6 steps to sell a van fast on Auto Trader
As part of the Early Careers ‘Sell a Vehicle’ project, a team of our graduates were given the task to source, price, advertise and sell a used van, in partnership with Vans 365.
They were given a budget of £11,500, a 45 day timeframe, and were able to use Auto Trader’s products and data to assist them. This is how it went...
The team sold a Ford Transit Connect in just 11 days, and managed to generate a healthy profit margin of 13%.
During the van’s time on Auto Trader, a brief 11 days, the van advert generated over 30 leads, 900 advert views and appeared in over 13,500 searches.
The ‘Sell a Vehicle’ project proved a huge learning experience for our graduates, and as a team, they learnt a lot about how van retailers operate and the daily challenges they face.
Here they share their experience and some of their tips for how to sell a van on Auto Trader fast…
1. Use Market Insight and Dealer Auction to help with sourcing
“Knowing which van to source can be tricky, especially with no previous experience or knowledge of the market. That’s why we used Market Insight to identify the vans which were high in demand and low in supply in the market, this was important to ensure we had a quick speed of sale.
Armed with that knowledge, we used Dealer Auction to shortlist several suitable vans available to buy that also fitted Vans 365’s stock profile (under seven years old and 100,000 miles).”
2. Use Vehicle Check to check the full history
“Once we shortlisted a van, we used AT Vehicle Check to get a full history report to check there were no hidden surprises and give us confidence we would source the right van and make a healthy profit. “
3. Find an appropriate retail price using Auto Trader retail valuations
“After identifying a Ford Transit Connect as the chosen vehicle, we used AT Van Valuations to give us an idea of the retail price of the van. We arrived at our maximum bid price through working retail back which deducted the estimated prep, transportation costs and desired profit margin from the AT retail valuation.
Auto Trader’s initial retail valuation for our van was £9713; however, due to the dynamic market and rarity of automatic vans, we decided to retail at a slightly higher price of £9750. We kept track of Auto Trader’s retail valuation throughout the project to ensure we were pricing close to market as pricing too high could affect the vehicle’s rate of sale.”
4. Use AT Moves to transport your van
“After securing the van, we used AT Moves to arrange transportation from where it was sourced to dealer’s forecourt. AT Moves uses a reverse auction system, so logistics companies will bid on the job based on your selection for the maximum you want to pay.”
5. Follow advertising best practice
“To make our van stand out amongst the other vans, we followed Auto Trader’s best practice guide which includes adding numerous high quality images to cover all sides and features of the van to help answer any questions our potential customers might have at first glance. In the advert description, we made sure to highlight the van’s features, complete service history as well as the services that offered including home delivery, click and collect and COVID-19 safety measures to provide the buyer complete peace of mind.”
6. Finally, track your adverts performance
“Once the advert is up and running on Auto Trader, the Performance Analytics tool can be used to track the advert’s performance and optimise it. Our van got high-quality visits and leads and had a consistent Excellent Performance Rating. We believe this helped ensure it made a quick speed of sale and helped us to complete the project successfully.“