Used car dealer marketing: how a small lot moves the cars that sit
You know the car. It's been on the front row for weeks, and people keep driving right past it. Most of the time the car isn't the problem. The buyer who would have wanted it never saw it, or saw it on their phone and picked another lot without calling you. Below is what I'd fix first on a small lot, in order, with a source for every number.
Your buyer picks a lot before they leave the couch
Cox Automotive surveys car buyers every year. Its latest Car Buyer Journey study, released January 13, 2026, asked 2,300 people who bought a car in the past 12 months where they shopped. Among used-car buyers:
- 77% used third-party car sites
- 60% used dealership websites
- 41% used search engines
- 26% used social media
- 11% used an AI site
On average, a used-car buyer visited 4.8 sites. Then they show up at very few lots. In Cox's 2019 edition, used buyers visited 2.2 dealerships on average, and 43% visited only one. That's an older number, and the 2026 summary doesn't repeat it, so use it as a rough picture, not today's count.
My take: your listing is your front row now. If a car loses online, it never gets a test drive.
Fix the listing before you pay for ads
This list is my take, from looking at a lot of small-lot listings. Ads only send more people to the listing, so if the listing is weak, ads just pay for more people to leave.
Real photos, a lot of them
All four sides, the seats, the dash with the miles showing, the tires, and any scratch the buyer will find anyway. Shot in daylight, not under the canopy at dusk.
The price, plain
A buyer comparing 4.8 sites skips the one that says "call for price." If there are fees, say what they are.
Why this car
One or two lines a person wrote: one owner, new tires, service records, whatever is true about this car. The same three generic sentences on every car tell the buyer nothing.
In Spanish too
If a good share of your buyers speak Spanish, write the listing in Spanish as well. The buyer who reads it in their language is the one who calls.
Your Google profile is a second front row
When someone searches "used cars near me," Google shows local results on Maps and Search, and Google says your Business Profile is how you improve your spot in them. Google explains how those results are ranked on its local ranking help page: relevance, distance and prominence. Prominence, Google says, is partly based on "how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have," and "more reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking." So ask buyers for a review the day they drive off, while they're still happy. Here's how to ask without being awkward.
The same page says: "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google." If someone promises your lot the top spot, they're selling something Google says doesn't exist.
You can also post videos on your profile. Google's photo and video guidelines allow videos up to 30 seconds, up to 75 MB, at 720p or higher. For photos, Google asks for no "significant alterations or excessive use of filters." In its words, "the image should represent reality." Keep your profile to real photos and real walkaround clips of the cars you actually have.
Give the car that sits its own video
This is the part I do. Send me one car that's been sitting, and I'll turn the listing photos you already have into a 30-second vertical video, free. The car stays true to your photos: same badges, wheels, lights and trim. The camera moves, lighting, backdrop and tire tread are AI-made, and the sample says so.
Because Google wants profile images to represent reality, I'd post a video like that on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok next to the listing, with a label, and keep plain real photos on your Google profile. That's my take on Google's rule, not something Google spelled out for videos.
Or email alejandro@ojedaworks.com with the car or its listing link. It comes straight to me, Alejandro, in Napa.
Two things not to buy
A guaranteed spot at the top of Google. Google says nobody can sell that. And photos of a car that isn't the car on your lot. My take: a buyer who drives 40 minutes and finds a different car than the picture doesn't buy, and they tell people why.
What lot owners ask me
Can I use AI photos of my cars on my Google Business Profile?
Not as profile photos, if you follow Google's own guidelines. They say a photo should have no significant alterations or excessive use of filters, and that the image should represent reality. A styled video on Instagram or Facebook, clearly labeled, is a different call.
Do I still need a website if my cars are on the big listing sites?
Many buyers will look for it. In Cox Automotive's Car Buyer Journey study released in January 2026, 60% of used-car buyers used dealership websites while shopping. It doesn't have to be fancy. It has to load fast on a phone and match the cars and prices in your listings.
Does posting cars on social media actually help a used car lot?
Some buyers shop there. In the same Cox Automotive study, 26% of used-car buyers used social media while shopping, compared with 77% who used third-party car sites. Social is cheaper to try than ads, so one good video of one car is a fair test.