Auto Trader is where most UK car buyers start looking, so your stock needs to be there. But the marketplace should not be the only place your cars live. Your own website is the one shop window you fully control, and the good news is you do not have to choose between the two or double your workload to run both.
This guide explains how to advertise your vehicle stock on your own website while continuing to manage it through the Auto Trader dealer portal, using the Auto Trader Connect integration so everything stays in sync automatically.
Why you need your own website as well as Auto Trader
Auto Trader is brilliant at putting your cars in front of buyers. What it does not do is give you a home of your own. When a buyer finds one of your vehicles on a marketplace, one of the first things they do is look you up to check you are a legitimate business. If they cannot find a proper car dealer website, that is a moment of doubt at exactly the wrong time.
Your own website also lets you do things a marketplace listing cannot:
- Advertise your other services, such as finance, servicing, MOTs and vehicle sourcing
- Show your reviews, your location and your team, all of which build trust
- Capture enquiries directly, so leads land with you rather than a third party
- Rank in Google for your own brand and stock over time
The obstacle for most dealers is time. Keeping stock updated in two places by hand is tedious and error-prone. That is the problem Auto Trader Connect solves.
What is Auto Trader Connect?
Auto Trader Connect is Auto Trader's official integration that lets approved software providers exchange stock data with the Auto Trader platform. In plain terms, it lets your website and Auto Trader talk to each other, so your listings stay consistent without you re-typing anything.
Vehiso is an Auto Trader Connect partner, which means your Vehiso website and your Auto Trader account can share the same stock automatically.
How the sync works
There are two ways to run it, depending on where you prefer to manage your stock.
From the Auto Trader portal to your website
If you already build your adverts on the Auto Trader dealer portal, you can carry on doing exactly that. With the integration enabled, any vehicle you add, edit or remove on Auto Trader is automatically reflected on your Vehiso website. Add a car on Auto Trader in the morning and it appears on your own site without you touching it.
From your dealer management system to Auto Trader
Alternatively, you can manage everything from your Vehiso dealer management system and push stock out to Auto Trader from there. You add the vehicle once, write the description, upload the photos and set the price in one place, and it publishes to both your website and Auto Trader. For a lot of dealers this is the tidier option, because the DMS is also where enquiries, invoicing and reporting live.
Either way, the point is the same: you enter each car once, and it stays consistent everywhere.
How to enable it
- Make sure you have an active Auto Trader account and a Vehiso account.
- In your Vehiso dashboard, open the Stock Feeds area.
- Enable the Auto Trader Connect integration and follow the prompts to link your Auto Trader account.
- Choose your direction of sync (manage on Auto Trader, or manage in Vehiso and push out).
- Check that your live stock has synced correctly, then let it run.
Vehiso does not charge extra to enable stock feeds, so if you are already a Vehiso and Auto Trader customer, turning this on costs you nothing.
Why syncing beats duplicating
- Time saved - no more entering the same car twice, or three or four times if you use several channels
- Consistency - the price, mileage, description and photos match wherever a buyer finds the car, which looks professional and avoids awkward conversations
- Fewer errors - manual re-typing is where mistakes creep in, from wrong prices to mismatched specs
- Sold cars come down everywhere - mark a car as sold once and it disappears across all your channels, so you stop getting calls about vehicles you no longer have
Going beyond Auto Trader
Once your stock flows automatically, adding more channels costs you no extra effort. Vehiso also feeds your stock to Motors.co.uk, eBay Motors, Cazoo, Gumtree Motors and others, and you can list your inventory directly in Google search with Google Vehicle Ads. The more places your cars appear, the more buyers you reach, all from a single update.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to stop using the Auto Trader portal?
No. If you like managing adverts on Auto Trader, keep doing it. The integration simply mirrors your Auto Trader stock onto your own website. If you would rather work from your DMS, you can do that instead and push out to Auto Trader.
Will my website and Auto Trader ever show different prices?
Not if the sync is running. That is the whole point. You change the price in one place and it updates in the other, so buyers always see the same figure.
Does it cost extra to connect Auto Trader to my website?
Vehiso does not charge to enable stock feeds, including Auto Trader. You will still pay Auto Trader for your advertising package with them, as normal.
What happens when a car sells?
Mark it as sold once and it is removed from your website and your connected channels automatically, so your listings stay current.
