2:27 pm, March 7, 2012
USED car website Trusted Dealers is celebrating its first birthday by signing an exclusive partnership with Exchange and Mart.
The deal is the biggest commercial partnership so far for the member-owned site which will significantly increase the stock visibility and national reach of the site.
Renowned as one of the UK’s premier advertising portals, the ExchangeandMart.co.uk network includes the motoring sites of 144 local Newsquest newspapers and Scottish site www.S1cars.com and will boost total audience figures for Trusted Dealers significantly.
Customers who advertise on Trusted Dealers will now have their stock profiled to a combined network audience of 4 million monthly unique users at no extra cost.
Despite the difficult economic conditions, Trusted Dealers has grown rapidly since its launch in January 2011 and now counts 35 of the UK’s biggest franchised dealer groups as members.
To complement its increased consumer audience the site has unveiled a series of new initiatives and partnerships to fuel its expansion in 2012, including a new ‘associate member’ option.
Aimed primarily at the smaller dealer groups, the new package enables franchisees to list vehicles on the site without having to make a capital investment in the business.
Trusted Dealers managing director, Neil Addley (pictured), said: ‘I am delighted to announce our largest partnership to date with Exchange and Mart that will see the business reach new customers and deliver more enquiries for our members.
‘Trusted Dealers is one of the safest places to buy a used car and it was very important that our partners share a similar commitment to buyer safety. Exchange and Mart is an established and trusted brand and helped set up the Vehicle Safe Trading Advisory Group (VSTAG), an industry forum created to combat vehicle related fraud.
‘The Trusted Dealers business model has proved to be a very popular alternative to the traditional advertising options available to dealers and I look forward to working with all our partners to help the site continue to grow in 2012.’
Debra Healy, digital director at Exchange and Mart, said: ‘We’re very much looking forward to working with Trusted Dealers and its members, and have already commenced website product development and committed to up scaling the marketing plan.
‘We’re confident of delivering great return on investment through the Exchange and Mart website, our new mobile platform and through our extensive partnership network across the UK.;
The Exchange and Mart partnership follows earlier deals with Compucars, Buyyourcar, Usedcarexpert which has seen the Trusted Dealers network expand to over 4 million visitors a month.
