Car Dealer Website Checklist: Finance, Pricing, Schema and Photos

A good car dealer website does five things well: it shows prices that include every mandatory fee, presents finance offers the way FCA rules require, loads fast on a phone despite big photo galleries, tells search engines who you are with accurate business schema, and handles sold cars without dead ends. Get those right and the rest is presentation.

UK car buyers do most of their research online before they visit, often on a phone. The dealer websites that win their enquiries are the ones that are quick, clear and trustworthy. They're also the ones least likely to attract an ASA complaint, a CMA letter or an awkward conversation with the FCA. This checklist covers the rules that apply to a dealer site in 2026 and the technical work that makes it perform.

It's a practical guide, not legal or regulatory advice. If you're authorised by the FCA, your compliance adviser or finance provider should sign off your promotions.

The car dealer website checklist at a glance

Finance promotions: FCA rules for dealer websites

If you offer or broker car finance, you need FCA authorisation (usually as a credit broker), and every finance message on your website is a financial promotion. The rules sit in CONC 3.5 of the FCA Handbook.

When you need a representative example

Under CONC 3.5.3R, if a promotion indicates a rate of interest or an amount relating to the cost of credit, it must also include a representative example. That covers more than you might think. A monthly payment that includes interest is a cost of credit figure, so "from £189 a month" on a stock listing triggers the requirement.

There's a narrower trigger too. Under CONC 3.5.7R, a promotion needs at least a representative APR if it suggests credit is available to people who might think their access to credit is restricted ("bad credit? no problem"), makes a favourable comparison, or includes an incentive to apply.

What the representative example must include

CONC 3.5.5R lists the items, where they apply:

1. The rate of interest, and whether it's fixed or variable
2. The nature and amount of any other charge included in the total charge for credit
3. The total amount of credit
4. The representative APR
5. The cash price and any advance payment (deposit), for credit tied to specific goods such as a car
6. The duration of the agreement
7. The total amount payable
8. The amount of each repayment

The example must be clear, concise and prominent, labelled "representative example", with each item given equal prominence, and no less prominence than other cost of credit figures or incentives in the promotion.

Prominence on the page

Prominence is where websites go wrong. In a 2020 supervisory notice against Rix Motor Company, the FCA recorded that a representative example appearing only further down a webpage, below the monthly payment, breached the prominence rule. On a stock page, put the full example next to the monthly figure, not in an accordion or a footer.

Say who you work with

CONC 3.7.3R requires a credit broker's promotions to indicate the extent of its powers, and in particular whether it works exclusively with one or more lenders. Guidance alongside it says to disclose financial arrangements with lenders that could affect your impartiality. A short, visible statement on your finance page and in the site footer is the usual way to do this. Commission disclosure has been under intense scrutiny since the FCA's motor finance redress scheme, so it's worth getting this wording reviewed.

Pricing: all-in prices under the CAP Code and the DMCC Act

What the ASA expects

CAP Code rule 3.18 says quoted prices must include non-optional taxes, duties, fees and charges that apply to all or most buyers. The ASA has applied this to car dealers repeatedly. In a September 2023 ruling against The Diesel Car Company, a listing on a third-party car site showed £15,300, but every buyer had to pay a £199 admin fee on top. The ASA found the ad misleading. The ruling also made clear that dealers remain responsible for their listings on marketplace sites.

What the CMA expects

Since April 2025 the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 has banned drip pricing outright. The CMA's price transparency guidance says the total price, including mandatory charges such as booking or admin fees, must normally appear in the invitation to purchase, and showing them separately won't normally be enough. The CMA can now fine businesses directly, up to 10% of global turnover or £300,000, whichever is higher.

In practice:

• Fold admin, preparation, documentation and "dealer fees" into the advertised price if everyone pays them.
• Genuinely optional extras, such as paint protection or extended warranties, can be shown separately but must be mentioned and never pre-selected.
• If delivery is mandatory for online sales, include it or show it with the same prominence as the price.
• Apply the same price everywhere: your website, AutoTrader-style listings, social posts and windscreen cards.

Vehicle descriptions and photos

Accurate descriptions

Mileage, service history, number of owners, MOT status, condition and spec are factual claims. Get them right, and update the listing if anything changes. Put the key details in real text, not only in images, because search engines and AI assistants can't read a spec table that's a JPEG.

Photos that sell without slowing the page

Each car often has 30 or more photos. Uploaded straight from a phone, a single gallery can weigh more than a whole well-built page.

