7:17 am, July 28, 2026
Autotrader has announced a raft of sweeping changes following feedback from car dealers – including pausing the roll-out of its Deal Builder product and tweaking controversial price flags.
In a briefing note on its website, the firm revealed the tweaks which included a note to say it had ‘paused the previous rollout’ of Deal Builder and moved to a ‘flexible, choice-based onboarding’.
The firm has pushed out a series of tweaks across its platforms following two meetings with its Customer Advisory Groups, the latest of which was held earlier this month.
These groups are made up of dealers from across the franchised and independent dealer community and were set up following the controversy that followed the launch of Deal Builder, which led to customer protests.
Autotrader said car dealers told them that they wanted more control over reservations and ‘alignment with their existing sales processes’.
As a result, it paused the roll out and introduced ‘reservation requests’ for those who wanted customers to contact them to reserve a car and not do it all on the Autotrader website.
The firm has said it is also working on changes to its controversial price flags. Updates include the removal of the monetary amount posted under the flag showing how far above or below the good price the car is advertised for.
Autotrader said it is also ‘live testing’ other changes which include changing the colours of the different markers for Lower, Great, Good, Fair and Higher prices. Currently these are silver, green, darker green, yellow and red respectively and dealers say these traffic light colours ‘put off customers’ and ‘don’t take into account prep and warranty’.
It appears the plus or minus values have already been removed from the desktop version of the website but the colours remained the same when Car Dealer checked this morning
‘We are currently live testing several design changes on site,’ said Autotrader.
‘These include clearer consumer positioning regarding what is and isn’t included in the vehicle price, a refreshed scaled-back design that removed the prominent dial and softens the bold flag colours, removal of specific “above and below” monetary values to protect dealer margins and revised explanation copy.
‘We have been testing lots of different executions onsite to understand any impact on performance, as well as gathering consumer feedback.
‘The feedback has come from panel testing with car buyers in-market as well as recruiting direct feedback from hundreds of consumers interacting with price indicator onsite.’
The advertising marketplace, which won the Car Dealer Power Award for best used car advertising site, is also looking into adding WhatsApp communications.
The firm added: ‘We are continuing to investigate a WhatsApp implementation that works for most customers, as ever we are balancing retailer and buyer feedback as well as developing a robust product that gives everyone a seamless integration.
‘We’re also considering how we ensure great visibility and reporting on those all-important leads and buying signals.
‘We are committed to delivering what dealers are asking for but we always strive to deliver well thought through and technically stable solutions for our customers to the high standard they have come to expect from us.’
The firm said it gathered valuable feedback from its dealer advisors in their July meeting on WhatsApp and is continuing to ‘explore options’.
Other tweaks made include providing valuations data for older cars – now on vehicles up to 17 years old, up from 15 – as well as VIN checks from six more manufacturers to give dealers more accurate valuations.
Lead emails have also been redesigned to give dealers more information about the enquiry. Clearer subject lines to highlight new leads, or customer replies to older ones, reservation details and information about finance, part exchange or delivery preferences have also been added.
The full tweaks Autotrader has made can be found on the firm’s blog here.
Autotrader added: ‘We receive a wide range of feedback, so our focus is on the changes that can make the biggest practical difference to dealers’ businesses.’