AutoTrader.com, the ultimate automotive marketplace, ranks highest in satisfying dealers with new-vehicle leads for the second year in a row, according to results from the 2008 J.D. Power and Associates Dealer Satisfaction with Online Buying Services Study released Tuesday. The company scored 637 points on a 1,000-point scale in the study, higher than any other online automotive new-vehicle lead service and nine points higher than last year, when AutoTrader.com also scored highest in this category.
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"For many years, AutoTrader.com has been known as the No. 1 place for people to buy and sell used cars," said AutoTrader.com CEO Chip Perry. "For 2008, we focused our efforts on letting the public know that AutoTrader.com is the best place to buy and sell new cars as well. We built new functionality on our site to make new car shopping easy and launched a national marketing campaign that specifically highlighted our new car offerings to get the word out."
Major site enhancements launched in 2008 that helped improve the new-car shopping experience on AutoTrader.com included:
-- Enhanced "Research and Compare" functionality. Brand new features include consumer generated car reviews, 360-degree interior and exterior spin views, new car photos with color-change capability and additional content and articles about specific car makes and models. AutoTrader.com also gives car buyers the opportunity to search for and view both new and used cars vs. splitting searches into just "new" or "used" categories.
-- Lifestyle Central "interest centers." These five interest centers allow car buyers to learn more about specific car segments and to search for new, used and certified pre-owned cars in these specific categories. The five lifestyle centers are: "Going Green," which focuses on high gas mileage, hybrid and alternative fuel automobiles; "Family Focus" aimed at buyers looking for large automobiles to meet family transportation needs; "Trend Watch," for customers searching for cars with the very latest in design and options; "Work & Play," that focuses on SUV's and recreational vehicles; and "Smart Saver," aimed at people looking for the best deal possible, including new car specials.
-- Redesigned search results page. These redesigned pages, which compile the cars a buyer has searched for, now feature larger thumbnail photos and more comprehensive listing information and functionality.
-- More car videos every day. Currently, AutoTrader.com has video overviews posted for 200 car makes and models, with new videos posting every day.
According to the study, AutoTrader.com ranks highest in three of four satisfaction factors which comprise the index. The company receives the new-vehicle lead industry's highest scores in Business Generation, Dealer Support / Service and Transmission of Leads. Dealers answering the survey estimate that 60% of their ATC leads arrive offline, with 34% being phone calls and 26% being walk-ins.
"The Dealer Satisfaction with Online Buying Services Study clearly demonstrates AutoTrader.com's leadership and second-to-none commitment to facilitate new-vehicle sales, while delivering a superior advertising value, for our dealership customers," said Perry. "As the ultimate automotive marketplace, it's our pledge to continue to connect our dealer customers with the most in-market vehicle shoppers across the country while providing industry-leading customer service and support to help our dealer customers not only achieve, but exceed their sales objectives."
About AutoTrader.com
AutoTrader.com, created in 1997 and headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., is the Internet's leading auto classifieds marketplace and consumer information website. AutoTrader.com aggregates in a single location about 4 million new, used and certified pre-owned vehicle listings from 40,000 dealers and 250,000 private owners and the site attracts about 14 million unique monthly visitors. Through innovative merchandising functionality such as multiple photos, videos, detailed descriptions and comprehensive research and compare tools, AutoTrader.com unites new and used car buyers and sellers online to improving the way people research, locate and advertise vehicles. AutoTrader.com is a majority-owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises. The venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is also an investor. For more information, please visit http://www.autotrader.com/ .
About J.D. Power and Associates
Headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., J.D. Power and Associates is a global marketing information services company operating in key business sectors including market research, forecasting, performance improvement, training and customer satisfaction. The company's quality and satisfaction measurements are based on responses from millions of consumers annually. For more information on car reviews and ratings, car insurance, health insurance, cell phones and more, please visit http://www.jdpower.com/ . J.D. Power and Associates is a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies.
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SOURCE: AutoTrader.com
CONTACT: Mark Scott, +1-404-568-7905, +1-404-435-2047 (Cell),
mark.scott@autotrader.com
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