What is telesafe

Auto Trader is now offering a service - a world first - allowing sellers to substitute their own phone numbers with 'Telesafe' numbers, to prevent unsolicited contact by canvassers.

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Why are these numbers appearing in the advert?

Why does Auto Trader offer the service?

What are the call costs?

I called but couldn't get through to the advertiser

I got a recorded message, what do they mean?

Can I text a Telesafe number?

My number is blocked but I'm not a canvasser. What can I do?

I don't know why I was not connected

Why are these numbers appearing in adverts?

The advertiser has opted for the Auto Trader Telesafe service when placing their advert. Their own telephone numbers have been replaced with Telesafe numbers which will automatically forward your call to them.

Calling a Telesafe number is no different from calling direct except that Auto Trader can filter out calls from known canvassers and provide additional benefits.

Key benefits of Telesafe:

Telesafe means Auto Trader can block calls from known canvassers - Our customers tell us this is their greatest frustration when advertising
Sellers can 'turn off' their number so buyers will be given a message telling them the vehicle is sold. If the advert also appears in Auto Trader magazine, this is particularly useful as potential buyers can continue to view the magazine advert long after the vehicle is sold. Turning off their numbers will stop calls straight away.
It allows sellers to remove adverts from the website simply by dialing their own number and following the options, reducing the amount of adverts for vehicles which have already been sold

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Why does Auto trader offer this service?

Extensive research by Auto Trader has found the number of calls from canvassers as our advertisers' single biggest irritation. Canvassers typically trawl classified magazines and websites to contact sellers to attempt to persuade sellers to advertise with them.

Auto Trader is regularly contacted by customers who have paid money to canvassers on the promise of a number of buyers interested in their car. On many occasions, these buyers fail to materialise. We have introduced this service to prevent unsolicited contact.

These calls, as well as being an annoyance, also prevent genuine buyers from getting in touch. By blocking calls from known canvassers, the customers' number remains free for genuine enquiries.

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What will it cost me?

Telesafe is a not-for-profit service, and we pay for the cost of forwarding calls to sellers. Auto Trader is looking at ways to reduce these costs further.

Any buyers contacting an advertiser via a Telesafe number will be charged at the rates below. These charges are slightly higher than direct calls in order for us to cover the cost of providing the service.

Number range	Day	Evening	Weekend
0872xx	10p	10p	10p
070xx	37.5p	25p	12.5p

NOTE: The costs above are based on calls from a BT landline. Calls from other networks may vary, and calls from mobiles will be higher. All prices are pence per minute.

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I called a Telesafe number but couldn't get through to the advertiser?

As Auto Trader is responsible for forwarding calls from buyers to sellers, we can provide additional benefits over and above call forwarding. We can block canvassing calls and advise callers when vehicles are no longer advertised or have been sold.

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The following messages may be heard when calling a Telesafe number:

Vehicle no longer advertised for sale
This message is played to callers in response to adverts which have expired but only after a 'grace period'. This saves buyers calling lapsed advertisers and the advertiser the bother of receiving calls for vehicles which are no longer advertised for sale.
The grace period allows response to adverts for a period of time after expiry, allowing buyers to continue to contact advertisers who may not yet have renewed their advert.

Vehicle sold
This message is played to callers in response to adverts which have been deleted by the advertiser upon sale of the vehicle.
This ensures that callers don't waste time trying to contact advertisers of vehicles no longer for sale and is of particular use when in response to magazine adverts which are still viewable long after publication.

Call blocked
This message will be played when a call is identified as a known canvasser. We will not allow calls to be made to our advertisers from known canvassers. We constantly update our blacklist in response to information provided by our customers.

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Can I text a Telesafe number?

Unfortunately we are unable to support text messaging to Telesafe numbers

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My number is blocked but I'm not a canvasser. What can I do?

We've designed Telesafe to protect sellers from unwanted calls, unfortunately on occasions some calls may be incorrectly blocked. If you have been blocked from calling an advertiser and believe that this is in error, please let us know by calling our Customer Services team on 0845 345 3450.

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