A new Inverness-based tech start-up is taking on one of the biggest names in the UK motor trade, and it is doing it in true Highland fashion.
MotorAds is being built by a small team in Inverness who are fed up with the monopoly held by AutoTrader and the stranglehold it has on independent dealers.
For years, car dealers across the country have been trapped paying thousands each month to advertise their own stock, facing steep annual price hikes and restrictive contracts that keep them locked in.
The founders of MotorAds believe that is not just bad business it is wrong.
Their mission is simple: build a fair, transparent platform where dealers can list cars without being exploited.
As the team behind the project put it, this is about “putting control back in the hands of dealers.”
MotorAds promises to cut dealer costs by as much as 80 to 90 percent compared to traditional advertising platforms, offering short three-month subscriptions instead of long lock-ins and connecting sellers directly to genuine buyers.
The system has been designed from the ground up for the people who actually sell cars, with clean dashboards, easy bulk uploads, and proper customer support from real people, not chatbots.
The tone is refreshingly direct.
No corporate fluff, no spin.
Just a new approach that treats dealers as partners, not as customers to be squeezed.
“Dealers are paying too much and getting too little,” says one of the statements on the MotorAds site, summing up a feeling shared by many in the industry.
That frustration has fuelled a grassroots movement of dealers backing the platform through a new crowdfunding campaign, helping to take on what some see as one of the most powerful monopolies in online motoring.
As one dealer put it: “The cost of AutoTrader is ridiculous, the best thing I ever did for my business was to leave it.”
MotorAds is already gathering national interest, positioning itself as the fair alternative, built by dealers, for dealers and it is being proudly developed in the Highlands.
This is not just another start-up chasing headlines.
It is a small Highland firm standing up to the giants, proving that innovation does not have to come from London boardrooms or Silicon Valley venture funds.
Sometimes it starts in Inverness, with people who have had enough, who see a better way, and who decide to build it themselves.
A David and Goliath story for the digital age, driven by fairness, fuelled by determination, and built in the heart of the Highlands.
Now, the team behind MotorAds are inviting the public to help make that vision a reality.
Their crowdfunding campaign is live, giving supporters the chance to back a revolution in how cars are sold across the UK.
To be part of it and help take on the giants of the motor trade click HERE
