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Automotive PPC: Vehicle Ads, Shopping and Search
Automotive PPC works when the ads are built from your data. Google Vehicle Ads from a live stock feed. Shopping ads for parts with fitment in the title. Search campaigns for a garage that stop at the edge of the area you serve. We manage Google Ads for dealers, parts retailers and garages, and report on cost per lead.
Who we do this for
- Car Dealers
- Car Parts Retailers
- Garages & MOT Centres
- Tyre & Exhaust Centres
- Vehicle Rental & Hire
- Leasing & Finance Brokers
Native data integrations
Generic agencies run automotive PPC as a keyword list and a budget. It wastes money, because the trade's best ad formats are feed-driven. Google Vehicle Ads show your actual cars, with price and mileage, to people searching for that model. Shopping shows your actual parts. Neither works without a clean feed, and building feeds is what we do.
For dealers, that means a Merchant Center vehicle feed from Auto Trader Connect or your DMS, Vehicle Ads through Performance Max, plus Search for brand, model and used-cars-in-town terms, with call tracking and lead forms back to the CRM. For parts retailers, it means Shopping and Performance Max with fitment-aware titles, part numbers as keywords, and negatives that stop you paying for the wrong marque.
For garages, it means tight Search campaigns for MOT, servicing, tyres and diagnostics, radius targeting that reflects how far people actually drive, ad schedules around opening hours, and booking as the conversion. Every account reports cost per enquiry, cost per booking or return on ad spend, and we turn things off when they do not pay.
Sound familiar?
You probably need this if
- Your agency reports clicks and impressions and cannot tell you cost per lead.
- You are paying for searches from forty miles away for a service nobody drives forty miles for.
- Vehicle Ads keep being disapproved and nobody can explain why.
- Shopping ads sell parts to people whose car they do not fit, and the returns come back to you.
- Brand search is eaten by a competitor bidding on your name.
- Spend goes up in March and September and leads do not.
Deliverables
What you get
- Account audit and restructure with campaigns split by intent: brand, model, stock, service, part.
- Google Vehicle Ads: Merchant Center vehicle feed built and validated from your stock source, Performance Max configured.
- Google Shopping and Performance Max for parts with enriched feeds and fitment-aware titles.
- Search campaigns for garages and services with radius, schedule and negative keyword control.
- Conversion tracking: calls, forms, bookings, reserve-online and orders, into GA4 and the ads platform.
- Landing page or vehicle detail page fixes where the page is losing the click.
- Monthly reporting on cost per lead, cost per booking or ROAS with a written plan for the next month.
Google Vehicle Ads for dealers
Vehicle Ads put your stock in the search results with a photo, price and mileage, and send the click to that car's page. The work is in the feed: correct identifiers, prices that match the page, images that pass review, and sold cars removed on time. We build and monitor it from the same stock source as your website.
Google Shopping for car parts
Shopping for parts is a data job. A title that says the part type, marque, model and year range wins the click from the right buyer and loses the wrong one. We enrich the feed from your fitment data, group campaigns by product line and margin, and use negatives to keep you off searches for cars you do not cover.
Performance Max
Performance Max is how Vehicle Ads and much of Shopping now run. Left alone it spends on whatever converts cheapest, which is often your own brand name. We feed it the right signals, exclude brand, split asset groups by stock or product line, and check placements so budget goes to new customers.
PPC for garages
A garage campaign should be small, local and precise: MOT, servicing, tyres, diagnostics and the specialisms you actually want, targeted to the radius people will drive, scheduled to when someone can answer the phone, with online booking as the conversion. We build it that way and report bookings, not clicks.
Process
How we approach it
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Audit
Existing accounts, feeds, tracking and landing pages reviewed; we show where money is being wasted before we ask for any.
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Feed and tracking build
Vehicle or product feed built from your stock source, Merchant Center verified, conversions wired for calls, forms and bookings.
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Campaign build
Campaigns structured by intent and sector, with negative keywords from day one.
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Launch and learn
First month at a controlled budget while bidding and audiences settle.
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Optimise
Weekly changes to bids, negatives, feed titles and budgets based on lead data, not click data.
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Report
Monthly report with cost per lead and what we did; quarterly review of budget allocation.
PPC: common questions
What are Google Vehicle Ads?
Vehicle Ads show a dealer's actual stock (photo, price, mileage, dealer name) in Google results for vehicle searches. They run from a vehicle feed in Google Merchant Center through Performance Max campaigns and need a website with a page per vehicle.
What does a dealer need to run Vehicle Ads?
A Merchant Center account with a vehicle feed (VIN or reg, make, model, year, mileage, price, images, dealership address), a website with a detail page per vehicle, and a Google Ads account. We build the feed from Auto Trader Connect or your DMS.
Can Google Shopping work for car parts?
Yes, if the feed is good. Titles need the part type, marque, model and years; GTINs or MPNs where they exist; and negatives to stop showing on the wrong vehicle. We build the feed from the same data as your store's fitment.
How much should a garage spend on Google Ads?
Enough to cover your core services in your real catchment, and no more. We size it from search volume in your radius and your booking value, start small, and scale the campaigns that produce bookings at a cost you are happy with.
Do you manage Microsoft Ads too?
Yes, where it makes sense. Bing volume is smaller but can be cheaper per lead for used cars and parts, and campaigns can be imported from Google Ads with adjustments.
Do you charge a percentage of ad spend?
No. We charge a management fee agreed at scoping, based on the work involved. Your ad budget is paid directly to Google.
Sectors
Who we do this for
Car Dealers
Car dealer marketing that does not rent all your traffic from Auto Trader.
View servicesCar Parts Retailers
Car parts marketing agency built on fitment: TecDoc K-Type, reg lookup, eBay and Amazon feeds on Shopify, WooCommerce or Magento.
View servicesGarages & MOT Centres
Garage marketing that fills the diary: local SEO, garage website design with online booking and MOT reminders from DVSA data.
View servicesTyre & Exhaust Centres
A tyre website with booking for independents: tyre size by reg, live wholesaler pricing, fitting slots and local SEO.
View servicesVehicle Rental & Hire
Car hire website design with booking engine, deposits and ID checks, and local SEO for every branch.
View servicesLeasing & Finance Brokers
Car leasing website design, deal feeds and FCA-compliant marketing for leasing and finance brokers.
View servicesRelated services
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Talk to us about ppc
Tell us what you sell, fix, break or race and what is getting in the way. We will come back within one working day with a straight answer and, if it fits, a fixed-price scope.