Displaying unreserved deals in Portal
Unreserved deals are now available to view and respond to in Portal.
As part of our efforts to continuously improve the Deal Builder journey for both retailers and car buyers, we are enabling visibility of deals where a customer has submitted a finance application but hasn’t completed the reservation.
Our research indicates that consumers expect to be contacted by a retailer after submitting a finance application regardless of its outcome. By enabling this visibility in Portal, via Sales Hub, retailers can assist consumers and help them understand their options; such as applying with a different lender or choosing a more affordable vehicle.
What is an unreserved deal?
Going forward, when a consumer completes a finance application on one of your vehicles but does not submit the deal by 9am the following day, we will share the details with you in Portal. You’ll be able to see this in Sales Hub and you’ll receive an email notification to let you know that the deal requires further action. This will allow you to view the deal and then make contact with the customer, giving you the opportunity to help the buyer understand their finance options.
In most cases buyers don't go on to complete the reservation because the status of their finance application is displaying as 'pending'.
How to identify a deal without a reservation
Deals where a customer has completed a finance application but not completed the reservation will appear in Sales hub alongside your other deals. They can easily be identified as they won’t have a reservations flag visible but will still have a finance flag. You can also filter to see these deals using the available filters.
Unreserved deals can be managed in a similar way to deals with a reservation, meaning you are able to complete and cancel them based on the outcome. However, unlike deals with a reservation, if you choose to not take action they will not automatically expire after 21 days.
Please note: Unreserved deals will not be visible in your performance analytics alongside your other deals, but will be visible within Sales Hub.
How to manage an unreserved deal
When you click on the deal you will be able to see the customer’s contact details so you can get in touch with them to discuss their options and see if they would like to progress with a sale. For guidance on how to manage an unreserved deal please see the following steps:
Contact the customer: explain to them that you can see they've recently completed a finance application on Auto Trader. Please note that Auto Trader will not advise a consumer of the outcome of their finance application, so you may need to inform them of the outcome of the application when making contact.
Confirm agreement to proceed: Ask the customer if they'd like to progress the deal if you can reach an agreement on the finance and book a viewing if required.
Reserve the vehicle: If the customer agrees to move forward, it is essential that you mark the vehicle as reserved or complete in Sales Hub. This will prevent other deals being made on the same vehicle.
Cancel the deal: If you can’t reach an agreement with the customer on the vehicle, you can cancel the deal in sales hub.
It is important to note that reservations made via Sales Hub will be marked as reserved, but Auto Trader will not hold a £99 reservation fee from the buyer.
Example of an unreserved deal in Sales Hub
Top tip: If there are multiple deals without a reservation for a given vehicle and one of the customers is going ahead with the purchase, retailers should add a reservation for the relevant deal and cancel the other deals once the sale has been finalised.
Blocked Deals
If you receive a new reservation on a vehicle, whilst having an unreserved deal in progress, the unreserved deal will be blocked. This means you won't be able to edit or complete these deals. If for any reason the reservation is cancelled, all in progress deals will be unblocked. To manually unblock a deal you will need to cancel any reservations on that vehicle.
New Insight Masterclass
If you would like more information on managing unreserved deals, why not check out our dedicated insight masterclass.
As always, we welcome your feedback, so if you have any questions or concerns about the changes or would like more information about managing an unreserved deal, please contact your Account Manager.