Autotrader rolls out deal builder for all, enabling new era of automotive intelligence
31st July 2025 – At a time when retailers are facing an increasingly complex and competitive retail market and changing consumer expectations, Autotrader has made its innovative digital retailing solution, Deal Builder, available to all retailers1. As well as helping to deliver higher converting deals, and faster, more efficient sales, it will unlock a new era of advanced buyer insights.
The roll-out of Deal Builder is already underway, with thousands of Autotrader’s retailer partners seeing the benefit of receiving deals from highly engaged and ready to purchase buyers. Unlike traditional leads, deals built through Deal Builder show much higher purchase intent, with top retailers converting over 80% of reserved vehicles. Notably, 84% of buyers who build a deal don’t submit a lead elsewhere for at least three days, whilst nearly half of deals are made outside of traditional business hours, giving retailers ready-made opportunities each morning.
A new era of automotive intelligence
Enhancing the Autotrader platform with Deal Builder across all used car and van adverts will enable Autotrader to understand buyers in more depth than ever before. The next step in Deal Builder’s evolution, therefore, will see Autotrader surface these advanced buyer insights to retailers - detailed and actionable buyer intelligence into individual preferences, and high-intent behaviours across every vehicle on the platform.
Available later this year, Autotrader’s AI-driven analytics will highlight which buyers are most likely to convert and which vehicles are generating the highest engagement and purchase potential, ensuring greater transparency and control in the sales process. Retailers will be able to prioritise the right opportunities, tailor their approach to serious buyers, and integrate this intelligence directly through Portal or their preferred systems via AT Connect—helping retailers to maximise conversions and make informed decisions with confidence.
“The uniqueness of Autotrader is how we respond to change and how we support retailers and partners through these changes. This is why, after an extensive period of working with retailers to evolve Deal Builder and to ensure it delivers the best possible results, we made the decision to make it available to all. By unlocking digital retailing for everyone, it’ll not only revolutionise how retailers engage with consumers, but will provide a new era of rich buyer intelligence, helping to convert deals more easily, maximise revenue opportunities, and optimise operational capacity.”
Meeting the growing need for today’s car buyer
Deal Builder was created to help all retailers, regardless of size, to meet the changing demands of today’s car buyers, enabling fully connected journeys between online and offline sales channels. Consumers can choose how to buy, with the option to add a part-exchange, complete a finance application (from the retailers’ panel of lenders), choose their handover preference and complete a reservation for the vehicle. In the coming months, buyers will also be able to book appointments too. The buyer can then inspect, test drive and finalise their purchase on the forecourt, benefitting from the physical experience that only a retailer can provide.
95%2 of buyers still seek some form of in-person experience. An Auto Trader study3 found that consumers tend to switch between online and offline channels at various stages of their buying journey. What’s more, almost two in three buyers turn up unannounced on forecourts, having made no prior contact with the retailer. Deal Builder offers retailers a unique opportunity to not only meet these evolving consumer expectations but also improve performance, efficiency, and profitability in the process.
“The Deal Builder journey does a great job of giving customers reassurance and confidence to reserve the car. It attracts genuine buyers, because if you’re prepared to put down a reservation fee, then you are someone who means business. And, because customers can do it seamlessly and in their own time, we’ve had deals through that we may not have previously.”
Ryan Prince, Director of Motors Today
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