Tuesday, November 21, 2006

How the New AutoMoBids System Affects the Car Buying Experience

AutomoBids is closing a $1.2 million round of seed funding and going live with an online service that allows car buyers to haggle over price without ever seeing a sales agent. This is not necessarily a new concept as it has been talked about for a few years now, but it is the first system of its kind that I know of.

The way it works is dealers load their inventory into the system and set a floor price for each vehicle. Essentially, the dealers are creating a branded virtual sales lot on the AutomoBids system. They also have the ability to create vehicle-specific ads with search engine marketing campaigns. Consumers register their credit cards with the system and then can search for vehicles in the sales lots. They can bid up to three times on a vehicle and up to 10 vehicles at a time. The bidder can then lock in a price for up to seven days by exceeding the dealer’s floor price which is not disclosed to the bidder.

Although there is more meat to the equation, this new buying process has the potential to change the way autos are shopped and purchased, just like eBay Autos has done. This of course could take years to become a part of the consumer culture, but from what see it should have a lasting impact. This will not replace the sales rep, but it will force the sales rep to adapt to the new method by finding alternate ways to add unique value to the consumers’ online buying experience.

A link to the original press release is below. Be sure to leave your comments to this entry and share your thoughts on it. You may also visit the online discussion forum for AutomoBids on CarDealerForums.com to rate this company and access more detailed company info and other peoples’ feedback.

Source Article

Discuss Online at Auto Industry Forum

Discuss Online at Car Dealer Forums

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