Your own site, or someone else's marketplace
The four options
We are not going to pretend there is one right answer. Most dealers end up using more than one of these at once, and that is usually correct.
| Option | Roughly | Who gets the lead | Best at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketplace listing | per listing or per lead | often several dealers | bringing traffic you could never earn alone |
| General website builder | $15–30/month | you | cheapest, and you control every pixel |
| Site from your DMS vendor | $50–100/month | you | inventory flows in from the system you already use |
| A dealer site like this one | $79–129/month | you, only you | a storefront shaped for your kind of lot |
Prices are indicative ranges for the independent-dealer segment and move often. Check the current price with any provider before deciding.
Where a marketplace is genuinely better
Traffic. A large marketplace has an audience that no individual dealer website will ever match, and a shopper who has not heard of your lot will find your car there before they find it on your site.
If you are not listed on at least one marketplace, that is usually a mistake, and nothing on this page argues otherwise. The question is not whether to list. It is whether a listing is the only place you exist.
Where a website builder is genuinely better
Price and freedom. A general builder is half the cost and will let you build anything you want.
What it will not do is understand a vehicle. You will be maintaining inventory by hand as pages, and every car you sell is a page you have to remember to take down. That is fine at ten cars and unbearable at fifty.
Where a DMS vendor's site is genuinely better
One less system, and inventory that flows straight from the software where you already do your deals, with no double entry.
We do not yet import directly from the common dealer management systems, so today that is a real advantage they have and we do not. If you enter every car twice already and that is your main pain, say so when you contact us, because it should weigh on your decision.
Where this is better
The lead is yours alone. No resale, no per-lead fee, no commission. On a marketplace the enquiry may go to several dealers at once; here there is nobody else in the room.
The layout matches your kind of lot. Seven storefront layouts, each putting different things first — a family lot leads with the phone, address, hours and a map; a buy-here-pay-here lot leads with payment ranges. Not seven colour schemes.
Someone checks it before it goes live. Setup is reviewed rather than self-serve, so the site does not go public with half the inventory missing.
You can leave with your data. Your vehicle records, photos and lead records are exported to you on request, free, for at least thirty days after the subscription ends.