Is this right for your store?
Facebook ads for used car dealers work best at the right kind of store. Here is an honest answer, including the cases where we tell dealers to wait.
Where Facebook ads for used car dealers fit.
Good fit
Independent lots, 40 units and up
Enough inventory for a catalog to work, and usually nobody internally who owns Meta properly. This is where the change is most visible in the first 60 days.
Good fit
Franchise stores with a used department
Your new car advertising runs through the OEM program. The used side is where you actually compete on price and selection, and where catalog coverage is usually worst.
Good fit
Groups of three or more rooftops
One feed structure, one scoring model, consolidated reporting across stores, and per location pricing that scales.
Where it does not.
We would rather lose the sale than take a store where this will not work.
Not yet
Under about 25 units
Catalog advertising needs inventory depth to match a shopper to a vehicle. Below this, a well run single ad set will outperform a catalog and cost you far less.
Not yet
No one assigned to call leads
Scored leads arrive in your CRM within a second. If nobody works them the same day, that speed is wasted and you are paying for a queue nobody opens.
Not yet
No usable inventory feed
If your provider cannot send a scheduled CSV or XML export, there is nothing to build a catalog from. We check this before you sign, not after.
By store type.
What changes most, depending on where you are starting from.
| Store type | Usual starting point | What changes first |
|---|---|---|
| Independent, 40 to 150 units | Boosted posts, no real catalog | Catalog coverage, then lead quality |
| Franchise used department | OEM program on new, thin on used | Used inventory finally visible in market |
| Group, three or more rooftops | Different vendors per store | One standard and comparable reporting |
| High volume, strong BDC | Plenty of leads, poor quality | Scoring and queue order, immediately |
Frequently asked questions
What size dealership does DealerDrive suit?
Roughly 40 units and up. Catalog advertising needs enough inventory to match a specific shopper to a specific vehicle, and below about 25 units there is not enough to work with. We say so rather than take the business.
Does it work for independent lots as well as franchise stores?
Both, and independents often see the bigger change. Franchise stores usually have some OEM program running on the new car side, while the used department is where catalog coverage tends to be worst. Independents rarely have anyone internally who owns Meta properly.
What if we do not have a BDC?
Then this is probably not the right spend yet. DealerDrive delivers qualified leads quickly, but someone still has to call them. If nobody is assigned to that, the leads go stale no matter how well they are scored.
Do you work with dealer groups?
Yes. Each rooftop runs on the same plan: $499 a month per rooftop, with no setup fee.
What to read next
Not sure which side you fall on?
Tell us your unit count and whether you have a BDC. We will give you a straight answer on the call, including no.