Tesla Market Tracker & Sold Vehicles Analyzer

Auto Trader Tesla Market Tracking & Sold Vehicle Analysis Tool

I am looking for an experienced developer to build a web-based vehicle market tracking system focused initially on **used Tesla vehicles advertised on Auto Trader UK**.

## Project Objective

The system needs to regularly collect Tesla adverts from Auto Trader UK and build a historical database.

The main objective is to understand:

* How long individual Tesla vehicles remain advertised
* When vehicles disappear from Auto Trader
* Their original and final advertised prices
* Any price changes during the advertising period
* Which Tesla models/specifications/price ranges appear to sell fastest

The system should NOT simply show current Auto Trader listings. The important part of this project is building and retaining **historical data over time**.

## Data Required

For each vehicle, I would ideally like to capture:

* Main vehicle image / thumbnail
* Auto Trader advert ID
* Advert URL
* Tesla model
* Derivative/version
* Registration/year
* Mileage
* Price
* Colour
* Key specification where available
* Dealer name
* Dealer location
* Date/time first detected
* Date/time last detected
* Current status
* Price history

If registration numbers are available, these should also be captured.

## Vehicle Images

This is important.

I want the dashboard to display the **actual main photograph from the Auto Trader advert** alongside the vehicle information.

Please explain how you propose to handle vehicle images, including what happens to the image after an advert has been removed.

## Tracking

The system should periodically recheck the market.

For example:

**22 September**
2022 Tesla Model Y Long Range
£24,995
31,000 miles

**25 September**
£24,495

**30 September**
Advert no longer found.

The database would therefore show:

First detected: 22/09/2026
Last detected: 29/09/2026
Observed advertising period: 8 days
Starting price: £24,995
Last advertised price: £24,495
Price reduction: £500
Status: No longer advertised

There should ideally be a configurable period before a missing advert is considered **Sold/Removed**, as vehicles may temporarily disappear.

Please note that disappearance from Auto Trader does not necessarily prove that a vehicle was sold, so the system should distinguish between confirmed information and an inferred **"Sold/Removed" or "Likely Sold"** status.

## Relisted Vehicles

An important part of the project is attempting to recognise vehicles that have simply been **removed and relisted under a new advert**.

Where possible, this could use identifiers such as registration, vehicle details, dealer, mileage and/or image matching.

I do not want the system incorrectly recording a relisted vehicle as a sale and then treating the new advert as a completely different vehicle where this can reasonably be detected.

## Dashboard

I would like a clean web dashboard.

It should allow me to view current and historical vehicles with their photographs and filter/search by things such as:

* Model
* Derivative
* Year
* Mileage
* Price
* Colour
* Dealer
* Location
* Live vehicles
* Removed vehicles
* Observed days advertised

I'd also like market statistics such as:

**Tesla Model Y Long Range – 2022**

Vehicles tracked: 450
No longer advertised: 210
Median observed advertising time: 16 days

£20,000–£22,000: 9 days
£22,000–£24,000: 14 days
£24,000–£26,000: 25 days

The aim is eventually to understand which combinations of **model, age, mileage, specification and price move through the market fastest.**

## Data Ownership

The historical database is extremely important.

The system must retain previously collected information even after vehicles disappear from Auto Trader.

I need full ownership/access to the database and source code.

The database should also be capable of being exported to CSV/Excel for further analysis.

## Reliability

Auto Trader may change its website structure and may employ anti-automation measures.

I am therefore particularly interested in developers who have previous experience with:

* Large-scale web data collection
* Browser automation
* Playwright/Puppeteer/Selenium
* Proxy/rate-limit management
* Vehicle marketplaces
* Detecting website changes
* Historical price tracking
* Relisting/entity matching

The proposed implementation must comply with applicable laws and third-party platform terms. Please explain any access, permission or technical limitations you identify rather than assuming unrestricted scraping is acceptable.

## Future Development

This is intended to become a larger vehicle buying intelligence system.

A future phase may connect this historical retail data to vehicle auction data so that an auction vehicle can be compared against similar vehicles and their historical market performance.

For example:

2022 Tesla Model Y Long Range
Auction cost: £19,500
Comparable retail price: £23,995
Current competing vehicles: 18
Median observed advertising period: 12 days

That functionality is **not required for the initial version**, but the database/system architecture should make future integration possible.

## Initial Scope

For the first version, I would prefer to concentrate exclusively on:

**Tesla Model 3 and Tesla Model Y vehicles advertised on Auto Trader UK.**

Once this works reliably, it can potentially be expanded to additional manufacturers.

## When Applying

Please do not send a generic proposal.

Please explain:

1. How you would collect and update the Auto Trader vehicle data.
2. How you would uniquely identify vehicles between scans.
3. How you would detect removed vehicles.
4. How you would identify vehicles that have been relisted.
5. How you would capture and retain the main vehicle photograph.
6. What database/technology stack you recommend.
7. How frequently you recommend scanning.
8. How you would deal with changes to Auto Trader's website or blocking/anti-automation measures.
9. Any platform terms, access or technical limitations relevant to your proposed approach.
10. Examples of similar scraping/data-tracking systems you have previously built.

Please include an estimated **development time and total cost** for the initial working version.