Edmunds.com Is Taking the Test-Drive to the People

Thinking of buying your next car online? Pundits of the Internet would have you believe it is an effortless point-and-click transaction, no different from ordering the latest high-tech scooter for the kid.

But a car is one of the most expensive purchases consumers make and buying one electronically, sans test-drive and comparison shopping, is an experience relatively few are willing to try.

So while an impressive 54% of new-car buyers now use the Internet for research, only 4.7% actually do the deal online, according to Agoura Hills marketing specialist J.D. Power & Associates. While that’s a big jump from 2.7% last year, it still leaves a huge gap between online lookers and doers.

Santa Monica-based Edmunds.com, one of the scores of automotive informational Web sites available to consumers these days, thinks it has a solution that can both set it apart from the e-competition and boost the number of Internet sales: the no-pressure comparison test-drive.

In its pilot outing last summer and fall, Edmunds hosted a six-city, cross-country extravaganza called EdmundsLive that brought cars and customers together and provided serious shoppers with real-world exposure to the vehicles they thought they wanted.

The tour stopped in Inglewood for four days in September and spread six twisting test tracks across the parking lot of Hollywood Park. Fifty models were available for unlimited track time to anyone 18 years or older willing to pay the $15 cover fee. And all without a salesman in sight.

“This is really the first event of its kind that is not conducted by the manufacturer,” said Britt Johansson, director of consumer events for Edmunds.com.

Participants seemed to like the idea.

“It’s like they want you to test the limits of the cars,” said Philip Mayer of West Los Angeles as he stood with his son, Michael, waiting to slide behind the wheel of a bright-yellow Lexus IS 300.

“This event is great because these are the exact cars I’m looking to buy,” the younger Mayer said. He was disappointed by the absence of a 2001 Mercedes Benz C class, but realized that the new model had not been released in time for the event.

SUV shopper Franco Lucando said he found out about the EdmundsLive event while doing his new-car research on the Internet and decided to drive out to the track from his home in Huntington Beach to give it a try.

“I had been doing an online search” he said. “Buying a car online isn’t scary if you do your homework, but what was appealing about this was the testing.”

Lucando said he was in the market for a Chevrolet Tahoe and made use of the SUV course to try the truck’s suspension, ride and hill-climbing abilities. He also used the test to judge the Tahoe’s performance against competitors such as the Ford Explorer and Toyota 4Runner.

A publisher of automotive guides since 1966, Edmunds expanded into the e-world in 1995.

Its Web site offers consumer advice, original road tests and reviews and a pricing model designed to help buyers calculate what they should expect to pay for a new vehicle. As with most e-commerce sites, https://www.edmunds.com generates its revenue by referring customers to partner sites that include financing, auto insurance and extended vehicle warranty providers.

Edmunds hasn’t set up a schedule of test dates and sites for 2001, but spokeswoman Jeannine Fallon says the pilot program was successful and that the company will be doing a regular annual test-drive program that always will include a Southern California venue.

Edmunds spent $12 million on the inaugural year’s programs in Atlanta, Washington, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Englishtown, N.J. Nearly 12,000 people turned out to test vehicles in seven categories ranging from SUVs to luxury sedans.

To select the vehicles, organizers relied on input from visitors to the Edmunds.com Web site and from Edmunds’ own editorial staff.

“Where certain segments were leaning primarily to imports, the editors provided their input on how to balance it with the domestics,” Johansson said.

Although consumers weren’t bothered by sales agents at the test-drive program, Edmunds did provide space for some of its Internet partners--so that a consumer who chose to could test drive dozens of vehicles, make a purchase decision, arrange for financing, insurance and an extended warranty and then order the new car online, all in the span of an afternoon.

The company boasts of its independence and leased all of the cars used in the pilot program test drives. But Fallon said Edmunds will ask auto makers to supply vehicles in the future.

There are things that only the manufacturers can provide, such as brochures and information on future plans for their vehicles, she said.

Ford and General Motors so far have expressed interest in supporting this year’s events, but Fallon stressed that the companies’ would maintain separate facilities and that visiting them would be the consumer’s choice.

One of the few complaints at the pilot test-drive session in Inglewood was that several of the road courses were too short. Still, attendees were invited to drive them as many times as they wanted. The near-luxury track was a favorite, with the longest straightaway, the fastest corners and a braking zone that let drivers test the mettle of the cars’ ABS systems.

For the SUVs, the straight was modest and the turns gentle. But drivers were challenged with a topsy-turvy dirt trail that led to a steep, earthen hill daring to be conquered. And, true to the Los Angeles stereotype, the sport-utes got a good share of attention.

“We think this is really valuable to consumers,” Johansson said, “They like not being pressured or hassled.”

But Edmunds.com, she insists, is not trying to displace the traditional dealership.

“They fulfill a very valuable role. One of the things we talk about on the Web site and in the chat room here on site, is that there are online and offline purchase options.”

The chat room Johansson referred to was one of two actual discussion areas within the 30,000-square-foot tent.

Presentations were offered throughout the day on topics including buying versus leasing, emergency roadside safety, car care and how to conduct a test drive--at EdmundsLive or even at a dealership.

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Mitchell Sam Rossi is a longtime contributor to The Times. He can be reached at speedwrtr@aol.com.