Real Time Updates
In November 2021 Auto Trader announced that they are including their real-time data product Auto Trader Connect, known as Retail Essentials, as part of all their standard advertising packages from 2022, with early access from 1st December 2021 for dealers using existing third party live data integrations with Auto Trader. In Dragon2000 we refer to this feature as Auto Trader Portal – Live updates.
Using Auto Trader Portal – Live Updates, dealers can make changes to a vehicle record in DragonDMS and these changes will update the vehicle in Auto Trader almost straightaway. Changes are sent to Auto Trader every 60 seconds saving you hours of time and potential mistakes switching between systems and re-entering information.
Ticking the Live Updates option will send the vehicle details to Auto Trader Portal instantly, if you also want the vehicle to be advertised click the Auto Trader Live Advert as well.
Changes made to the vehicle record in DragonDMS like price changes, adding more photos, adding / editing advertising text etc will then send updates to Auto Trader portal.
Vehicle Type
The vehicle type set on the vehicle record will determine which category the vehicle is advertised in on Auto Trader. If the vehicle type is empty the vehicle will be advertised as a Car. If you are selling Bikes, Trucks, Motorhome or Vans ensure that the correct vehicle type has been set.
Single Point of Entry
It is important to note that all updates made in DragonDMS will be sent to Auto Trader, but any changes that you make to the vehicle within Dealer Portal will not feed back into DragonDMS – it is a one way integration. So make DragonDMS your single point of entry.
Inclusive Vehicle Specification & Valuation
When using Auto Trader Portal – Live Updates you will have access to unlimited vehicle specification lookups (usually 0.15 per lookup), this lookup returns a full list of standard features and a list of possible optional extras for the vehicle.
As well as unlimited Auto Trader Vehicle Valuations lookups (usually 0.75p per lookup), this lookup returns the AutoTrader valuations for the vehicle as well as AutoTrader’s Metrics & Checks.
AutoTrader Price Indicator
Listing the optional features on a vehicle in DragonDMS affects how Auto Trader displays these features, how Auto Trader values the vehicle as well as the price indicator that is displayed (Low, Great, Good, Fair, High).
Features selected in DragonDMS and ticked as optional features (Advertising > Features) will be listed under the Options, Upgrades & Specification Packs section of the vehicle on the Auto Trader portal.
And will displayed on the vehicle advert under the heading Extra Features.
Better Stock Management
Many dealers will have a limit on the number of vehicles that they can have advertised on Auto Trader at any one time. The Auto Trader Portal screen in our Advertising menu will list all of the vehicles that you have sent to Auto Trader Portal displaying the current Auto Trader Status and the Auto Trader price indicator.
Auto Trader Status
The status shows which vehicles have been successfully published, and those that have been sent but are not published because you have reached your limit – these show as CAPPED.
Vehicles with a status of NOT PUBLISHED will have a + that you can click on to see the reason, for example no photos added.
Once the vehicles are on the Auto Trader portal the current price indicator will be displayed. For more information on how Auto Trader work this out click here.
From this screen dealers can easily and dynamically manage their stock by unticking / ticking vehicles as they decide which vehicles to Advertise on Auto Trader.
Unadvertised vehicles can still remain on your Auto Trader Portal and you can choose to show them on your Profile page.
How to enable Auto Trader Iive
If you already have an account with Auto Trader and would like to take advantage of Auto Trader Live feeds please click the link below and fill out the form.
Auto Trader will contact us and we will setup and enable the feed and then let you know.