Auto Trader Online and The Cobalt Group have signed a joint
ad agreement designed to increase consumer traffic to Cobalt’s network of
dealer Web sites and increasing the pre-owned vehicle selection on Auto
Trader Online.
This agreement was preceded by a three-month advertising trial in
which select Cobalt dealers experienced a 64 percent increase in referrals
from advertising their pre-owned inventory on Auto Trader Online, the
companies said.
Under terms of the agreement, Auto Trader Online, with around 600,000
used cars and trucks for sale, enables The Cobalt Group to resell the Auto
Trader Online advertising service to its dealer network. The Cobalt Group,
which manages 6,500 dealer Web sites, may place the pre-owned vehicles of
its dealer clients in the Auto Trader Online database. Each vehicle posted by
Cobalt includes a link to the dealer’s Web site.
“Both companies are committed to the dealer’s success on the Internet, and
both recognize the importance of the used vehicle in that equation. The
Cobalt Group creates world-class Web sites, and we’re pleased to be
delivering world-class consumers to them,” said Peter Ill, vice president
and general manager of Trader Online.
“Teaming up with Auto Trader Online is a natural fit for Cobalt,” said
Jeffrey Lissack, vice president of business development at The Cobalt Group.
“Trader Online is a popular brand name and gets phenomenal traffic, and now
our dealers can benefit from it.” Financial arrangements were not
disclosed.
In the past two months, Cobalt, a developer of dealer Web sites, has
released a new version of its own car-buying site, DealerNet, and has begun to
distribute all of its dealers’ new and pre-owned inventory to Yahoo! Autos.
