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AutoTrader.com

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Jeron of Hurst TX (09/19/08)
Autotrader deleted my Ad and wont reinstate it until I send them a copy of my insurance card or title or other proof of ownership. They require me to touch or modify the ad every month to keep it up and I have followed their requirements but this month my ad was not longer online. They said they automatically deleted all ads over a certain age and the only way to reinstate it is to send proof of ownership.

I asked for a refund and got an email saying the ad was back online under a new ID number and it was there but a week later, when I checked, it was gone again and now they will not reinstate it without the new information. They will not issue a refund.

The ad was scheduled to run until it sells and the car has not sold. I want either my money back or my ad back online.

Larry of Hampstead, MD September 9, 2008

Larry of Hampstead MD (09/09/08)
I listed my car on autotrader.com for 8 weeks. The ad was clean, the car was in good condition and fairly priced. I received no calls on the car at all. Finally in the last week I went on line and tried to find my listing. I could not find it!!!

After searching for several attempts I finally found the problem. Autotrader lists the premium listings (those of the dealers) ahead of the private sellers - regardless of the search criteria. This information is not disclosed to sellers prior to listing their car. Buyers are unaware of this little scam either.

Hint - sorting by price does not return the lowest or highest priced car in the database, because they will always display the premium listings first. In my case a standard search within a 25 mile radius (default search parameters) of my area code returned 1000 cars - all premium dealer owned automobiles. My car would only show up if I performed a very specific search on the make and model. Buyers and sellers beware. This site should not be used to sell or purchase cars from a private seller. BIG RIPOFF!!! Deal on Craigslist.

Lost 49 for the deluxe advertisement package. Still trying to get a refund.

Bottomdollarauto.com of Buffalo, WY June 24, 2008

Bottomdollarauto.com of Buffalo WY (06/24/08)
We were with autotrader.com about 3 years ago and their price just went so high and the leads were not all the good for us in this small area of Wyoming. So we cancelled them. They kept sending us bills and we would call in and cancel, but for some reason our sells person never got it cancelled correctly wonder why?

Anyway, so just 3 months ago we had a sales person come in and tell us that they are really advertizing in this area and how many local leads they would get us. They even went as far as to say Paul, I promise you will [benefit greatly] using autotrader I tried to get him to guarantee that I would get some decent leads and make it worth the 750/month cost. He said he couldnt guarantee but he knew that it would be well worht it since they are really targetting this area.

Needless to say after 2 months with them I noticed that my own website was getting 40 times the number of leads and views than what I was getting with autotrader. Dont be fooled by number of times vehicle appeared in search just because it appeared in a search doesnt mean anyone saw your vehicle or are even interested in your vehicle. I think by the time its all said and done I will have to complete the contract period 3000 worth and it would have help me to sell 0 cars, got me a total of 23 phone calls that were just bored people wanting something to do, and got me some emails from people 500 miles away wanting to know if they can pay me 500 down and carry the note on the rest.

Overall, it is definently NOT worth the cost. Dealers would be better off using that money to advertize locally.

Ron of Brunswick, OH June 14, 2008

Ron of Brunswick OH (06/14/08)
USE CRAIGSLIST!!! Add me as another person who was ripped off by Autotrader.com when placing a so-called good till sold ad. They require you to renew the ad monthly, but if your car does not sell in 2-3 months, they stop sending you renewal notices. Even if you can renew, you'll find that your pictures will magically disappear from your online ad (obviously to save them storage space and thus money).

Lastly, I got almost no serious inquiries about the car. Most of the few calls I received were from scammers promising to sell my car for more than I was asking if I sent them money. Overall a horrible experience and waste of money. USE CRAIGSLIST! I got way more responses from my Craigslist add and it is FREE.

I lost the cost of my ad, which was 70. But multiply that by the millions of car sellers who get ripped off and this is a BIG TIME con game that should be avoided at all costs. I assume it's already been looked into, but to me this outfit begs to be hit with a class action law suit.

Songkane of Providence, RI May 9, 2008

Songkane of Providence RI (05/09/08)
In simple terms. In November 2007 I paid for a full service car sale Ad program with AutoTrader.com which guaranteed that a run till it sell deal. I placed an ad up online. The ad ran for a few weeks and became nonfunctional when I edited it. I requested help many times and talked to about a dozen different Rep from technicians to managers.

Months went by and their technicians has cannot to resolve my issue and their managers refuses to help me. I was forced to use other means to sell my car. On top of that I was also forced to requested a refund and politely did so multiple times. However Autotrader.com felt that my situation is not entitled to the refund and my request was utterly denied. Also their lack of help and service seems to extend this to any further assistance and service. It is now May 2008, the situation has yet to be resolved , their service will not help me out, I cannot get my money back, I am stuck and I really do not know what to do.

Lynn of Conway, SC May 2, 2008

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