3:37 pm, November 14, 2025
Auto Trader CEO Nathan Coe has apologised to retailers for the way that the firm’s controversial Deal Builder product was rolled out.
Car Dealer has reported extensively on a major backlash from dealers this week, with dealers saying that the offering is resulting in fewer leads.
The situation came to a head earlier this week when ‘hundreds’ of retailers cancelled or downsized their subscriptions in protest at the product, as well as rising prices.
Today, Coe appeared on the Car Dealer Podcast – which you can also watch on video above – to face up to the backlash, where he admitted that the advertising giant had got things wrong.
However, he insisted that Deal Builder is going nowhere, and said Auto Trader is committed to making it work, albeit with some tweaks following dealer feedback.
He also revealed just 59 dealers cancelled their contracts on a day of protest but could not confirm how many how downgraded their packages.
Speaking to hosts James Baggott and Jon Reay, he said: ‘I guess when we look back, it turns out that perhaps we went a little bit too quickly, and that’s caused some retailers to be confused.
‘Combined with some of the stories last week, there’s a bit of misinformation out there.
‘It’s not just necessarily the group of retailers within those within those groups that have posted cancelations – I think we’re just as concerned for all retailers, because a whole bunch of them that who are interested in the product, are kind of saying, “Well, hang on, what’s this? This isn’t what I thought was the case”.
‘For that I am sorry actually. We’re here to do a good job by retailers. That’s what we pride ourselves on. It was one of my biggest priorities when I was [appointed] the CEO.
‘To have caused that confusion and retailers angst, I am really sorry about that probably moving too fast, and then some of the communications.’
Asked by Baggott whether the product would be rolled back or removed, Coe was firm in his support for Deal Builder.
He added: ‘Rolling back deal builder isn’t something that we’re going to do.
‘We’re very convinced that it’s the right thing for retailers. It’s the right thing for car buyers.’
Coe answered a number of questions submitted by car dealers as part of the podcast tackling a large number of concerns raised by our readers.
He was asked about annual price rises and whether he felt these were fair on dealers and why customers are now being asked to sign in on its platform before submitting an enquiry.
Listen to the full podcast below on Spotify.
Changes
Dealers are angry at the mandatory adoption of the Deal Builder product which allows car buyers to reserve cars for £99. This process then marks the car as ‘reservation in progress’ on the advertising platform, effectively taking it off sale in the minds of dealers.
Car dealers are concerned that with their stock advertised on multiple platforms, they’ll be letting customers down if they sell it to someone else and cancel the reservation, leading to bad reviews.
As part of the changes, contact buttons on Auto Trader have also been changed from ‘Call Seller’ and ‘Message’ to ‘Reserve for £99’ and ‘Call Seller’. Dealers say this has resulted in a dramatic decline in leads.
Following the feedback, Coe says that the contact buttons will now be changed so that they no longer prioritise one form of contact over another.
He said: ‘We haven’t removed any contact methods. We have changed designs. You’re talking about the sticky bar at the bottom of the mobile site, that is what we’ve changed.
‘We have got a product page change that is ready to go next week. We’ll tell retailers about that shortly, it’ll start rolling out, probably progressively.
‘What it does is address that concern – reserve is still there because we want to give dealers leads or reservations that convert two in one.
‘The other the button that was there will now open up all the contact options to you rather than prioritising one over the other.
‘We’ve heard that. We’ve absolutely heard that.’
The Car Dealer Podcast sees an industry guest join our hosts to discuss the motor trade’s biggest headlines of every week.
You can listen to all episodes of the Car Dealer Podcast on Spotify, or watch them in full on our YouTube channel.
