had it up on both carzone and donedeal ... I got 2 calls from Carzone and 10 from Donedeal .... eventually did a deal with one from Donedeal.

As for why your cars are not selling ... my experience is that 90% of cars advertised online are over priced by a fair whack.

Regardless of how you have treated your car etc ... the eventual buyer is the one who will put a value on it.

My GTI was in excellent condition when it sold, I was quite anal about it. It had plenty of extras and was one of the better examples of the marque advertised online. I pitched it below the cheapest ad on carzone thinking that would be enough .. eventually it sold for about 15% below the cheapest similar model.

Mr Benevolent

Adverts is crap for selling cars, far too many people chancing their arms wanting to swap for a job lot of used socks. If they got rid of the forum-style layout of the Cars section and they'd do much better. They'd drive competition with DoneDeal too.

Confab

Confab wrote: »

Adverts is crap for selling cars

Indeed, it's woeful, timewaster central. Not surprising really though.

ivanc

Got a text this morning - "Saw ad on Done Deal what is best price for car?".

What is it about some people? What does it matter what the "Best Price" is if you haven't actually got off your ass and actually taken the time to look at the car?

TestTransmission

ivanc wrote: »

Got a text this morning - "Saw ad on Done Deal what is best price for car?".

What is it about some people? What does it matter what the "Best Price" is if you haven't actually got off your ass and actually taken the time to look at the car?

"come view the car,then we talk money"

That's your response.

The Recliner

My own experience seems to be a little different from most on here

I was selling an 07 Alfa GT before Christmas had it on Donedeal and Carzone

I got a couple of timewasting calls from people who had seen it on Donedeal, lots and lots of views but very little action and a million spam emails and a few calls from people who saw it on carzone and a much smaller number of views than carzone

Eventually it was sold to a nice chap who will look after it who had first contacted me by email from Carzone

My own opinion is that if you are selling something for under €7K then Donedeal is probably the way to go, for anything more expensive then put it up wherever you can to give yourself the best chance

Eoin

I suppose the only thing that carzone offers that the others doesn't, is the ability for garages to have a customised listing that they can embed in their website. If a competitor can offer this to dealers, then that's one less unique selling point carzone have.

squod wrote: »

Carzone = overpriced tat. Until they solve that equation it's the facing the wall.

It's hardly up to them what price people choose to advertise their car at though

ivanc

TestTransmission wrote: »

"come view the car,then we talk money"

That's your response.

My response is ..... nothing.... wouldn't entertain someone who wouldn't pick up the phone. Serious buyers don't text.

Big Nasty

Eoin wrote: »

I suppose the only thing that carzone offers that the others doesn't, is the ability for garages to have a customised listing that they can embed in their website. If a competitor can offer this to dealers, then that's one less unique selling point carzone have.

More than that, many of the distributor websites and their franhisee sub-sites are entirely powered by webzone (carzone) so the individual dealer in a lot of cases can't get out of it without loosing their website which the distributor wont allow.

Owen

ivanc wrote: »

Serious buyers don't text.

In the 21st century? I'd begin lots of conversations with someone I didn't know with text or emails first, progressing to a call. I had to buy my 75 predominantly with texts, as the guy was from Northern Ireland and had the thickest accent with all his words slurred. I literally couldn't understand him, and I'm normally alright with different accents.

+1 on Carzone's hooks into the motor trade though. They design and host most Dealers websites, even the ones hosted by the main franchises. Thats why most Dealers won't move from them. You'd literally need to visit every Dealership, offer to move their sites, and show them the benefits of a new search engine, all at the same time. If you had them all signed up to switch, or even 80% of them, then you could make a go of it.

Eoin

MCMLXXV wrote: »

More than that, many of the distributor websites and their franhisee sub-sites are entirely powered by webzone (carzone) so the individual dealer in a lot of cases can't get out of it without loosing their website which the distributor wont allow.

Really? That's interesting - I didn't know that entire websites were powered by Carzone; not just their listings.

Vicxas

Carzone is a joke, every car there is being sold for well over the market value, although i do like browsing the collection of lambo's... a man can dream

Big Nasty

Eoin wrote: »

Really? That's interesting - I didn't know that entire websites were powered by Carzone; not just their listings.

Peugeot Ireland - site by tradermedia
Foster Motors - site by tradermedia
Clonskeagh Motors - site by tradermedia
Citroen Ireland - site by tradermedia

BeanFlicker

Carzone is rubbish & overly expensive,

had my car up for sale recently on donedeal & gumtree, got it sold through gymtree which is free.

