How should a dealership choose a website provider?

Test real shopping journeys

Review search, SRP, VDP, trade, finance, service, mobile navigation, forms, calls, chat and accessibility with representative inventory and campaigns.

Verify dealer control

Document access to domains, analytics, tags, accounts, content, media, redirects, data feeds and exports. Confirm which changes require vendor support and their expected turnaround.

Plan migration before signing

Inventory URLs, content, metadata, schema, media, forms, tracking and integrations. Assign redirect mapping, validation, launch monitoring and rollback ownership.

How to compare providers fairly

Build one test script and run it against every candidate on real inventory: search for a model, filter by price, open a vehicle page, submit a trade request, start a finance application and book service, on a phone first. Time each step and note every place the page shifts or stalls.

Ask each provider to share measured speed data for live inventory pages, not a marketing figure. A common script makes differences visible that screenshots hide.

What the dealer should control

Ask which parts of the site the store can change without a support ticket, such as specials, banners, pages and forms, and how long tickets take. Confirm who owns the domain, the analytics property and the tag manager account, and whether all of them stay with the dealer after termination. A site the dealer cannot edit or take with it turns every small change into a service request and every exit into a rebuild.

Common mistakes when choosing a website provider

Choosing on design mock-ups is the most frequent. Others are accepting a platform that is not approved for your manufacturer program, ignoring how third-party widgets affect speed, and not asking what happens to URLs at exit.

Also confirm accessibility testing has been done on the forms and navigation the site actually uses. Each of these shows up months after launch, when changing course costs the most.

Questions for provider references

Ask a reference how long migration took, whether search traffic dipped, how quickly support responds to a change request, whether the site slowed as inventory grew and whether they were surprised by any fees. Choose a reference with your brand or program, because manufacturer rules shape what is possible.