How to Sell Automotive Leads
How to sell automotive leads when the vertical is really several markets: vehicle shipping, dealer finance and shopper leads, warranty and more. Pick one, sign funded buyers, then generate.
Automotive is not one market. Of the 55 companies in our directory, 12 deal in vehicle shipping leads, 11 describe auto financing screens, and others sell shopper, warranty, insurance and glass leads. Each has its own buyers, fields and split rules.
Shipping leads are usually sold to a capped number of brokers in packages. Dealer leads are usually exclusive to one store and screened on income, job and credit. Decide which you are selling, and capture the fields that market's buyers filter on.
Sign buyers before you buy traffic, have each fund a balance, and keep overflow ready. Write the split rule and the return policy first, because a few sellers here say one thing on the homepage and another in the terms.
Who buys automotive leads
Automotive sites describe four main kinds of buyers, each in its own sub-market.
| Buyer | What they buy | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Auto transport brokers and carriers | Vehicle shipping quote requests with vehicle, route, ship date and open or enclosed, bought in weekly or monthly packages, shared or exclusive. | A few sellers require a motor carrier number at signup. Agree the share cap and lanes up front, and ask for a funded balance instead of a free trial. |
| Car dealers and special finance departments | Exclusive finance and shopper leads in a radius, DMA or ZIP list, screened on income, job time, credit and bankruptcy. | Write the return reasons dealers expect, such as refinance requests, wrong vehicle type or income below the minimum, before the first lead. |
| Warranty and insurance sellers | Leads and live transfers with year, make, model and mileage, often confirmed by a call center, plus aged and owner data. | Several warranty sellers also sell live transfers. Juiced distributes web leads, so calls need separate call tracking. |
| Lenders, OEMs and networks | Auto loan applications and in-market shoppers by ping post or affiliate link, paid per valid loan lead or per click. | Expect an application and approved creative only. Keep a source sub ID on every lead. |
The automotive lead buyer directory lists every company we found that publicly buys or sells automotive leads, with what each one says it does. It is a research starting point, with no contact details.
What you are selling
What the 55 automotive lead companies in our directory say they offer:
| Product | Companies offering it |
|---|---|
| Exclusive leads | 36 of 55 |
| Real-time leads | 43 of 55 |
| Shared leads | 15 of 55 |
| Aged leads | 11 of 55 |
| Inbound calls | 19 of 55 |
| Live transfers | 19 of 55 |
| Booked appointments | 7 of 55 |
| Data or lists | 11 of 55 |
| Clicks | 6 of 55 |
Counts cover everything each company says it sells, which can include other verticals.
Start with real-time web leads in the one sub-market you know, since most companies here offer real-time leads. Sell dealer leads exclusive, and if you sell shipping leads shared, cap the number of brokers per request and say so in writing.
What to capture and screen for
- Which automotive market the lead belongs to: shipping, financing, shopping, warranty, insurance or glass.
- For shipping: vehicle year, make and model, origin and destination, ship date, and open or enclosed.
- For financing: monthly income, time on the job, credit tier, recent bankruptcy, and whether it is a refinance.
- For shoppers: the vehicle wanted, new or used, trade-in and timeframe.
- For warranty: year, make, model, mileage and whether the owner wants an extended warranty.
- A phone verified by text code or call, as 10 companies here describe.
- A location inside a funded buyer's territory, lanes or radius.
- A source sub ID on every lead.
The field-by-field version is on the automotive lead distribution page.
Building it, in order
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Pick one automotive market
Shipping brokers, dealers and warranty sellers buy different leads on different terms. Choose the one you can generate for and know its buyers, rather than one form for all of them.
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Sign buyers before you build traffic
Get each buyer's territory, lanes or radius, the vehicle and credit filters they use, and how many leads they can take. Only then decide where to generate.
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Get every buyer to fund a balance
9 companies here describe a prepaid or funded account and several sell prepaid packages. Ask for a funded balance before the first lead: no free trials, no promised volume by a date and no invoices. In Juiced the buyer funds a wallet and is charged per lead delivered.
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Write the split rule and the return policy
State how many buyers receive each lead, exclusive or a fixed cap, in the same words everywhere. Then list the return reasons that get credit, such as bad numbers, duplicates, out of area or, for dealers, refinance requests and income below the minimum.
