Since the internet arrived many years ago it has brought with it endless time and money saving opportunities. This is certainly true for those selling vehicles.

It was not so long ago that all vehicles being sold privately were done so using the traditional method of print advertising. Although this is of course still very popular, the attractions of internet advertising are many.

The potential audience reach alone should persuade a vehicle seller to consider the internet as a valuable advertising method, but then when you add to that the cost saving opportunity; it really should be the first choice method.

More than likely you will find that print advertising is more expensive than online, and also much more limited too. A typical newspaper for example, may provide a limit of around 20 words and a space for one photo (if you're lucky!). Take on the other hand an automobile classified site. A page dedicated solely to your vehicle with multiple photos and virtually unlimited description length is not uncommon for a fraction of the price.

So what about the audience reach of both methods?

Let us take print advertising. A more common scenario of print advertising is in a local newspaper or possibly a shop window, but this most certainly has its limitations in terms of audience reach. Some may argue that car selling and buying mainly occurs locally. However, I would argue that this isn't in fact the case, but rather that the seller is within a reasonable distance from the buyer. This reasonable distance is determined by the buyer, but a buyers desire to have a particular vehicle can often cancel out distance affecting a sale.

The internet, however, is available throughout the world, and more relevantly in this situation, in homes across the country that the seller resides.

With this comes the potential to obtain the full worth of the vehicle. Whereas with print advertising, the amount of responses that you receive may be small, advertising online may provide a much greater number of responses. This allows the seller to hold out for a sale of higher value, rather than to be haggled down because of lack of interest or lack of responses from a print advert.

Response times are also very fast when advertising online. Search facilities allow this to be true. Buyers that are searching for a certain vehicle with certain specifications (colour, engine size, etc.), can do so in a matter of minutes. This is much faster than looking through a list in a newspaper or magazine, and also provides many more results due to the distance that the searches can span.