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(ARA) - For over a decade, savvy car shoppers have tapped into vast resources available on the Internet for their research and car buying needs. According to a Jupiter Research report from March 2005, about 65 percent of car buyers in the U.S. start researching online before ever kicking a tire on a car lot.
However, despite those encouraging statistics, many would-be online car shoppers have had a hard time getting the one thing they really want -- a real online price quote for the exact new car they want to buy. In fact, in recent years it can be argued that buying a car online really hasn’t evolved much. Most sites offer the same sticker and invoice pricing information, similar ‘build your car” configuration utilities (that are often far from complete) and then take that information and go about sharing your email address with dealers from here to eternity.
After years of status quo, innovation is finally showing up in the online car buying arena. Some of the most notable new approaches to buying a car online are being brought to the forefront of the marketplace by PriceGrabber.com, a leader in online comparison shopping
PriceGrabber.com is well-known in the online comparison shopping space where the company has excelled in providing online shoppers with a service that shows them bottom-line price quotes from thousands of online merchants on everything from computers to clothing and more. Now PriceGrabber has adapted their comparison shopping expertise and innovation to quickly getting right down to what every new car buyer wants -- competitive price quotes from multiple dealers in their local area; and best of all this service is free to use.
Gigi Andrews bought her Lexus through PriceGrabber Autos and raves about the convenience. “What I liked best about the service was getting the best price without dealing with car salespeople,” says Andrews, who is from El Cajon, Calif. “I'd rather go to the dentist than to haggle with a car salesperson.”
The innovation PriceGrabber is introducing is giving control back to the shopper. When requesting price quotes through PriceGrabber Autos, the customer configures a car with the precise options they want and then is presented with a list of dealerships eligible to be invited to provide them with a price quote. Only dealerships selected by the customer (no limits on how many or few can be invited) get the chance to participate.
“It is painless and hassle free for the customer and the dealer,” says Barry Weiss, Internet manager from Nalley Acura in Marietta, Ga. “I won a PriceGrabber customer today, and he’s taking delivery of a vehicle tomorrow!”
Darren Davis, business director for PriceGrabber Autos says the key to the success of the service is making sure that the dealers are receiving truly interested shoppers who are looking to buy a car now, and that dealers who submit a price quote have that car in stock,and will honor that price, not pull any bait and switch. “If a dealer is provides a level of service that doesn’t meet our standards, we’ll stop working with them and remove them from the service,” he says. . “Everything we build has the customer’s wants and needs in mind first.”
He goes on to say that sometimes the lowest price quoted isn’t always the best deal. “A vehicle with more options at only a slightly higher price may get someone more for their money. We like giving our users the ability to determine which deal they want.”
Another component of the PriceGrabber Autos process that’s earning a lot of attention is its bi-lateral privacy protection. With PriceGrabber, car dealers don’t get to see the name or contact information for a potential customer unless they provide the best price quote for that customer (or the customer directly asks for it to be sent). Likewise, customers only get to see the name of the dealership which provided the best price quote --- unless they request details on a different quote and consent to letting another dealership contact them.
Whether you’re looking to buy a Honda, a Hummer or something in between, PriceGrabber Autos has quickly emerged as the smart, simple place to start your car shopping efforts. Log on to www.pricegrabber.com to get the process started. Courtesy of ARA Content