Seasonal Paid Ad Budgeting For Dealers: The Complete Guide
Most dealers know that there are busy months and quiet months. As a dealer, you plan for these months in advance, and you should plan your paid ad budget ahead of time, too.
Seasonal trends you’re unprepared for may make you miss a very important surge in the market where your paid ad campaigns could have delivered great results.
At WeAdvertiseAnyCar, we plan our clients’ budgets proactively around the UK automotive calendar so their spend is optimised for results; and with this guide, yours can be too.
Plate Change Months
Whenever we talk to dealers, whether they’re independents or franchise dealers, they both agree that plate change months are exceedingly busy periods.
March and September are the two biggest spikes in car searches in the calendar. Buyers who have been browsing for months and have even found the right car suddenly decide to buy.
The same is true for used car dealers: with new number plates in, buyers move to get the best deals on the old plates.
Search volume increases across GVA and search terms; competition becomes more apparent as every dealer mobilises to grant visibility to their stock.
Your budget should increase to match this trend line: add 2 or 3 weeks of extra spend ahead of the plate change so you catch the attention of buyers waiting for the new plates to drop before they buy.
Similarly, your bidding needs to become more competitive; this is not the time to hold back on your cost per click; you need to go all in. If you don’t, you risk losing to dealers who bid according to seasonal trends and aren't worried about their spend during those months because they know the results are worth it.
Finally, optimise your feed: list every detail about the car clearly, use high-resolution images, and keep calls to action in sight so buyers can act when they are ready to buy.
Fleet and Company Car Renewals
If you’re a dealer who only sells vans or also sells vans, the start of the new tax year is when you want to keep an eye on buyer trends.
Companies and Fleet operators will decide whether to renew vehicle leases and review their fleet. This directly impacts commercial vehicle sales.
It’s worth keeping in mind that business buyers are different from your everyday person who’s looking to buy a new car. Businesses focus on running costs, payloads, warranties, and finance deals.
Your feed should reflect these buyers' intent, with clear images of every detail of your vans in stock, and your vehicle listing should clearly explain running costs and specs in an easy-to-find location.
Your vehicle page should also include any warranties, finance deals, and other perks that come with buying from your dealership. Businesses will ultimately decide what extra deals they can get, not just the vehicle itself.
The End of the Year
December and the final week of the year bring their own pressure, usually around registration targets and clearing aged stock so it doesn't sit on the books into the new year.
If you’re a franchise dealer, you’ll probably be feeling the pressure from manufacturers to hit numbers, and paid ads become a tool to satisfy stakeholders. You can run ad campaigns to push specific makes and models rather than your whole stock, boosting the visibility of the vehicles you need to sell.
If you’re an independent, this is the perfect opportunity to lean into the “before the new year” and the “new year, new me” messaging. Buyers become much more emotionally driven during this time; if you pair their feelings with the urgency of some good deals, you’ll be able to clear stock much faster.
Competition intensifies as well, as most dealerships run end–of–year deals; this is where you need to bid aggressively and ensure your offers are competitive.
What to Do During Quiet Months
Not every month deserves the same strategy of bidding and budgeting, and these are the months that, if you know how to utilise them well, will become an asset for you.
Your budget can be smaller and your bidding less competitive, but don’t pull it down to zero and lose auction presence entirely. Most dealers don’t realise visibility takes longer to rebuild, so it’s still worth running a few ads in the quiet months.
Quiet months can be your maintenance time and your planning time. You can assess where to trim spend on slowest-moving stock, optimise what’s working, fix any feed issues, refresh images, and review your vehicle detail pages. Doing this will save you precious time when demand picks back up.
Build a Seasonal Calendar
A seasonal calendar will save you headaches when spikes arrive. Knowing when to increase your budget and for how long will also save you money in the long run.
You don’t need to do a big analysis; simply look at when your sales tend to spike and why, and you'll be able to plan better. Once you identify your high-demand periods, you can look at what your competitors are doing in the same time frame.
The answers lie in your data, and the best way to find them is to ask questions and look for answers.
The Issue With Planning Ahead
The one problem that dealers often have, especially independents, is that time is short, and you don’t have enough resources to carry out such a big piece of work.
That is where partnering with a paid ad agency saves you time and money. At WeAdvertiseAnyCar, we take that pressure off dealers by conducting market analysis and running and optimising your feed so they can focus on selling cars.
We have flexible packages to suit any type of dealer, from independent to franchise. Get in contact today to find out what we’ve got to offer.