Last updated: October 1, 2026 · Will Cousin, VinScroll
What radius should a dealer target with ads?
No single radius fits every store. Set it around how far your buyers will drive to buy a car, which is usually a shorter distance in a metro with competing rooftops and a longer one in a rural market. Start from the home addresses in your own sales records, then check where the ad spend lands each month.
Why does the radius matter for dealer ads?
A view only helps if the shopper could come to the store. Ryan Everson, a dealer on DealerRefresh, put it this way in April 2022: "What good is a TikTok view from some kid halfway across the country?" Reach outside your market still costs money and still counts in the report, but it rarely turns into a test drive. A radius that is too tight has its own cost, since you run out of in-market shoppers and show the same people the same ads.
How far will my buyers drive?
Your sales records answer this better than any rule of thumb. Pull the home ZIP codes of the last 6 to 12 months of buyers from your dealer management system (DMS) and see what distance covers most of them. Think in drive time as much as miles, because 20 miles across a metro at rush hour can take longer than 40 miles of highway. Units differ too. A rare truck or a well-priced used unit can pull buyers from farther away than a commuter sedan that three other stores also have.
How do metro and rural stores differ?
The same lot size can call for very different settings depending on where the store sits.
| Metro store | Rural store | |
|---|---|---|
| Competing rooftops | Several same-brand stores within a short drive | Often the only store of its brand for a long way |
| Where buyers come from | Mostly nearby, since farther buyers have closer options | Spread across several counties |
| Usual direction | A tighter radius, or several smaller ones | A wider radius around the store |
| What to watch | Frequency climbing fast in a small area | Spend drifting into towns your buyers never come from |
How do I set a radius in Meta Ads Manager?
Location sits in the audience settings of each ad set. Type in your store's address or drop a pin, then set the distance in miles. You can add more locations and exclude areas. Depending on the account, you may also be able to choose between people who live in the area and people recently there. One limit applies if your ads promote financing. Meta's special ad category for financial products and services requires location targeting to cover at least a 15-mile radius in the US, and it doesn't allow ZIP code targeting. If you aren't sure whether a payment callout puts your ads in that category, check Meta's ad policies before launch.
source (checked September 30, 2026)
How do I know if my radius is wrong?
Check a full month of results. In Ads Manager, the breakdown menu can split delivery by region or by DMA (designated market area), so you can see roughly where the spend went. If frequency keeps rising while link clicks stay flat, the area may be too small. For where shoppers came from at the town level, open the city report in your website analytics, such as Google Analytics 4 (GA4), filtered to traffic from your ads. If many vehicle detail page (VDP) visits come from cities that never show up in your sales records, the radius may be too wide. Check again every quarter and adjust a few miles at a time.
Related
Common questions
Should every store in a dealer group use the same radius?
Usually not. A store in the middle of a metro and a store in a farm town sell to different drive times. Set each rooftop's radius from its own buyer ZIP codes.
Can I target ZIP codes instead of a radius?
For most ads, yes. Meta lets you add ZIP codes as locations. Ads in the financial products and services category can't target by ZIP code, so financing ads need a radius of at least 15 miles.
Can I see the radius on VinScroll ads?
Yes. VinScroll ads target in-market shoppers within your store's radius and run in your own Meta ad account, so you can open any ad set and see the location settings yourself.
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