Most dealerships and used car dealers already have a website. The trouble is that many of those websites don't sell: they get visitors, but no calls, no messages and no visits to the forecourt. And it's hardly ever down to a lack of nice design – it's basic mistakes that crop up again and again.
In this article we go through the five mistakes we see most often when reviewing automotive websites, why they cost you customers and, above all, how to fix each one with practical steps. At the end there's a checklist so you can review your own site today.
Mistake 1 · The website doesn't work properly on mobile
Most people looking for a car do it on their phone: on the sofa, on a lunch break or parked outside another dealership. If your site is slow to load or looks poor on a small screen, you lose the customer before they've seen a single car. It's the most expensive mistake – and one of the most common.
How to spot it
- Open your website on mobile data, not the office Wi-Fi, and note how long it takes to show anything useful.
- Run the URL through Google's PageSpeed Insights and look at the mobile results.
- Try opening a car listing, zooming into the photos and going back to the list using one hand.
How to fix it
- Compress photos before uploading them and use modern formats such as WebP.
- Get rid of heavy sliders, autoplaying videos and plugins you don't use.
- Big buttons, text you can read without zooming and short menus.
- Decent hosting: saving four euros a month on a server ends up costing you dearly in lost customers.
Mistake 2 · The stock isn't up to date
Nothing kills trust faster than ringing about a car that was sold a month ago. The customer feels you've wasted their time and, even if you offer them something similar, they're already on their guard. If your website doesn't reflect your real stock, you're better off with no stock online at all. An out-of-date listing is worse than no listing.
What a good vehicle listing should include
- A clear price, stating whether it includes VAT, transfer fees or finance.
- Mileage, year, fuel type, gearbox, power and emissions class.
- Warranty and key equipment – not an endless copied-and-pasted list.
- A visible status: available, reserved or sold.
- A WhatsApp button that already includes the model in the message.
The real fix is to manage your stock in one single place and have it show up on the website automatically. If you update it by hand today, set a daily routine: every car sold is marked as sold the same day. If you'd like to see how we handle it, take a look at our solution for dealerships.
Mistake 3 · There's no easy way to get in touch
A customer who's made up their mind wants to get in touch with a single tap. Every extra click is one customer fewer. These are the mistakes we see most often:
- A phone number in plain text that you can't tap to call.
- No WhatsApp button, or one hidden at the very bottom of the page.
- Long forms asking for ten details for a simple enquiry.
- No visible opening hours or address, and no link to Google Maps.
How to sort it out
Add a fixed WhatsApp button and a call button on mobile, visible on every page. Cut the form down to name, phone number and car of interest. Put your opening hours and a map in the footer. And, crucially, make sure someone replies quickly: a perfect button is not much use if messages get answered the next day. Our guide to WhatsApp Business for dealerships shows you how to organise it.
Open your website on a stranger's phone. If within 5 seconds they can't tell what you sell, where you are and how to contact you, the site isn't doing its job.
Mistake 4 · Poor or borrowed photos
Dark photos, number plates left visible, a half-cleaned car or images lifted straight from the manufacturer's brochure. Photos are the only thing the customer can "touch" online. A good gallery of your own sells; a poor one puts people off – and makes your car look worse than the same model at another dealership.
A simple standard for every listing
- Clean the car inside and out before the camera comes out.
- Always the same background or the same spot on your premises, with good light.
- Always the same photo order: front three-quarter, side, rear, interior, dashboard, boot and details.
- Photos of any damage: they build trust and avoid surprises when the customer visits.
- Number plate covered or replaced with your logo.
You don't need a photographer for every car, but you do need a method. And if you want to go a step further, a short vertical video of the car works really well both on the listing and on social media; we cover it in our guide to vertical video for the motor trade.
Mistake 5 · Zero trust signals
No reviews, no names from the team, no mention of experience, no visible guarantees. Buying a car is a big decision, and customers buy from whoever makes them feel safe. An anonymous website gives off the same feeling as a showroom with the shutters half down.
- Show your Google rating and a few genuine reviews, with a link to your profile.
- Add photos of your premises and your team, with names.
- Explain what warranty you offer, how finance works and whether you take part-exchanges.
- Say how many years you've been in the trade and where you're based.
- Include full legal details: company name, VAT number and privacy policy.
If your Google profile is still looking thin, start there: you'll find the steps in how to get Google reviews.
Quick checklist to review your website today
- Does it load quickly on mobile data, not just on Wi-Fi?
- Does it look good and work well one-handed?
- Are all the cars listed actually available?
- Does every listing have a clear price, key details and your own photos?
- Are there WhatsApp and call buttons visible on every page?
- Can people see your opening hours, address and map without hunting for them?
- Do your reviews, team and experience appear?
- Do you know how many calls and messages come in through the website each month?
Clicks on the WhatsApp button, clicks to call, forms submitted and most-viewed listings. With those four figures you'll know whether the changes are working and which cars people are genuinely interested in.
Where to start
None of these mistakes needs an expensive redesign. Focused work on these five points usually shows up in your enquiries. The order we recommend is simple: mobile and speed first, as that's where you lose the most; then contact; then stock and photos; and finally trust signals.
If you'd rather go through it with us, ask for a free website review and we'll tell you what to fix first. And if your website has simply run its course, have a look at what a dealership website costs so you can decide with the numbers in front of you.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to rebuild my whole website to fix these mistakes?
Usually not. Most can be fixed by optimising images, adding contact buttons and tidying up your listings; a redesign only pays off if the technical foundations are badly outdated.
How often should I update the stock on my website?
Ideally it updates automatically from your management system. If you do it by hand, check it daily and mark sold cars as sold the same day.
Is a form or a WhatsApp button better?
It's worth having both, but on mobile the WhatsApp button is usually the easiest option for customers. The form should be short and answered quickly.
How do I know if my website loads fast enough?
Try Google's free PageSpeed Insights tool on its mobile setting and open the site on mobile data. If the cars take a while to appear, there's room for improvement.