Steadplan. Stock back in sync. Website care & AutoTrader.

Steadplan sell, lease, convert and service vans and trucks across the north of England. Buyers browse the stock online long before they pick up the phone, so the website has to show exactly what's in the yard. The sales team manage that stock on AutoTrader, and the website pulls its listings from there.

I didn't design or build the Steadplan website - another agency did. I took it over in September 2026 and now look after it: fixing what's broken, keeping it current and making the changes the team ask for.

The website hadn't pulled stock from AutoTrader since 2 July. AutoTrader had 40 vans live; the website was showing 30. Ten vans were invisible to anyone browsing the site, and some of the ones still showing had probably sold.

The cause took some digging. The old connection only ran a full update when someone remembered to press a button in the website admin, and that button said everything was up to date whether it had worked or not. AutoTrader eventually switched the connection off for inactivity, and nothing on the site showed anything was wrong.

AutoTrader had deleted the old connection, so there was no quick fix. I set up a brand-new integration with North Bear Media as the technical partner: applied to AutoTrader, built and tested it in their test environment, passed their go-live checks and agreed the licence - making sure it added no new fees to Steadplan's AutoTrader account.

It went live on 1 October 2026. The website pulled across the full stock list and now updates itself whenever the team change anything on AutoTrader. Sold vans have come off, the missing ones are on and the photos are back, with no button to remember.

• The finance commission disclosure Steadplan need because they offer finance, added word for word to the small print on every page, alongside their registered office, VAT, company, FCA and ICO details.
• Fleet Sales refreshed with new truck photos and a “Recent fleet deliveries” gallery the team can keep adding to.
• Conversions refocused on the everyday upgrades they fit most - wheels, side bars, lights and roof racks - plus a 41-photo conversion archive.
• Sponsorships updated with the current list and logos.
• An old staging copy of the site taken off the web, so it stopped competing with the real one in Google.
• The contact form tested end to end, the Instagram link fixed and TikTok added to the footer.

The site is live at steadplan.co.uk. The vans on the stock pages come straight from AutoTrader, and they now keep themselves up to date.