Google Ads for car dealers: the playbook for indie forecourts

Most indie dealers either don't run Google Ads, pay an agency 10-20% of spend to run them, or run them themselves and lose money on generic campaigns. This playbook is the in-between: what an owner-operator can do in 90 minutes a week to make Google Ads actually profitable.

Why generic dealer ads lose money

"Used cars Manchester" looks like the obvious campaign to run. It's also the most expensive and lowest-converting. The CPC is bid up by Auto Trader and the big aggregators, and the buyer clicking it is at the very top of the funnel — they don't know what car, what price, what dealer.

The ROI math doesn't work. £4 CPC × 100 clicks = £400 for 100 vague visitors. If 2% convert into an enquiry, that's £200 per enquiry — typically more than the gross margin on a sub-£10k used car.

Three campaign structures that actually work

1. Stock-specific campaigns

Pick the 5-10 cars in your stock that you most want to sell this week (high margin, ageing, or strategically important). Run a separate campaign per car: "used Audi A3 [your city] black 2019 manual". The CPC is lower (less competition), the buyer is far deeper in the funnel, the conversion rate is dramatically higher.

Yes, this means refreshing campaigns weekly as stock changes. Tools like Forecourtly's Ad Studio (£99/mo flat) draft the assets in minutes from your stock list. Without a tool, plan 30 minutes a week.

2. Catchment-town campaigns

Your forecourt is in Bolton. Run separate campaigns for Bury, Wigan and Salford — each with ad copy that mentions the drive distance and one or two relevant cars. Cheaper clicks than generic Bolton campaigns, higher local trust signals, easier to win the click against London-based aggregators.

3. Finance-led campaigns

"Used car finance [city]" and "used cars with finance [city]" buyers have self-identified as finance buyers — typically your highest-margin customer because you earn on both the car and the finance commission. CPCs are higher (£5-£12) but conversion rates are typically 3-5x generic.

Send these to a dedicated finance landing page, not your homepage. Include APR examples, a simple finance calculator if you can, and one clear CTA.

Budgets that match indie-dealer reality

Sensible starting daily budget for an indie dealer: £20-£40/day total across all campaigns. At average UK dealer-niche CPCs of £3-£8, that's 3-10 clicks a day. Enough to generate 2-5 enquiries per week from a small budget — and enough data after 4 weeks to see what's working.

Don't scale spend until you've got at least 4 weeks of conversion data. Most dealers who lose money on Google Ads either over-invested before they understood their numbers, or under-invested below the threshold where Google's bidding algorithm can optimise.

The 90-minute weekly workflow

1. 20 mins: Identify the 3-5 cars in stock that need to move this week. Note margin, age, photos quality.
2. 20 mins: Draft (or AI-generate) 15 headlines + 4 descriptions per car. Use real specifics — registration year, mileage band, condition note.
3. 10 mins: Build a simple landing page per car (or per campaign group). Include 2-3 photos, the spec, the price, one CTA.
4. 10 mins: Set up the campaigns in Google Ads Editor — exact-match keywords, geo-target your catchment, daily cap.
5. 30 mins: Review last week's performance — which ads got clicks, which converted to enquiries. Kill the dead, scale the winners.

Frequently asked questions

Should I use Google Ads if I'm already on Auto Trader?

Possibly — but only as a way to drive traffic to your own site, not to duplicate what Auto Trader already does. Auto Trader buyers stay on Auto Trader; Google Ads buyers come to you. Different funnel, different value.

What's a reasonable cost-per-enquiry to aim for?

For a typical indie dealer with sub-£10k stock, £40-£80 per enquiry is sustainable. Above £100 and the math gets thin. Below £30 and you're either a unicorn or you're not tracking properly.

Should I run Performance Max or Standard Search campaigns?

Standard Search for an indie dealer with limited budget. Performance Max needs significant ad spend (typically £3k+/month) to optimise meaningfully and burns through budget fast on under-£1k/month accounts. Revisit after 6 months of consistent spend.

What's the biggest mistake dealers make on Google Ads?

Sending paid traffic to their homepage. The homepage answers no specific question, makes the buyer hunt for the car the ad promised, and tanks conversion. Every campaign needs a matching landing page.