Another thing with carzone that wrecks my head

This advert was last updated 98 days ago

(just take the ad down, please, your wasting my time having to trawl through that s***e)

Toots

I like Cars Ireland since carzone has turned craptastic! Sold my old car and my hubby's on that site, it's free to put up an ad but it's more structured than DoneDeal, and the search function is way better. I stupidly put my husband's car on carzone and carsireland when we were selling it, and that was €30 (I think) euro I'll never see again. All the calls/texts we got were from cars ireland. It was great, we had it sold within a week.

jimbling

jeez, I really dont know why all the hate for carzone?? I find the site very good. quick and easy to search.
It's definitely still my first site to use. I'm currently looking at cars and I've been browsing carzone most of the day.
I decided I better go have a look on donedeal (due to this thread) but didn't last long. The search on that site is an abomination. And you have to wade through so much crap you have no interest in seeing.

dr.fuzzenstein

Well, what about

http://www.beepbeep.ie/

?

Cuddlesworth

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Well, what about

http://www.beepbeep.ie/

?

Since its heavily involved with SIMI and they have shown nothing but complete contempt for actual customers, I have no interest in their shill site.

veetwin

Vicxas wrote: »

Carzone is a joke, every car there is being sold advertised for well over the market value, although i do like browsing the collection of lambo's... a man can dream

FYP;)

Del2005

jimbling wrote: »

jeez, I really dont know why all the hate for carzone?? I find the site very good. quick and easy to search.
It's definitely still my first site to use. I'm currently looking at cars and I've been browsing carzone most of the day.
I decided I better go have a look on donedeal (due to this thread) but didn't last long. The search on that site is an abomination. And you have to wade through so much crap you have no interest in seeing.

Similar situation myself. I'm looking for a car and check out Autotrader/Carzone and CBG for cars. While they aren't the easiest sites to use they are soo much better the Donedeal, that just hurts my head trying to find a type of car I want to buy.

jimmyw

Toots* wrote: »

I like Cars Ireland since carzone has turned craptastic! Sold my old car and my hubby's on that site, it's free to put up an ad but it's more structured than DoneDeal, and the search function is way better. I stupidly put my husband's car on carzone and carsireland when we were selling it, and that was €30 (I think) euro I'll never see again. All the calls/texts we got were from cars ireland. It was great, we had it sold within a week.

I put a car on CI yesterday, and this morning at around 7:15 am:eek: I got a text from John V, no number just an email address to send to asking whats my best price:mad:,Well Mr V if you are reading this, and you cant be bothered to get up off your h**e and ring, I am not going to reply to you you tosspot skanger!:mad::mad: This is my first time advertising on this site and if this is going to be the norm, it will be the last.

Eric Cartman

I find most of the ads on carzone are just for dealers new stock

when seeling my old sorento last year I had it on carzone for a month, got 1 call from an utter timewaster , nothing else for the whole month, put it on donedeal and it was gone in 3 days.

carzone just seems to be full of innacurate info (doing searches for cars with less than 100,000 miles or if you dont set the lower price limit to 1000 just turns up a rake load of cars you dont want) that and the prices seem to be inflated on carzone

Big Nasty

Toots* wrote: »

I like Cars Ireland since carzone has turned craptastic! Sold my old car and my hubby's on that site, it's free to put up an ad but it's more structured than DoneDeal, and the search function is way better. I stupidly put my husband's car on carzone and carsireland when we were selling it, and that was €30 (I think) euro I'll never see again. All the calls/texts we got were from cars ireland. It was great, we had it sold within a week.

When Cars Ireland started first it was great! Lots of dealers and private sellers were on it and it's a functional site. I think a good measure of any site can be found right here on boards.ie - e.g. I just saw this car on ..... what do you think? Best Skangermobile on .....; This weeks classics I'm not buying, etc. It's all DoneDeal or Carzone. Can't remember the last time someone here linked a car to Cars Ireland while two years back there was plenty. CBG not much better but Done Deal defo top at the mo.

That said, if I was in the market for a €10k+ car I would be looking on Carzone not Done Deal.

Treehouse72

Done Deal = Killinaskully internets.

dublinworker22

carzone would always have been my first point of contact. Havnt bought a car in 3 yeras so perhaps the new websites are better.
Wouldnt but a private car anyway. Would hate a time where there are loads of sites similar to carzone; all we need is one site where everything is located. Not bothered looking for a car on 20 sites, just want one.