Autotrader Magazine Finishing

[cort16]

I see the Autotrader mag is finishing. I have a lot of happy memories pouring over the bargain sections of that magazine trying to find my next heap of shite or drooling over the stuff in the performance section.

Digital's just not quite the same but saying that when was the last time you bought one? Remember when you used to have to phone up your local office and arrange a time for a guy to come out with a camera and take shit snaps of the car? It seems odd now.

 

 

http://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/auto-trader-magazine-to-be-axed-in-june/74035

 

Edit. I found some old scans on google

 

 

[warren t claim]

I can remember buying it when it was priced 15 pence and called North West Auto Mart, 1981 I think.

 

My old car buying ritual used to involve getting up at 6am on a Thursday so I could get to the newsagent early for a copy.

[Micrashed]

I can remember buying it when it was priced 15 pence and called North West Auto Mart, 1981 I think.

 

My old car buying ritual used to involve getting up at 6am on a Thursday so I could get to the newsagent early for a copy.

 

I remember going bat shit mental at someone who phoned me at a little after 6am to enquire if the Polo was still forsale that I had advertised in North West Auto Mart.

[Cavcraft]

It used to be brilliant. If you advertised something and wanted too much you'd soon know by the sound of silence. Get the price right and the phone would be ringing from about 6.30am onwards. The right motor at the right price would be gone by 9.00am if you were at home.credibly hard to navigate, full of spam and and bogged down by knobhead adverts for cars that are £399 per month rather than £399 to buy outright.

 

Auto Trader as a website only is f*cked now, I don't see it lasting that long as its in

[fordpoplier]

I sold my AX via Autotrader before I moved to the US in 1995 - it was in nice nick. I priced it about 300 quid below the proper market rate just so I could get shot quick and hassle free. I remember being told when I called them 'not to accept calls about it before the publishing date' which I think was Thursday, the photographer came round a couple of days earlier and strangely enough, I started getting calls later that day and I sold it for cash that night. Defo those photographers passed on info on bargains to dealers but it was a hassle free sale.

[cort16]

I remember I'd sell a car say on the Tuesday then feverishly wait for Autotrader to come out on a Friday so I could pour through it and pick cars to go and see that night or at the weekend.

Always straight to the bargains section, then pouring through the local traders PX stock looking for something half decent (there never was).

 

Autotrader are no1 because they spend so much on advertising. The site's shit and the dealers hate them as they're so expensive but I still think it's a good place to sell a "normal" car to normal people. 10 quid for the sub 1000 quid cars is still better value than ebay.

 

I thought pistonheads may have had a chance to be as big as autotrader but they've totally cocked it up.

[Spiny Norman]

A shame, but no real surprise.

I think it'll be harder and harder to keep any kind of special interest magazine afloat over the next few years. Printing and distribution costs soaring while everyone goes digital.

 

I remember buying AT first thing on a Friday morning and sitting by the phone to try and snap up a bargain before anyone else got to it.

[John F]

Wish I had a couple of dozen of those Escorts now...!

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Its kind of baffling how the print edition lasted this long. It was fun going through it in the 90s but looking at one postage stamp sized photo and tiny description printed on newspaper, stuck with only the regions they defined? Rightfully confined to the history books.

 

I find the website pretty good - I love the way you can start with every car on the site and whittle it down by specifying trim, colour, distance etc.

[Pillock]

The website is good, depending on what you're looking for. Like Cavette says, try searching for sub-£1000 BMWs and see how many 13-plate lease options you get on the first page. So then you have to start dicking around with the age of car, mileage and whatnot. Oh, and "wanted for cash" adverts annoy on there too, they're not so easy to filter out.

[mattblack]

Remember when you used to have to phone up your local office and arrange a time for a guy to come out with a camera and take shit snaps of the car?

 

Yep, and if you were going to be out when he came you'd stick the cheque and the ad copy in a plaggy bag up the tailpipe.

 

Happy days, I tell you the kids today with their cellular telephones and whatnot don't know they're born...