HOW TO GUIDE
Managing your inventory inside the
Cars Commerce Hub
DealerDash is a section within Cars Commerce Hub where you can manually manage your Cars.com inventory. You can make updates to price, add, and remove live listings — all without needing to wait on your feed to update overnight. In response to the CDK Global Inc cybersecurity incident and subsequent industry disruptions, we have recently added functionality to allow for manual inventory additions to Cars.com.
How to upload your Cars.com inventory
If you have a single listing you’d like to push live to Cars.com and prefer not to wait until your feed refreshes, you can manually add your new listing using the DealerDash’s Inventory Management page.
1 Login to the Cars Commerce Hub. If you don’t have login credentials, email your Cars.com representative or support@cars.com to receive them.
2 Navigate to the DealerDash section of the Cars Commerce Hub. You’ll see it listed as one of your tiles on your home screen.
3 Inside DealerDash, click on the “Inventory” tab. Here you’ll see all of your inventory that’s live on Cars.com.
4 Click the purple “Add Vehicle” button in the top right corner of your listings report. If you do not see this button and do not have a feed source connected, please contact support@cars.com.
5 Next, you’ll see a form with all available fields for a vehicle listing. Fill out the details of the vehicle you’d like to add, and note that stock number, VIN number, price, mileage, year/make/model are required to submit. You may see that some details automatically populate when you add the VIN, but be sure to double check for accuracy. For the best performance, be sure to fill out as much information as possible and upload photos.
6 Upload images of your vehicle.
- The image in the URL can be a .png, .jpg, or .jpeg file
- Each image can be no larger than 8MB
- The maximum number of images is 32
- Depending on the size and volume of images, it may take some time to upload.
7 Double check your inputs, especially price.
8 When you’re ready, click “save” to upload inventory to Cars.com. Listings will take between ten minutes and an hour to process and post on Cars.com and be available to edit via Inventory Management with DealerDash.
How to edit and remove live listings
If you have a listing that’s live on Cars.com and you need to update it or remove it, you can also use the DealerDash to make those adjustments before your feed refreshes.
1Using the search filters on the “Inventory” tab, find the listing to be edited or updated.
2 Once you’ve found the listing, click the three dot icon under the “Actions” column. Choose “Edit” to update price or merchandising details, or “Remove” to delete the listing from Cars.com.
3 Alternatively you can select “Remove” to delete your listing from Cars.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
General
I don’t have a login for Cars Commerce Hub. How do I get one?
You can email your Cars Commerce representative or support@cars.com to get access to our full Cars Commerce Hub suite, including the Cars.com DealerDash tool.
What if I make a mistake when entering a VIN?
Once posted, your listing is available for real time edits in the inventory tab.
How long will it take for my inventory to display on Cars.com?
Your listings will typically be posted within 10 minutes but no longer than one hour from submission.
What fields are required?
Stock number, VIN number, price, mileage, year/ make/ model are required. However, we recommend providing as much information as possible for maximum visibility, as more complete listings will be prioritized by our Best Match algorithm.
Once my feed is restored, will my listings default to the feed information or the manual updates?
Once an automated feed is re-established, your inventory feed will become the default and override previous manual updates made in the DealerDash.
How is this affected by the Best Match Algorithm?
This listing is subject to the Best Match algorithm just like any other listing. Best practices for merchandising apply, such as including photos and seller’s notes. The more information you fill out on the form, the better.
Can dealers upload photos on mobile through DealerDash?
Yes. Dealers can access DealerDash on a mobile web browser. With Dealer Manual they will be able to upload an image from their phone to add a vehicle listing.
Is a bulk update functionality available?
Not at this time, but we are currently working through possibilities and more efficient solutions.
I’m having issues or experiencing bugs. Where can I report an issue?
If you are experiencing issues, you can contact support@cars.com or call us at 1 (888) 252-7731.