2023

Launched digital retailing capabilities

Launched two digital retailing consumer journeys: a used car Deal Builder journey and a fully online retailing journey for new vehicles on Auto Trader.

2022

What Car? partnership

As of July, we began powering the used car search function on both What Car? and its sister site, Autocar.

2022

Autorama acquisition

We acquired Autorama, one of the UK’s largest transactional marketplaces for leasing new vehicles.

2021

Automotive Carbon Literacy Toolkit

At COP26 we launched the first ever Automotive Carbon Literacy Toolkit, funded and developed in partnership with the Carbon Literacy Trust, and designed in close collaboration with leading retailers and manufacturers.

2021

Auto Trader Connect

We launched a powerful stock management solution designed to enable retailers to update multiple back-end and consumer facing systems with advanced data in real-time.

2021

Guaranteed Part-Exchange

We launched our Guaranteed Part-Exchange (‘GPX’) and Instant Offer products. GPX enables the consumer to get a guaranteed price for their part-exchange, while Instant Offer enables private sellers to sell their car at a guaranteed price.

2020

Retailer COVID support

Throughout the pandemic, we supported the industry in every way we could, including product developments to enable digital retailing, regularly sharing data and insight to support our customers’ business decisions, through to financial support provided with discounted packages, free periods, and deferred payment terms.

2020

AutoConvert acquisition

We acquired AutoConvert, a finance, insurance, and compliance software platform with integrated customer relationship management solutions.

2020

Market Insight tool launched

We launched Market Insight, a powerful tool to help retailers identify and adapt to market trends as they happen.

2019

KeeResources acquisition

We acquired KeeResources, a trusted provider of software, data and digital solutions to the automotive industry — further supporting our taxonomy and pricing data solutions.

2019

Launched new retailer products

We launched two new products to retailers: Text Chat and Vehicle Check. These products benefit both consumers and retailers, helping build trust between the two.

2019

New Car launched

We launched our brand new car proposition, to make us as synonymous with new cars as we are with used.

2018

Joint venture with Cox Automotive

We created a joint venture with Cox Automotive, Dealer Auction, to provide an innovative digital marketplace for wholesale vehicles.

2018

Re-launched our Managing products

i-Control became Retail Accelerator, our most powerful tool yet, which helps retailers manage their forecourts using unrivalled data and insight.

2017

Monthly price calculator launched

We extended our finance solution to allow consumers to search for their next car based on their ideal monthly budget, reflecting the changing way that consumers are buying cars.

2017

Acquisition of MTD

In April 2017 we welcomed Motor Trade Delivery Ltd into the Auto Trader team, helping to grow our trade-to-trade proposition.

2017

Price transparency

We launched Price Indicator labels on our adverts to help consumers see whether a car is priced competitively.

2016

Driving into finance

We gained FCA authorisation, enabling us to show the monthly borrowing cost of a vehicle based on a retailer’s preferred lender. This marked another step on our journey of making the process of buying and selling a car smoother and easier.

2016

Market Report launch

In February 2016 we launched the first edition of our Market Report, a biannual review of the UK’s new and used car market. The report quickly grew in scale and influence offering data, insights and market commentary from Auto Trader and our industry peers.

Whilst the report has now evolved beyond standalone editions, we continue to share our data and industry insights on a variety of topics — such as the Road to 2035, on a regular basis.

2015

Admission to the London Stock Exchange

On 24th March, Auto Trader listed on the London Stock Exchange.

2015

Expert valuations

We launched our free valuation tool, giving consumers the most accurate view in the market of the price of their car.

2014

New offices open

We created new working areas by moving staff to state-of-the-art offices in central Manchester and King’s Cross, London.

2014

Happy 35th birthday

What started as a regional magazine had become one of the UK’s most recognisable automotive brands. Happy birthday!

2013

The presses go quiet

In June 2013, the final print edition of Auto Trader rolled off the presses. The time was right to become a 100% digital business.

2013

A fresh look

We enjoyed enormous brand awareness but our logo was ageing by the day. We created a modern logo that’s still recognisably Auto Trader.

2011

UK consolidation

We began disposing of the parts of our business that addressed non-UK markets. This was completed in 2013, giving our team renewed focus.

2011

Customers share more

Customer reviews were introduced to Auto Trader, allowing owners to start telling others what they really think of their cars.

2011

For Android and iPad

Having proven the value of our iPhone app, we developed dedicated apps for the popular iPad and Android platforms.

2010

Bigger on the small screen

Now there’s an app for that: 300,000 people downloaded our iPhone app in the first 30 days after it was launched.

2010

Helping dealers online

Our Dealer Websites platform launched, making it easy for dealers to create professional websites.

2009

Big on the small screen

With smart phones becoming widely used, we launched a dedicated mobile website to help people search on smaller screens.

2008

Hinting at the future

We added co.uk to our logo, acknowledging that people preferred to search for cars online rather than in a magazine.

2007

Digital matches print

Our digital revenue matched our print revenue for the first time. It was clear where the future lay, and we accelerated our digital transition strategy.

2007

Like us or follow us

As Facebook and Twitter use exploded, we joined these social networks and started posting to them. Can we get a retweet?

2007

A brand-new website

We put enormous effort into creating our new website, which allowed us to show the exact number of vehicles available for every selection.

2000

Two become one

In 2000, the two separate parts of Auto Trader merged into a single company, called Trader Media Group.

1996

Our first website

A small team created the first Auto Trader website — two years before even Google was conceived.

1996

The magazine goes digital

Well, sort of. We became the first UK publisher to switch to automatic layout software to produce our magazines.

1995

We cross the Irish Sea

By 1995, Auto Trader titles covered the whole of the UK. The magazine also became available in Ireland for the first time.

1988

Auto Trader is born

We became Auto Trader in 1988, after a short spell as Auto Mart & Trader. At this point we had a number of regional magazines, which were all renamed.

1983

Guardian Media Group joins

Guardian Media Group (GMG) joined Auto Trader, as it had been considering launching a similar venture in the north of England.

1977

Our entrepreneurial roots

The history of Auto Trader starts back in 1977 when entrepreneur John Madejski launched a small regional classified advertising magazine called Thames Valley Trader. He brought the idea to the UK after a visit to the US.

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