• Shoot every car with the same set of angles and the same aspect ratio, such as 4:3.
• Resize to around 1600 px wide with an image resizer, then compress in batches with the image compressor, using WebP where your site supports it.
• If staff shoot on iPhones, convert HEIC files with our free HEIC to JPG converter, which doesn't copy location data. That matters when a car was photographed on a customer's driveway.
• Load the first photo straight away and lazy load the rest. Most modern themes support this with the loading="lazy" attribute.

Photos must show the actual car for sale. Stock manufacturer images on a used car listing can mislead about condition and spec.

Schema for car dealers in 2026

What changed

Google introduced vehicle listing structured data in 2023, but it was only ever available in the US. In June 2025 Google announced it was phasing out several rarely used rich result types, including vehicle listings. Schema.org's Car type still exists and other services may use it, but it won't earn a special Google rich result for a UK dealer.

What to mark up instead

Use AutoDealer (or AutoRepair for a garage), both types of LocalBusiness, on your home and contact pages. Include:

• name, address and phone number, matching your Google Business Profile exactly
• opening hours, including separate sales and workshop hours if they differ
• website URL, logo and geo coordinates

Our local business schema guide walks through the properties. Build the markup and check it with the schema markup validator.

Handling sold cars

Car pages are temporary by nature, and handling them badly leaves a trail of 404 errors in search results and old social posts. Two good options:

1. Keep the page live, marked as sold, with links to similar cars. This works for a short period while the listing still gets traffic.
2. Redirect with a single 301 to the closest matching stock, such as the same model or a filtered make page. Don't send everything to the home page, which Google may treat as a soft 404.

Test redirects with the free redirect checker to make sure each one is a single hop, and run a broken link check monthly to catch blog posts and menus still pointing at sold cars. Our guide to 301 vs 302 redirects goes deeper.

Secure forms and reliable email

Finance applications, part-exchange valuations and test drive bookings all collect personal data. Every page needs a valid certificate, which you can confirm with a free SSL check. Then make sure replies reach the customer. If your domain lacks SPF, DKIM and DMARC, quotes and finance follow-ups are more likely to land in spam. Run the free email deliverability checker to see which records are missing.

Local SEO for dealers and garages

Most buyers search locally: "used cars in Swindon", "MOT near me". Create a page for each main service (sales, servicing, MOT, tyres, bodywork), keep your name, address and phone identical everywhere, and ask every customer for a genuine review. Fake reviews and concealed incentivised reviews have been banned under the DMCC Act since April 2025. The UK local SEO guide covers Business Profile optimisation in detail.

For a full list of free tools that fit a dealer or garage website, see our free tools for automotive businesses.

FAQ

What should a car dealer website include?

At minimum: searchable stock with accurate descriptions and all-in prices, compliant finance information with a representative example where needed, clear contact details and opening hours, service pages if you have a workshop, a privacy notice, secure enquiry forms and a page about your business. Fast-loading photos and business schema help it perform in search.

Do I need a representative example on every car listing?

You need one wherever the promotion indicates an interest rate or an amount relating to the cost of credit, which includes monthly payments that contain interest. If a listing shows "from £199 a month", it needs a representative example with equal prominence. A listing showing only the cash price doesn't trigger the requirement.

Do admin fees have to be included in advertised car prices?

Yes, if all or most buyers must pay them. The CAP Code requires quoted prices to include non-optional fees, and the ASA upheld a complaint in 2023 where a dealer's £199 admin fee was left out. The DMCC Act also bans drip pricing, and the CMA can fine businesses directly for it.

Does Google show vehicle listing rich results in the UK?

No. Google's vehicle listing rich result was only available in the US, and Google announced in June 2025 that it was phasing the feature out. UK dealers should focus on AutoDealer or AutoRepair business schema, accurate on-page details and a well-maintained Google Business Profile instead.

What should I do with a car's page after it sells?

Either keep the page live marked as sold with links to similar stock, or redirect it with a single 301 to the closest match, such as the same model. Avoid redirecting every sold car to the home page, and check for internal links still pointing at old listings.

How big should car photos be on a dealer website?

Around 1600 px wide is enough for most listing layouts. Compressed to WebP or a quality-80 JPEG, each image is usually a few hundred kilobytes, which keeps a full gallery manageable on mobile. Keep one aspect ratio for all stock so listings look consistent.