How many dealers are on cars.com

We will launch the remaining GM website, build on our FordDirect relationships, deliver on other OEM business in the pipeline and continue to cross-sell to our marketplace customers. And we also intend to capitalize on the opportunity to grow ARPD longer term through upsells and new products. This increase was driven by increased penetration of our products across our customer base specifically with regards to FUEL and website solutions.

Our balance sheet and liquidity remains strong. Our strong and consistent cash generation has also allowed us to continue to delever the business. Net leverage is down to 2. Overall, we have the financial flexibility to strategically invest in the business and brands to drive product penetration, innovation, and growth.

Now turning to our outlook. As mentioned, we are taking a conservative stance on OEM and national revenue based on our expectation that the current trend of supply chain disruption will continue into the third quarter. Second-quarter OEM and national revenue performed better than expected, but was down sequentially, and we expect this trend will continue in Q3. That said, dealer revenue continues to grow. Despite a lengthening of the new sales cycle, our dealer customers have responded to our strong value delivery with continued record high retention rates.

And we're seeing momentum in our website solutions and FUEL products that are furthering our growth expectations. As mentioned, our margin guidance includes reduced expectations around OEM and national revenue, one of our highest-margin product line, as well as increased investments in the business, particularly around marketing and technology to drive growth. In summary, we remain committed to delivering value to our customers and driving innovation through solid execution as we have clearly demonstrated.

We are in a strong operational and financial position, enabling us to strategically invest in organic innovation, pay down debt and pursue bolt-on acquisitions. And with that, I'd like to turn the call back to Alex. Thank you, Sonia. I am proud of our consistent and continued execution. In addition to driving measurable results for the business, it's also in our DNA to support local businesses and communities across the country.

In June, Cars. Our commitment expands far beyond our hometown as every day we're working in local communities, giving back to the cities we serve. I'm proud that we continue to take action. In closing, as we enter the second half of the year, I'm confident we will continue to innovate, execute, and drive profitable growth while bringing sustainable value to our company, industry, community, and the environment. Good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my question, and congrats on a nice quarter. One on dealer count.

I was hoping maybe you could give us a sense of maybe what the cadence of dealer retention and I guess, particularly new sales kind of look like over the course of the quarter and maybe entering third quarter here. Just curious whether there's any reason to think that maybe the new sales might be perking up a bit if shortages are starting to be reduced at all. And then could you just clarify, did I hear you correctly that you said dealer count was up for both core marketplace and for Dealer Inspire?

So I'll start it off. Thanks for the question. So when you think about Dealer count, one of the massive benefits we saw in Q2 was a continuation of the really strong retention rates that we've been talking about over the last several quarters. That certainly makes our job far easier when it comes to growing dealer count, and we see that trend, frankly, continuing into Q3 with the visibility that we do have. So I think as we look at with inventory shortages expected to continue, we are expecting to see some improvement in dealer count, but more along the lines of what we saw in Q2.

I don't know, Alex, if you want to add to that. And the follow-on question was marketplace did grow as the Dealer Inspire. So we are seeing growth across our portfolio of solutions. And then just a follow-up on FUEL. Obviously, it seems like that product is catching fire here a bit.

Can you maybe talk a little bit about the driver of that? It sounds like dealers doing kind of more like a proactive inventory acquisition type messaging was a factor. Also I was hoping maybe you could comment on kind of the pricing power there. I think it was like a minimum five grand per month to qualify for that product? Like what direction do you think kind of pricing can go here over the next 12 to 18 months?

Well, look, I think FUEL really represents the industry's awareness that they could capitalize on an in-market audience. Only a small percentage of the population is actively entering the auto cycle. And I think progressive dealers are realizing that that's the time to strike regardless of what side of the market you're attacking, which is buy new, we'll buy your car. And so dealers are saying, I can run a number of messages to people entering the auto cycle, and that was a big pickup we saw in Q2.

I'm really proud of the team because we're educating the industry being first to market on how to leverage these disruptive video platforms and migrate dollars out of traditional television into digital video, but we're getting the job done there. So the anchor product is still our marketplace. FUEL is an addition on top of that. So it's a substantial premium to the marketplace. But then again, it gives dealers unlimited opportunities to communicate the why buy or why work with me message.

And I think maybe just to add a little bit more there to your question on pricing a little bit, the product is a premium product in terms of where it sits within our portfolio. It's multiples of the average ARPD. And I think our focus right now is really on dealers understand, continue to understand the value we bring in terms of the end market audience, a targeted OTT platform that we're distributing on and really driving units and adoption, and then the pricing is always a lever we can come back to, given the exclusivity of the product and the value of our audience.

