E-Commerce Times Talkback

Re: Honk if You're a Confused Online Car Buyer
Posted by: ECT News 2001-05-04 11:30:27

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News flash: Online car buyers confused.

Wait a minute, you say. Is that news? Car buying is
for many consumers the most dreaded, anxiety-provoking
consumer experience. Well, the fact that online car buying
has followed the lead of its real-world
counterpart is news -- and bad news at
that -- for e-commerce.

Re: Honk if You're a Confused Online Car Buyer
Posted by: C Nash 2001-05-04 14:54:22 In reply to: ECT News

Although the online car buying experience is a little confusing at times, I've found great results from Edmunds.com with their True Market Value numbers as well as listing invoice and suggested MSRP prices. All three prices allow the consumer to understand how low dealers can go and when you're getting ripped off. After using these numbers, I was able to buy a 2001.5 VW Passat for $300 under actual invoice (though the mistake was the dealer's for quoting me 2001 invoice instead of 2001.5, as the selling price). I've visited the other numerous car sites and wouldn't recommend them to anyone. Edmunds.com certainly has them beat.

Re: Honk if You're a Confused Online Car Buyer
Posted by: Josh Williams 2001-05-04 11:37:08 In reply to: ECT News

The confusion most people experience from on-line car buying is directly attributable to the business model most of the sites employ. Virtually all of them take some revenue from the dealerships they use. If the dealerships profit from confusing the consumer, then it follows that a virtual extension of the dealership on the 'Net is going to profit from that same confusion.

There are only a handful of car buying/info sites that don't have any affiliation with dealerships.

The most confusion-free sites are:

http://www.carbuyingtips.com
http://www.carsos.com [which is about the only car buying site that doesn't take money from dealerships]
http://www.clarkhoward.com [an overall consumer awareness site that has a great "Cars" section]

Just my $0.02

Re: Honk if You're a Confused Online Car Buyer
Posted by: Greene 2001-05-04 18:17:24 In reply to: Josh Williams

Also, if you're leasing a car, leasecompare.com is an excellent gauge of the rates you should be getting, so you can enter the process prepared no matter where you choose to lease.

Re: Honk if You're a Confused Online Car Buyer
Posted by: David Jackson 2001-05-04 16:33:42 In reply to: Josh Williams

Please, forgive me if you don't get a better price purchasing an automobile over the Internet. Car dealerships and salesmanagers have been negotiating with purchasers for decades through their salesmen on the sales floor. I've been there.

The Internet creates a more informed potential purchaser, however it does not change the desire for gross margin on the part of the dealerships. Messing up the price, not getting back to well-informed Internet purchasers, trying to get them into the dealership to increase negotiating advantage are all part of the sales process.

The Internet is just one more obstacle a dealer faces in maximizing gross obtained from the purchaser. And this is not likely to change until the dealers themselves are replaced - concurrent with radical change in the reward system used to motivate sales managers and salesmen.

Sorry!