Best small used car dealer website solution

[Syd]

I'm a new, small used car dealer and currently I use the free WordPress zerif lite theme and I add remove stock through woo commerce. As a used car dealer site using this method is becoming a pain in the rear, the theme obviously wasn't built for car dealerships and woo commerce, in my opinion, isn't geared toward selling cars so I ask, does anyone know of a better platform or option? The dedicated DMS's such as click dealer and car dealer 5 are a bit too heavy for what I need at this stage, I simply need a few pages and the ability to showcase my stock, which currently would be no more than 3 cars, no checkout etc. I could buy a WordPress theme designed for dealers but they are all aimed at the U.S market it seems

 

[Novevan]

why not post it on classifies site? then send then link to your clients??
Or you need an used car dealer system?

 

[james_firmsites]

Hi Syd,

Seems the issue you are facing is a fairly common one, Wordpress (including woocommerce) are powerful tools but take time to fully customise and adapt to specific business needs and it can be frustrating when the end result does not fully live up to what you are hoping for.

 

[mattk]

Hi Syd, can you describe why Woo Commerce "is becoming a pain in the rear"?

I presume you also advertise on AutoTrader and maybe even other classified sites. Do you write your advert descriptions offline and then copy/paste onto your site, AutoTrader and so on?

I'm not sure what a WordPress theme specific for car dealers would save you in terms of streamlining your process. Are there other features these themes offer that you can do with Woo Commerce?

 

[Syd]

Hi Syd, can you describe why Woo Commerce "is becoming a pain in the rear"?

I presume you also advertise on AutoTrader and maybe even other classified sites. Do you write your advert descriptions offline and then copy/paste onto your site, AutoTrader and so on?

I'm not sure what a WordPress theme specific for car dealers would save you in terms of streamlining your process. Are there other features these themes offer that you can do with Woo Commerce?

Hi mattK, the pain is adding each item to woocommerce I suppose and then having to figure out ways of editing the theme so that the cars are displayed in a showroom, it's just not built for what I need. You are correct, I do advertise on auto trader and the like and yep I copy everything from the eBay ads and then add it To the WP site

 

[james_firmsites]

Hi mattK, the pain is adding each item to woocommerce I suppose and then having to figure out ways of editing the theme so that the cars are displayed in a showroom, it's just not built for what I need. You are correct, I do advertise on auto trader and the like and yep I copy everything from the eBay ads and then add it To the WP site

Sorry my post was slightly cut short by the mods (does not make a massive amount of sense now!) but the jist of what I was trying to say was, you might be best looking for a wordpress/woocommerce developer, there are lots of us on this forum!! Woocommerce is very powerful and can be almost infinitely customised, but helps to have someone who knows how to do that properly.

 

[Syd]

I'll do some research, I believe there is a few WordPress DMS solutions available which may suit

 

[Paul Norman]

We have built a number of motor trade websites that integrate with a DMS system - so that stock pumps from the DMS to the website, and orders pump from the website to the DMS.

I suspect that this approach is going to be too big a foot print for your requirements - although that is just an assumption.

There is a twitter group for independent motor dealers such as yourself, where much information can be gleaned on matters such as this.

 

[Syd]

We have built a number of motor trade websites that integrate with a DMS system - so that stock pumps from the DMS to the website, and orders pump from the website to the DMS.

I suspect that this approach is going to be too big a foot print for your requirements - although that is just an assumption.

There is a twitter group for independent motor dealers such as yourself, where much information can be gleaned on matters such as this.

Thanks Paul to be honest considering how many cars I sell/have in stock I'm not sure if I really need a DMS at the mo, more of a stock showcase site

 

[antropy]

What about something like this:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/vsms-codeigniter/

 

[Asian Sources]

Hi, looks like you need a tailor made, custom solution that fits your requirements and not something where you need to fit your requirement around it.

 

[antropy]

Hi, looks like you need a tailor made, custom solution that fits your requirements and not something where you need to fit your requirement around it.

Sometimes this is true. It depends how closely you can match the requirement with an open source solution.

 

[MBE2017]

Click dealer is good, autotrader works but they are annoying with loads of changes with no notifications.

 

[Alan]

which currently would be no more than 3 cars

more of a stock showcase site

The reality this is very easy to do in WordPress without WooCommerce, however the effort comes in the layout of the car detail page.

There are lots of 'off the shelf themes' that have this built in e.g. google for 'wordpress car sales theme'

Or for bespoke, I did something similar for a high end custom campervan restorer a few years ago, if you have a very clear view of what style you want and what the 'product page' would look like, you can then shop around for some custom work. It wouldn't be that pricey.