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Build a lead type for that market
For shopper leads use vehicle_interest, vehicle_status, vehicle_year, vehicle_make, vehicle_model, mileage, trim, purchase_timeframe and vehicle_condition, plus source_sub_id. Mark what a buyer needs to decide as required for ping and keep contact details for the post.
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Set expectations on the first call
Tell each buyer what the lead is: a person who asked for a quote or a loan, not a sale. Buyers blame the leads when deals do not close, so agree up front what counts as a bad lead.
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Generate only where a funded buyer is waiting
Most companies here generate their own traffic, from email, search, direct mail and social. Point yours only at the territories and lanes your funded buyers cover.
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Let several buyers bid
Buyers bid above your minimum and the highest bid wins the lead in seconds, which beats one buyer at a flat price. Leads nobody takes go to your own marketplace, where the price falls until someone buys with Buy Now or a standing Buy Order.
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Keep a source sub ID on every lead
Store source_sub_id on every lead. When a dealer or broker reports a bad run, the field shows which campaign sent it.
What makes automotive different
- It is several markets: vehicle shipping, dealer finance and shopping, warranty, insurance and glass, each with different buyers.
- Shipping leads are commonly sold to a capped number of brokers in package tiers, and a few sellers require a motor carrier number.
- Dealer leads are usually exclusive to one store, and special finance sellers screen on income, job, credit and bankruptcy.
- Dealer return rules are specific, covering refinance requests, wrong vehicle type, minors and shoppers not in market.
- Calls are a large share, with 19 companies selling live transfers and 19 inbound calls.
- A few sellers police resale by brokers, from testing clients to ending service for redistributing leads.
Common mistakes
- Running one form for shipping, financing and warranty leads, so no buyer gets the fields they filter on.
- Buying traffic before a buyer has funded a balance in that territory.
- Giving free trial packages to win a broker or dealer instead of asking for a funded balance.
- Stating one broker cap on the homepage and another in the terms or package page.
- Selling a dealer lead to more than one store after calling it exclusive.
- Leaving dealer return reasons such as refinance requests and income minimums unwritten.
- Dropping the source sub ID, so you cannot trace a bad run to a campaign.
Related
- Automotive lead buyers and sellers: every company in this market, checked against its own website
- Automotive lead distribution: the fields, screens and routing for this market
- Pay-per-lead vs. pay-per-call: why selling records is simpler than selling live calls
Frequently asked
Which automotive leads should I start with?
The sub-market you can generate for and already know buyers in. In our directory, vehicle shipping and auto financing are the two largest groups, with 12 and 11 companies.
How many brokers should share a shipping lead?
Pick a fixed cap and state it everywhere. Several shipping sellers here sell package tiers from shared to exclusive, and the ones with inconsistent caps across pages are the ones to avoid copying.
Do dealers expect exclusive leads?
Yes. Several sellers here say each finance or shopper lead goes to one dealership and is never resold, so sell dealer leads exclusive by territory.
What should I ask on an auto finance form?
Monthly income, time on the job, credit tier, recent bankruptcy, the vehicle wanted and whether it is a refinance. These are the screens special finance sellers here describe, and dealers return leads that miss them.
Can I sell automotive leads to networks?
Yes. 21 companies here buy from publishers or affiliates by ping post, affiliate link or hosted form, paying per lead, per call, per click or per valid loan lead. Expect an application and approved creative only.
Should I sell warranty leads as calls or web leads?
Several warranty sellers here sell both. Juiced distributes web leads, so if you sell calls you need separate call tracking; sell the web lead side through Juiced.
What do automotive leads sell for?
No prices are published here. Sellers rarely publish them, and what an automotive lead sells for depends on whether it is exclusive or shared, a web lead or a call, the geography, how fresh it is and how many buyers want it. The pay-per-lead pricing guide shows how to work out your own floor from cost and let buyers bid above it.
Does Juiced handle automotive calls or live transfers?
No. Juiced distributes web leads and delivers them by webhook, email or text. It does not track or route phone calls, so if calls are part of your product you need call tracking software for that side.
Selling automotive leads to more than one buyer?
Juiced is lead distribution software for companies that sell leads. Buyers fund a wallet and bid above your minimum, each lead goes to the highest bid in seconds, and leads that miss their first buyer go to your own marketplace instead of being lost.
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