Hey, guys. This is Matt Wegner on for Steve Dyer. Thank you for taking our questions. Just a couple for me. One is on FUEL. Do you have an update on where your dealer penetration rate is that on that?

I think in Q3, you mentioned it was around And I'm just wondering where that's at today. And so you can have a dealer by far bigger swaths of geography or you can have the opposite. So we're looking at it on a percentage of the country's sell-through rate. And again, we're in early innings of FUEL. I think when I look at the potential audience, I think this platform can be around 2, to 3, dealer subscription volume at those premium price points.

I think it will just take some time for dealers to realize that there's a much more profitable way to sell cars. As you know, dealers are reporting record profits. So there's a little bit of a hesitancy to invest more, but the progressive dealers are the ones that are disproportionately growing their sales rates faster.

And so it will take us some time, but there's a lot of room headroom to go on FUEL. Makes sense. And then just looking at kind of ARPD on a maybe year-over-year basis when excluding the concessions in Q2, did, I guess, the marketplace ARPD grow if the growth is kind of being fueled by fuel and websites? So we actually saw improvement across all of the business, but I think most notable drivers of the year-over-year ARPD growth after you adjust for those invoice credits are going to be fueled continued growth at DI, where we're seeing more of our DI customers are also on marketplace, which is highly accretive to ARPD and then some improvements in over the core marketplace ARPD product, so benefits across all the products.

Thanks for taking my questions. I guess, first, on record profits, can you touch on how much of that is kind of using tools like Cars. I think it's only recently that we've seen kind of used car prices start to come back down to earth. And then the second question, on the cloud-based web platform that was launched in renovation. How should we think about that in terms of the velocity at which the new products will come out and how that might contribute to top-line growth?

Sure, Nick. Well, look, there are many contributing factors to record dealer profitability, but we see very vividly those dealers that are digital first and embracing digital platforms are outperforming their peers.

And I continue to believe the very long view that the Cars. Yet most dealer systems don't attribute any value to the inventory turn that selling a car to Cars. The dealers tracking of our value is very rudimentary. And progressive dealers actually see front end, back end, and the secondary opportunities to convert and buy more vehicles through our audience.

I think the more dealer 20 groups are talking about how they're using technology to acquire inventory and to sell inventory at a fraction of the cost of even some of the other digital platforms like we talked about on the call with SEM. In many cases, those marketing tactics are trying to interrupt users while they're doing other tasks versus our audience who's actively engaged in raising their hand. Learn how to gain positive reviews on Cars.

Buying a car is a large investment and your customers need to know that they can trust your dealership to provide a reliable vehicle. Aside from competitive pricing, diverse inventory, and a talented sales team, what can you do to ensure that customers come to you when choosing their next vehicle?

You can make sure that your dealership has sparkling reviews on popular listings platforms like Cars. When a customer is in the market to purchase a vehicle, the first thing they will do is research online.

In fact, a recent study from UK-based DMA showed that 68 percent of people rely on automotive reviews for their purchase decisions. The platform helps to match prospective car buyers with their perfect vehicle based on safety ratings and consumer and industry reviews. Once Cars. The good news for you is that this vehicle could be located right on your lot. Your sales and service team work hard to keep customers happy when they visit your dealership. But many customers will form their opinion of your business before they even set foot on your lot—through positive or negative online reviews.

Instead of coming to you, they may go to your competitor who has invested time into gathering positive Cars. Additionally, the Cars. Better reviews mean that more customers will see and interact with your new and used car listings. More views, clicks, saves, and favorites can translate to increased in-person traffic at your dealership, higher sales, and better paychecks for your grateful sales team. When you invest in earning positive reviews with Cars. In October , Facebook announced that it would collaborate with Cars.

Facebook did this to increase the inventory available to their buyers, but dealerships like you are really the ones who have benefitted. Now, dealerships can also appear on the Marketplace through the Cars.

According to Cars. Having your listings appear on social media means much more potential exposure for your listings—even after hours.

If you have a question, a tip, or something you would like to to share about car-buying, drop me a line at AutomatchConsulting gmail. I'm not even in the market and I am constantly checking out what is available on AutoTrader and how many of them I can get with a manual. My wife thinks I'm crazy.

BTW, we bought our last two cars through listings we found on AutoTrader and got exactly what we were looking for. The A. By Tom McParland.

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