Replacing your dealership website without changing your stock system

The source determines which information the new site can use.

Before agreeing filters, specification tables or gallery layouts, review the actual records and access arrangements. Missing fields should not become empty promises in the design.

The same applies to stock categories. A business selling cars and motorbikes needs browsing and specification choices appropriate to each, rather than treating every record as the same kind of vehicle.

Where stock is maintained in DoneDeal Dealer Hub, AutoFeed can build around the authorised feed. Other providers need their own access and compatibility review.

The result is a website designed around usable inventory, with the update process included in the project.

Staff should know where to add a vehicle, change its price and remove it once sold.

If the stock system remains the agreed source, the new website should use that workflow instead of asking the team to maintain a second inventory.

The website can then present the same records in a way that better suits the dealership: a stock search, category listings, detailed vehicle pages and enquiries that carry the vehicle reference.

A replacement needs a migration plan as well as a design.

Review which pages should be retained, rewritten or retired. Identify important existing URLs and plan appropriate redirects where their equivalents move. Confirm who controls the domain, who will host the new site and who will manage the launch.

Vehicle URLs deserve particular attention. Some old listings may still receive visits even after the vehicle has sold. The plan should define what those visitors see and how they can return to relevant available stock.

Keep the review focused on useful existing traffic and customer journeys. Redirects should lead to a relevant destination wherever one exists.

A good vehicle page still needs a working route to the dealership.

Test an enquiry from the stock listing through to the person who receives it. Confirm that the vehicle reference is included and that delivery failures are visible.

Also check mobile navigation, photographs, filters and the way the site handles missing data. Stock changes, removals and temporary source failures should be part of the checks.

If the project includes finance applications, reservations, payments or other services, agree their scope and dependencies explicitly. Connecting inventory does not automatically provide those capabilities.

The stock source, design, content, migration and additional integrations all affect the work.

A clear proposal should identify what is included, what access is needed, any provider charges and the ongoing hosting and support arrangements. Timescales also depend on content, approvals and third-party access.

The useful comparison is between proposals that cover the same complete job. A homepage design and a delivered dealership website with connected stock are different scopes.