CarGurus has extended its 50% discount on car dealer marketing subscriptions into May as the COVID-19 coronavirus lockdown continues.

And DMS firm Reynolds and Reynolds has ramped up its support for customers, waiving fees for its DMS and Contact Advantage showroom system and helping dealer staff to work from home.

Its Power DMS customers have been granted free licences to use the system at their homes.

Adele Feeney, managing director for UK Automotive at Reynolds and Reynolds, said: “We count all of our customers as part of the Reynolds family.  We have been quick to recognise how COVID-19 will impact every business, with dealerships amongst those especially hard hit.

"Although we have done this, all software and services remain active, and our usual friendly support team are all ready to assist through their remote working environments.  Our customers recognise us as a true business partner and we wanted to lead the way in how a business partner should act in these times.”

CarGurus, the online classified advertising portal initially cut-back on its fees for April in an announcement reported by AM ten days ago, but has now revealed that the discount will continue as the business does “everything it can” to support retailers.

The halving of subscription fees is applicable throughout May for subscribing dealers on both CarGurus’ UK and PistonHeads platforms, it said.

Wendy Harris, vice-president of European sales for CarGurus, said: “At CarGurus, we are doing everything we can to support our dealers and enable them to continue to connect with buyers and build a pipeline for brighter days ahead.

“This is a challenging business climate, but we are going to keep pushing to provide the best ROI for our dealers so they can manage through this period and be ready for recovery. We are all in this together.”

CarGurus said that it has continued to invest in driving traffic to both CarGurus.co.uk and PistonHeads.com to support the many buyers who are researching online and thinking about their next purchase.

The company is also making improvements to the user experience on the site to support buyers and dealers during this time when visits to forecourts are limited.