Auto Trader founder, John Madejski, pictured in 2009
Whilst on holiday in Florida, Madejski had seen a car sales magazine that included pictures of the vehicles on sale.[3] Realising the potential of the idea, together with his business partners Paul Gibbons and Peter Taylor he founded Thames Valley Trader in 1977.[4]
Initially, the magazine advertised anything and everything, from houses to cars and even aircraft, but it soon narrowed its focus to vehicles and was rebranded Auto Trader in 1988. The first title was followed by the publication of a second one, Southern Auto Trader.[5]
The company launched a website, Autotrader.co.uk, in 1996, giving people the ability to buy or sell a car online. Consumers could search for cars and other vehicles using their postcode. Autotrader.co.uk quickly became the most popular automotive website in the United Kingdom, by 2009 attracting 10.3 million unique users per month, on average.[6]
British international investment firm BC Partners bought a stake in the business from John Madejski in July 1998 for £260m; then Guardian Media Group, who had acquired Automart in 1982, merged that business with Hurst Publishing in May 2000 so creating Trader Media.[7]
21st century and evolution to digital only
Auto Trader launched a mobile website in 2002, initially using the WAP protocol.[8]
In July 2008, Auto Trader launched a .mobi site,[9] and in July 2009, separate versions for differing handset capability levels were released.[9]
In April 2011 a group called the Motor Traders Advertising Union launched an online petition and proposed a mass pull out by auto dealers who objected to an increase in the fee for a dealership to advertise a car, from £7 to £8.50, before any discounts for bulk advertisers.[11][12][13]
Sales of the print magazine dwindled in line with the decline of the print industry. By July 2012, circulation had dropped to an average of 87,000 copies a week[14] and down to 27,000 in March 2013.[15]
In June 2013, after thirty six years, the final editions of the printed magazine were published, with the company concentrating on its online business.[16]
In October 2013, AutoTrader.co.za (Auto Trader South Africa) a subsidiary of the Auto Trader Group, was sold off to become an independent South African company.[17][18][19][20][21]
In January 2014, Apax Partners bought the business from Guardian Media Group for £600m.[22]
In March 2014, the company rebranded, and became known as Auto Trader,[23] and in March 2015, Auto Trader Group launched an initial public offering, with a market capitalisation of about £2bn and floated on the London Stock Exchange on the FTSE250.[24]
In 2020 it was reported that Auto Trader had created a data lake and intelligence platform using services including Amazon Web Services and Google's Looker, and was working to foster a ‘culture of data’ internally by setting up a data academy for employees.[25]
Auto Trader launched a product called Retailer Stores in April 2021, which offers retailers their own customisable destination within the marketplace, and a product called Instant Cash Offer in August 2021, which provides consumers with an alternative to selling privately, with a ‘no-haggle’ cash price for their vehicle, free collection from their home, with no administration fees and immediate payment as soon as the offer is accepted.[26]
Auto Trader granted four months of free advertising to its retailer customers to support them during the COVID-19 pandemic.[27][28]
In 2022, Auto Trader began a partnership with the Office for National Statistics sharing its used car pricing data to power its official measures of inflation, including the Consumer Prices Index.[29]
Also in 2022, Auto Trader acquired Autorama, owner of Vanarama, one of the UK’s largest transactional marketplaces for leasing new vehicles.[30][31]
At the core of Auto Trader is its online marketplace, where consumers buy and sell cars and other vehicles, and where car dealerships advertise and sell their stock, both new and used, to consumers. Retailers pay to advertise vehicles, and consumers also pay a fee unless the transaction is less than £1,000.[41]
AutoTrader.co.uk website
The Auto Trader website was ranked first in the UK in the vehicles category by Similarweb and Eighth globally in January 2024.[42]
Auto Trader operates a YouTube channel where it publishes videos such as car reviews, car comparisons, drag races, and buying guides. Television presenter and automotive journalistRory Reid joined Auto Trader as YouTube Director in December 2019, and fronts the videos on the channel.[45]
As of February 2024, the channel had 1.09m subscribers and had an accumulated 287,177,933 video views.[46]
Diversity, inclusion and social good
Auto Trader are one of only three FTSE100 companies to have 50:50 gender parity on their Board, and were ranked UK’s 7th Inclusive Top 50 Employer 2020/21.[47]
The company makes regular contributions to Ben, a charity which provides support to the people of the UK's automotive industry.[48][49]
Focus on sustainable mobility
Auto Trader has a dedicated electric vehicle hub and in 2021 began giving away an EV to consumers every month.[50]
Auto Trader regularly shares its data and insight with the UK Government helping to shape the policies required to further the mass adoption of electric vehicles.
At COP26 in 2021, Auto Trader launched the first Automotive Carbon Literacy Toolkit, which was funded and developed in partnership with the Carbon Literacy Trust, and designed with leading retailers and manufacturers.[51][52]
The business also has a wider environmental strategy that includes a net zero carbon emissions goal and several other initiatives.[53]
^Seymour, Tom (11 November 2021). "Auto Trader half-year operating profits up 121% to £151.7m". Retrieved 15 December 2021. "Auto Trader launched its Instant Cash Offer service in August, which has provided consumers with an alternative to selling privately, with a 'no-haggle' cash price for their car, free home collection, no administration fees and immediate payment as soon as the offer is accepted. These cars are then made available through Dealer Auction, enabling any retailer to add this as a source of used car retail stock."
^"Why Carbon Literacy for the Automotive sector?". 16 November 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2022. "This Toolkit development has been completed by The Carbon Literacy Project, with the support and funding of Auto Trader."
^"Our Environment". 10 October 2022. Retrieved 15 December 2022. "The impact of climate change is posing an ever-increasing threat. The UK Government has a target to become net zero by 2050. As a responsible business Auto Trader has a role to play in reaching this goal and we are committed to reaching net zero by 2040. Developing a climate resilient strategy aligned to the UK's ambitious environmental targets which considers the risks and opportunities of climate change is essential in order to protect our business from the impact of climate change. At Auto Trader, climate change is treated as a Board-level governance issue. Our newly formed Corporate Responsibility Committee evidences our commitment to drive improvements in our environmental and wider sustainability performance and ensure as a business we are making real progress with our environmental commitments."
£500.2 million (2023)[1]
£277.6 million (2023)[1]
