Auto Trader has told dealers that it will be removing customer contact details from leads it sends them via email.
From the end of September, the advertising marketplace said it would be redacting customer contact details and message content from email leads.
The firm said this was to protect the ‘personally identifiable information’ that was contained within those emails.
Car dealer customers will instead have to log in to their Auto Trader Portal account to view the message and respond if they rely on these emails for lead information.
In a bulletin to customers – shared with Car Dealer – Auto Trader said: ‘Exposing this kind of data over email increases the risk of it being accessed or misused and can be a key factor in data breaches.
‘This change is a proactive step to safeguard consumer data and reduce risk for both Auto Trader and our retailer partners.’
Many car dealers rely on these email notifications when a customer enquires on a car on the advertising platform. They have then been able to reply directly to the customer from their own email accounts. This change will mean they will now need to log on to Auto Trader’s platform to get the details and reply.
Auto Trader’s email bulletin added: ‘From the end of September, lead notification emails from Auto Trader will no longer include any customer contact details or message content.
‘To view the details of any new enquiry securely, you’ll need to log in to Portal.
‘From September 15, you may notice a change in your lead notification emails ahead of the full update at the end of September.
‘This is designed to give you and your team time to adapt your processes before customer contact details are removed completely.’
If car dealers ingest the email leads into a DMS via an API and reply directly from their own systems, the changes are not thought to affect them.
DMS provider DealerKit told Car Dealer that its customers would not notice a difference as the email enquiries are pulled into its servers in a different, secure manner.
Car dealers should contact their DMS providers to ensure that the changes will not affect their processes.
Auto Trader added: ‘If you already access your leads securely through Portal or via a third-party integration with our API, this change won’t affect how you work.’
Umesh Samani, chairman of the Independent Motor Dealers Association, said yesterday’s email from Auto Trader about the change had been a ‘hot topic’ on its members’ forum.
He told Car Dealer: ‘This is a major step backwards and one which adds more work for dealers. When speed of reply back to customers is so vital this adds another layer.
‘I’m going to have to log in every time I get an email enquiry to find out customers’ contact details. Before this I could reply instantly without having to login.
‘I don’t think this has been thought through from the dealers’ perspective and there has definitely been no consultation from Auto Trader with us, their customers.
‘This is a hot topic on the IMDA forum and dealers are overwhelmingly against these changes.’
Auto Trader has been contacted for further comment.
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