What Car? has launched its  online new car sales portal after partnering with 500 UK-wide dealers to deliver a range of offers to its 2.2 million website users.

The new car buyer marketplace aims to bolster dealer business by delivering more qualified, local and valuable leads to the network of franchised dealers who can upload multiple offers at a time to the website once signed up to the new offering.

Speaking to AM about the service last year What Car? editor Steve Huntingford revealed that dealers were being offered the chance to sign-up to the service for free as is aimed to partner with 500 franchised sites by the end of November.

This week Huntingford officially launched the platform with around 500 dealers on board.

What Car? claims that its offering can save dealers time by removing the need for them to respond to unqualified enquiries.

It also boasts exposure to whatcar.com’s potential audience of nearly 2.2 million unique users a month.

Consumers using the new service can search for new cars by make, category or price range and are then shown a live range of prices offered by dealerships, with the most conveniently located showrooms given top billing.

Once a customer accepts an offer, as well as any extra add-ons the dealer decides to offer as further inducement, their details are passed to the dealership to conclude the sale.

Huntingford said: “Because the leads that this new service produces are What Car? users, we know they are ready to buy. These are more valuable than your average lead and represent additional business for the dealer – not replacement business.

“What’s more, with fixed commercial terms for the dealer and offers committed to when they are uploaded, it’s no longer a ‘race to the bottom’ on price.

“Each dealer controls the offer they are willing to make on a car, which removes the haggling process and makes for an easier, more efficient pathway to making a sale.”