The Client
WeBuyCars.com is a national cash-for-cars buyer headquartered in New York; we run their Google Ads, which have produced 2,553 real seller leads since December 2023. They buy cars, trucks and SUVs directly from owners for cash, including junk, damaged and financed vehicles, with in-person service in states including Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia and Texas and a strong focus on New York, New Jersey and Long Island.
We have managed the account since June 2021. In December 2023 we rebuilt its conversion tracking so that every real call and form is counted.
22 seller leads in December 2023. 164 in October 2024. 2,553 since.
The Challenge
Buying cars from the public is a crowded, national fight:
- Giant competitors. National instant-offer brands spend heavily on every "sell my car" and "cash for cars" search.
- Curiosity clicks. Many searches come from people checking a value, not ready to sell.
- Brand-name confusion. "We buy cars" is also a generic phrase and the name of other buyers, so brand and generic searches overlap.
- Measurement. Without clean tracking of calls and forms, bidding optimizes toward clicks instead of sellers.
What We Built
1. A Target-CPA Search Engine
The core is a Search campaign bidding to a target cost per lead, built around "sell my car," "cash for cars" and "we buy cars" searches, with layered keyword targeting and a dynamic ad group for long-tail searches.
2. Performance Max
In January 2024 we added a Performance Max campaign beside Search. In the next ten months, monthly leads grew from 66 to 164, and Performance Max became the account's biggest source of traffic.
3. Tracking Rebuilt Around Real Sellers
Calls from the website and form submissions are the conversions. Phone-number taps are tracked separately and not counted, so bidding learns from real sellers.
4. Constant A/B Testing
Exact-match, conversion-focused and AI-assisted versions of the main Search campaign run as controlled experiments. Call-only campaigns were tested and paused when they produced no leads.
5. Daily Optimization via Ad Campaign Concierge™
Every campaign is reviewed daily through our proprietary Ad Campaign Concierge™ system: search-term mining against valuation lookups and job searches, bid and budget adjustments, and budget moved to the states and searches producing sellers.
The Results
- Seller leads a month: 22 in December 2023, 66 in January 2024 and 164 in October 2024
- First six months: 67 leads a month on average. July to November 2024: 131 a month, almost double
- 2024: 1,138 real seller leads
- 2,553 calls and forms since December 2023, at about $74 per lead
Sellers split almost evenly between calling and filling out a form: 1,270 calls and 1,283 form submissions.
What Improved
| Metric | Earlier | Later | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seller leads a month | 67 (first 6 months, Dec 2023 to May 2024) | 131 (Jul to Nov 2024) | almost 2x |
| Clicks a year | 3,836 (2022) | 19,507 (2025) | 5.1x |
| Cost per click | $10.31 (2022) | $4.21 (2025) | 59% lower |
| Click-through rate | 2.5% (2025) | 5.8% (2026, Jan to Sep) | 2.3x |
| Clicks that became a seller lead | 5.0% (2025) | 13.7% (2026, Jan to Sep) | 2.7x |
Traffic grew first: by 2025 the account was buying five times the clicks of 2022 at less than half the price per click. In 2026 we tightened it: fewer, better clicks, with the click-through rate up from 2.5% to 5.8% and almost three times as many clicks turning into a seller call or form.
Key Takeaways
- Count sellers, not clicks. Rebuilding tracking around real calls and forms gave bidding the right target, and monthly leads went from 22 to 164 in eleven months.
- Google Ads for car buying companies needs both Search and Performance Max. Search holds the core "sell my car" demand; Performance Max widened reach and multiplied traffic.
- Test and cut. Call-only campaigns looked promising and produced nothing, so they were paused.
- Cover both paths. Half of sellers call and half fill out a form, so both have to be tracked and optimized.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a car buying company spend on Google Ads?
WeBuyCars.com has spent between about $1,100 and $9,000 a month since December 2023, $187,652 in total, for 2,553 real seller leads, about $74 per lead.
How fast can Google Ads grow seller leads for a car buyer?
After we rebuilt tracking in December 2023, the account produced 22 seller leads that month, 66 in January 2024 and 164 in October 2024. The first six months averaged 67 leads a month; July to November 2024 averaged 131.
Do car sellers call or fill out a form?
Almost evenly. Since December 2023 the account has produced 1,270 calls from the website and 1,283 form submissions.
Does Performance Max work for a car buying company?
We launched Performance Max next to the main Search campaign in January 2024. Over the next ten months monthly leads grew from 66 to 164, the account's best month, and yearly clicks went from 2,359 in 2023 to 10,232 in 2024.
About This Campaign
This account is managed daily through Ad Campaign Concierge™, our proprietary optimization system for lead generation.
Industry: Automotive: Vehicle Buying Platforms: Google Ads (Search, Performance Max) Location: USA (nationwide, HQ New York) Account Duration: June 2021 to present (ongoing)
Leads are calls from the website and form submissions as tracked in Google Ads since December 2023, when conversion tracking was rebuilt. Where two form tags fired in the same month, only the higher count is used. Phone-number taps are excluded. Clicks and cost per click cover the whole account. Amounts in US dollars.