1:16 pm, November 10, 2025
Hundreds of car dealers are planning a mass cancellation of their Auto Trader accounts in protest at the roll-out of its controversial Deal Builder product.
One Facebook protest group has amassed 1,900 members and is calling for dealers to coordinate cancellations at 11.59am this Wednesday (November 12).
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 reserved 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.
One boss of a large franchised dealer group called the roll out of Deal Builder ‘the worst product we’ve ever seen from Auto Trader’ and told Car Dealer he was now actively looking at alternative options to spend the ‘millions of pounds’ it shells out every year with the marketplace.
Auto Trader’s boss Nathan Coe has told Car Dealer he and his team is ‘listening’ to the feedback from its retail partners.
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.
Dealers explained that most customers prefer to email them rather than call and by removing this option they feel customers are less likely to contact them. They claim it also makes out of hours enquiries ‘effectively impossible’.
Message functionality is still available on car dealer adverts but it has been moved from the prominent button positions on adverts to the dealer’s contact details area.
Various motor trade WhatsApp groups has been awash with angry dealers this weekend who have also pointed out customers now need to create an account on Auto Trader to submit an enquiry.
They say this is putting customers off getting in touch as they are reluctant to give up their data and sign in to Auto Trader.
Mass protest
Autotrader Dealers Community Facebook Group admin, Ibrar Mohammed, has detailed in a post today how its members will be able to copy template letters to cancel their contracts this week.
Speaking exclusively to Car Dealer, he said: ‘Because of Deal Builder, we are seeing situations where dealers have taken the deposit and then can’t get hold of the customer for whatever reason, maybe they’re at work, so they cancel that, sell the car somewhere else and then that’s an angry customer.
‘We’re paying to advertise, but we’re fighting a battle where we’re justifying Auto Trader’s products. It’s a constant battle with the consumer.’
Last week, the firm’s COO Catherine Faiers told Car Dealer that Deal Builder will become mandatory for all customers in the coming weeks. Up until now it has been optional with 6,000 of its 14,000 customers choosing to use the product.
Umesh Samani, chairman of the Independent Motor Dealers Association (IMDA) questioned why big dealers like Vertu and Big Motoring World weren’t using the product.
He added: ‘While we recognise and appreciate Auto Trader’s ambition to evolve the digital retail journey for consumers, the IMDA has received significant feedback from members expressing concern and confusion about how Deal Builder operates, the implications for dealer operations, and the absence of prior consultation before implementation.
‘Sudden product or process changes on a major platform like Auto Trader can have a disproportionate impact on independent dealers’ day-to-day operations.’
Price rises?
Car dealers say they are concerned that Deal Builder could force their contract fees up further when Auto Trader plans its next wave of price rises in April.
This year, dealers saw their contracts with the marketplace rise 8% on average. In last week’s half year results, Auto Trader revealed half year profits of £199.3m, up 6% on the same period last year.
It told shareholders a record 14,080 dealers are now using its platform, and the average it receives from each of them has risen 5% to a staggering £2,994.
A second car dealer protest Facebook group has been set up by Tim Atkinson, the boss of Andover-based Sports & Touring Ltd. His group has gained more than 750 members in less than a week.
He told Car Dealer: ‘There is a huge swell of feeling against AutoTrader amongst dealers at present.
‘Years of profiteering prices, above-inflation price hikes, ignorant refusal to listen to criticism, and especially, increasingly unbearable interference in how dealers do their jobs, have led to a situation in which dealers are banding together to fight.’
Atkinson is planning a legal challenge and said Deal Builder was ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’.
‘We are probably going down the route of a very carefully constructed complaint to the CMA,’ he said.
‘I’m satisfied now having spent some time looking at these things and talking to the Competition and Markets Authority and to specialist lawyers in this area, that we have an excellent case.’
‘Conversions down’
Theo Cook, from Bowen’s Garage, an independent used car dealer, said: ‘When cars are reserved directly with us we charge £200 and it’s only refundable if they physically view and don’t wish to proceed. No viewing, no refund.
‘We convert 90%+ of those reservations. We are well under 50% conversion from those who reserve on Auto Trader. That’s not nonsense figures, that’s genuinely our experience.’
Cook said he thought making customers sign in was ‘crazy’ and had resulted in a dramatic drop off in his leads.
He said: ‘Deal Builder has promise of a decent product but there are some issues which definitely need addressing to protect consumers and retailers.
‘Consumers who reserve should have to leave a verified email address and phone number and make contact within 24 hours – we just cannot afford to have these cars off the market when the job is so unpredictable.
‘And making customers sign in is simply crazy. We have always done very well with Auto Trader but since the new sign in has been introduced we have had three, yes three, email enquiries since September.’
A number of other used car dealers have released videos on YouTube criticising the Deal Builder product.
These include ‘This is why Autotrader is in BIG trouble!’ from Chops Garage and ‘Has AutoTrader GONE TOO FAR THIS TIME’ from The Logbook.
Another dealer who has posted a video about the changes is Sheik Hassan, boss of Motor4U. He told Car Dealer that he feels the introduction of Deal Builder has come at the ‘wrong time’.
He said: ‘The market is not great and change is something dealers hate – especially old school ones.
‘Theoretically [Deal Builder] works, but practically there are a lot of nuances that need to be ironed out.’
Auto Trader’s take
Nathan Coe, Auto Trader’s chief executive officer, told Car Dealer: ‘We fully acknowledge the conversation taking place across the retailer community regarding our platform’s evolution, and I want to assure all of our partners that we are listening and taking their feedback very seriously.
‘As we’ve outlined in our various communications over recent weeks, our strategy is to move beyond traditional leads to deliver higher-converting, profitable deals for our partners.
‘We believe that making Deal Builder the centre of the car buying journey on our platform will deliver the efficiency and competitive edge our retailers need.
‘We recognise that a change of this scale will generate questions and friction, as retailers need to change to connect with buyers. The concerns raised are actively being reviewed by all of the team here at Autotrader.
‘Our commitment to our partners is absolute. We have nearly 300 dedicated account managers actively engaging with customers to discuss their circumstances and demonstrate how this evolution is designed to drive long-term performance.
‘We also urge our partners to join our dedicated webinars – we’re hosting another one later this week – and invite all questions, as we remain focused on supporting every retailer through this transition.’
Auto Trader’s CEO Nathan Coe is set to appear on the Car Dealer Podcast this week. The episode will be published on Friday afternoon on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and later on YouTube. If you have any questions you’d like to put to him please send them to [email protected].
Additional reporting: Jack Williams
