Used-Car Buyers Take to Internet Highway
One of four people shopping for a used car went to the Internet for help, according to a J.D. Power and Associates study released Monday.
The nearly 10,000 used-car buyers polled by the Agoura Hills firm said they most frequently visited the Kelley Blue Book Web site to find pricing and other general information; they also hit the sites of Consumer Reports, Autobytel.com, Edmund’s Online and Microsoft Corp.’s CarPoint.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. Aug. 4, 1999 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday August 4, 1999 Orange County Edition Business Part C Page 4 Financial Desk 1 inches; 25 words Type of Material: Correction
Auto Internet--Christopher Denove is the director of consulting operations for J.D. Power and Associates in Thousand Oaks. He was misidentified in Tuesday’s Business section.
Half the respondents searched online classified sites to look for cars, the study said. For them, Irvine-based Autobytel.com was the most popular destination, followed by Auto Trader Online, CarPoint, Autoweb.com and Cars.com.
“The Web is an amazing tool for a diverse group of buyers to connect with a diverse group of sellers,” said Christopher Denove, Autobytel.com’s director of consulting operations.
While the future of vehicle classifieds may be online, that’s not the case at present, Denove said. Internet ads are cluttered with old or invalid listings, frustrating potential used car buyers.
“It’s analogous to the person who places a poster for a lost dog on every street corner, and after they find the dog, they don’t go back and clean up the posters,” Denove said. “Online classifieds for vehicles has a long way to go before it fulfills its promise.”
