Calculator

Where does your budget leak?

Most dealers are not underspending. They are flying blind at full speed. Over 25% of many dealer marketing budgets goes to vendor fees and markup, before you count vendors bidding against each other and cancelled tools still on the site. Enter three numbers for an estimate.

Last updated October 12, 2026

Estimate

How much of your budget never reaches a shopper?

Three inputs. Every output is an estimate built on example ranges.

Monthly marketing budget

Media plus every vendor invoice. The deck example is $28,000.

Marketing vendors you pay 4

Of those, running paid search 3

Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 and third-party listings all count.

$9,000–$12,000+Estimated monthly leak, inside the budget you already have32% to 43% of budget, or more

Where it leaks. Estimates on example ranges.
Line	How we estimate it	Monthly
Vendor fees and markup	More than 25% of the budget	$7,000+
Overlapping paid search	3 vendors bidding the same keyword	$1,500–$3,000
Orphaned tags and tools	Cancelled vendors still on the site	$500–$2,000

Estimates only. Fees use 25% of the budget as a floor. Many dealer budgets run higher. Overlap uses $750 to $1,500 for each extra vendor on the same keyword. Orphaned tools use $500 to $2,000 once you have more than one vendor. Unworked leads and missed AI answers are not in this number. Run the lead pile and the audit for those.

We rerun this with your real numbers before we quote anything.

Request a demo

Same budget, better placed

What does a reallocated budget look like?

An example only. Most of the lift comes from fees and overlap, not from more spend.

Example reallocation on a $28,000 monthly budget
Channel	Today	Recommended	Change
Paid search and VLA	$9,000	$7,500	−$1,500
Paid social	$2,500	$4,000	+$1,500
SEO and AI visibility	$1,500	$3,500	+$2,000
OTT and video	$0	$2,500	+$2,500
Traditional media	$8,000	$6,000	−$2,000
Vendor fees and tools	$5,000	$2,500	−$2,500
Fixed ops marketing	$2,000	$2,000	Even
Total	$28,000	$28,000	Even

Example only. We build this from your actual invoices, platform spend and vendor contracts.

None of this requires a bigger budget. It requires a different one.

Next step

We rerun this with your real numbers.

Share your vendor invoices and platform spend. We show you where the money leaks and build a same-budget plan before you commit to anything.

FAQ

Questions about the leak

Where does the over 25% fee figure come from?

It is what we see in many dealer marketing budgets once every vendor invoice is itemized, and many run higher. The calculator uses 25% as the floor. The only way to know is to ask every vendor for the itemized invoice.

What is overlapping paid search?

Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 and third-party listings bidding on the same keyword for the same shopper. You pay several times for one customer. On example math, three vendors on one keyword runs $1,500 to $3,000 a month.

What are orphaned tags and tools?

Code from cancelled vendors that is still loading on the site, still slowing it down and sometimes still billing. Pull your site tag list and your accounts payable list. Put them side by side.

Is this a quote?

No. Every output is an estimate. We rerun it with your actual invoices, platform spend and vendor contracts before we quote anything.