When you buy junk car leads, the first question isn’t the price. It’s how many other buyers get the same seller.
A shared lead goes to several buyers at once. An exclusive lead goes to you and nobody else. That one difference changes how fast you have to move, what you have to offer, and how many leads turn into cars.
- Shared leads are cheaper per lead and start a race: the fastest call and the highest number usually win.
- Exclusive leads cost more per lead, close more often and let you win on service instead of price.
- Compare them on cost per car, not cost per lead.
- Ask any lead seller how many buyers get each lead, what area you get, and what counts as a lead.
How shared leads work
A seller fills in a form. The lead service sends it to three, five or more buyers in the area. Within minutes, the seller’s phone starts ringing.
What that means for you:
- It’s a race. The first buyer to call has the best chance. If you’re on a tow when the lead arrives, you’re probably too late.
- It’s an auction. The seller hears several numbers and takes the highest, or plays you against each other.
- The seller gets tired. Four calls in ten minutes about a car worth a few hundred dollars is a lot. Some stop answering altogether.
- The price you pay reflects all that. Shared leads are cheaper because each one is worth less to you.
Shared leads can work for a buyer who can answer every lead in seconds and pay at the top of the market. For most yards and tow companies, the close rate is low enough that the cheap price per lead stops looking cheap.
How exclusive leads work
An exclusive lead goes to one buyer. Usually that means the lead service gives you an area, a list of ZIP codes, and every seller in that area comes to you.
What that means for you:
- You have time to do it right. Not all day, since a seller who reaches nobody will start calling around, but enough to call back properly and ask the right questions.
- You can win on service. A clear, fair offer, a pickup tomorrow morning and a friendly voice beat a slightly higher number from a buyer who won’t commit to a time.
- You build a name in your area. The same sellers, their neighbors and their mechanics hear about you.
Exclusive leads cost more per lead because each one is worth more.
The math: cost per car
Here’s the comparison that matters. These are example numbers; put in your own with the lead cost calculator.
| Shared | Exclusive | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per lead | $15 | $30 |
| Leads bought | 100 | 50 |
| Spent | $1,500 | $1,500 |
| Close rate | 10% | 37% |
| Cars bought | 10 | 18 |
| Lead cost per car | $150 | $83 |
Same money, nearly twice the cars. The 37% is what buyers who log their offers and work their leads close on Clunqr Leads, which are exclusive. Your shared-lead close rate will be different; the point is that the cheaper lead only wins if you close it nearly as often.
Calls vs forms
Exclusive or shared is one question. The other is how the seller reaches you.
- A live call is the strongest lead there is. The seller has decided to sell and is on the phone with you right now. Your job is to answer it.
- A form gives you the car’s details up front, which helps you price it, but the seller is waiting for a reply. Reply in minutes, not hours.
- A name and number to call back is the weakest. By the time you call, they may have sold it.
A good lead source gives you both calls and forms, rings calls straight to your phone, and tells you right away when you’ve missed one.
What to ask before you buy
- How many buyers get each lead? If the answer is “it depends”, it’s shared.
- What area do I get, and can anyone else buy leads in it?
- What counts as a lead? Is a missed call billed? Is the same seller calling twice in a week one lead or two?
- What happens with a bad lead? Wrong number, spam, someone outside the area. Can you dispute it?
- How do leads reach me? Live calls to my phone, forms, texts?
- What else comes with it? A text to the seller when I miss a call, follow-up on my offers, a way to track what happened?
- Is there a monthly fee or a contract?
How Clunqr Leads does it
Clunqr Leads is exclusive. Your area is a list of ZIP codes around your yard, and a seller in those ZIPs goes to you and nobody else. It stays yours as long as you’re active.
- Sellers call you live, rung straight through to your phone, or ask for an offer online with the car’s details.
- Every new caller is a lead, answered or not. We text the seller the moment you miss a call, and it goes to the top of your Call back list.
- The same seller within 15 days is one lead, not two.
- A bad lead can be disputed from the lead page. An approved dispute puts it back on your balance.
- It’s $30 a lead in packs, with no monthly fee.
See pricing or read how it works.
Clunqr Leads sends junk car sellers in your area to you and nobody else, $30 a lead, with an app that texts sellers, follows up on your offers and puts missed calls first. See how it works or apply for your area.
