Cash for Clunkers Helps Drive Over 15 Million Visitors to AutoTrader.com for 8th Month in a Row

ATLANTA – September 3, 2009 – The Cash-for-Clunkers or CARS program brought some of the best sales so far this year for automakers, but also some of the highest average asking prices on new vehicles. As dealer inventories of new cars shrank due to the overwhelming success of the Federally-funded program, average asking prices for new vehicles generally crept up across the board, with only a few models noting slight declines. Some of the largest increases in pricing were registered by Ford, which saw a 16% average price increase on the new F-150 full-size pick-up, and a 13% average price increase on the new Fusion midsize sedan.

“With inventories having been cleared out by Cash-for-Clunkers, consumers will find that the playing field between dealers and shoppers is more level than it was six months ago,” said AutoTrader.com President and CEO Chip Perry. “But it still remains a good time to buy a car, both in terms of manufacturer incentives, and the demand for quality used vehicles, which provides consumers negotiation space when trading in a car or truck.”

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While Chevrolet Camaro once again topped AutoTrader.com’s most viewed list for August, the bigger success story for General Motors remained the Chevrolet Equinox, which saw views increase almost 290% year over year. This moved the newly-launched Equinox crossover from the 89th most-viewed vehicle in August 2008 and the 18th most-viewed vehicle last month to 7th place this August. More importantly for Chevrolet, the average asking price of the new Equinox increased nearly 6% over the previous version to $27,334.87 – more than $600 more than the average asking price of new Ford Escapes on the site and nearly $2,000 more than that for the Honda CR-V, vehicles which GM has directly targeted with the Equinox.

Kia saw the largest increase in popularity on AutoTrader.com among major automotive brands, with views of new Kia models increasing 176% in August compared to August of 2008. This pushed Kia from the No. 20 most-viewed brand on AutoTrader.com in August of 2008 to the No. 8 most-viewed brand in August 2009. Ford and Hyundai, both winners in August’s sales race, also saw views for their brands rise, almost 29% and 27% year over year, respectively.

Cash-for-Clunkers drove site activity on AutoTrader.com, with August marking the eighth consecutive month that the site saw its unique monthly visitor count top 15 million. In August, AutoTrader.com attracted a total of 15.5 million unique monthly visitors, a 10% increase in traffic compared to August 2008.

Used & CPO Car Activity

Demand for used and CPO light trucks and SUVs continued strong growth in August, with many such vehicles recording double-digit increases in views year-over-year. Ford saw used F-250s up almost 47% in views, while average asking prices rose 7.89% year over year. Similarly, CPO Ford Explorer SUVs rose 45 % in views, and 17% in average asking prices year over year.

Fuel efficient used cars saw some average price declines year over year, but those declines were more a function of the high prices these used cars commanded last year at this time due to high gas prices, not a reduction in these cars’ general popularity. For instance, used Honda Civics and used Volkswagen Jettas saw price declines of 12% and 13%, respectively, when compared to August of 2008, while maintaining their popularity on the site. The Honda Civic was the No. 6 most-viewed used car this month, last month and in August of 2008. The Jetta was the No. 19 most-viewed used car this month, the No. 18 most-viewed used car last month and the No. 18 most-viewed used car in August of 2008.

Both the new and used car shopping activity on AutoTrader.com seems to indicate a return to more normal auto shopping habits and patters. “Over the past year or so, we’ve seen spikes on our top 20 lists in demand for specific types of cars – fuel sippers, then for specific manufacturers and then for less expensive vehicles,” said Perry.

“I believe those spikes were being driven by car shoppers responding to fluctuating gas prices, impending manufacturer bankruptcies and other uncertain or challenging economic news. This month’s lists, where a wide variety of brands and models are represented, may show a return to normal car shopping activity as the economy rights itself and shopping and buying behavior isn’t as strongly impacted by other wildly fluctuating factors.”

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About AutoTrader.com
AutoTrader.com, created in 1997 and headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., is the Internet's leading auto classifieds marketplace and consumer information website. AutoTrader.com aggregates in a single location about 3 million new cars, used cars and certified pre-owned cars from thousands of auto dealers and private owners. The site attracts about 15 million unique monthly visitors. Through innovative merchandising functionality such as multiple photos, videos, detailed descriptions and comprehensive research and compare tools, AutoTrader.com unites new and used car buyers and sellers online to improving the way people research, locate and advertise vehicles. AutoTrader.com is a majority-owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises. The venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is also an investor. For more information, please visit www.autotrader.com.

Innovative Program Boosts Auto Dealers’ Sales and Profitability by Increasing Number of Opportunities Available Each Month

Redwood City, CA, September 2, 2009 — Dealix, the leading provider of automotive customer leads for new and used cars, today became the first automotive marketing company to back every one of its new and used car sales leads with a quality pledge. The company, a division of Cobalt, announced today that it will only charge its customers for leads that meet a specific set of criteria for leads that can turn into sales. The company also announced Hassle Free Lead Return, a new feature that allows dealers to effortlessly return a lead that does not meet Dealix’s Quality Pledge criteria, and to have that lead taken off their bill and replaced with a new one.

The Dealix Quality Pledge defines the characteristics of a valid lead as one that:

• Have a working phone number for the person who submitted the lead
  
• Represent an active, in-market consumer
  
• Originate from an adult who is 18 years of age or older
  
• Not be a duplicate of a lead provided by Dealix in the last 30 days
  
• Not be a duplicate of a lead previously delivered by a source other than Dealix in the last 30 days

“The Dealix program is unique in the market,” said Kim Clouse, CEO of I Auto Consultants, an automotive training and consulting firm. “The program is dealer-focused and quality-driven, which should enable Dealix customers to have greater confidence in their lead supply. That, coupled with the time factor saved, will allow dealership staff to focus more on their sales process, which will create more sales and increase return on investment.”

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With Hassle Free Lead Return, dealers are encouraged to identify and return any lead that fails one of the Quality Pledge criteria within seven days of receiving the lead. Dealix provides all customers with access to its Dealix Dealer Extranet through which they can identify a lead for return and specify the reason for the return. Dealix’s Lead Quality Team then follows up with every lead returned, personally contacting the consumer to validate information and confirm whether they are actively in the market for a vehicle.

The return confirmation process takes three business days. If the Dealix Quality Team is able to confirm that the returned lead represents an active, in-market buyer, the dealer is notified immediately with detailed information so they do not miss an opportunity to sell a vehicle to that consumer. If the Dealix Quality Team confirms that the lead does not conform to its Quality Pledge standards, the return is accepted and the charge is immediately removed from the dealer’s invoice. In addition to the Dealix Dealer Extranet, dealers may use most customer relationship management (CRM) tools to return a lead with Hassle Free Lead Return.

“The goal of the Quality Pledge is to align Dealix directly with our dealer customers and their goals,” said Anna Zornosa, general manager of Dealix and executive vice president of Cobalt. “Dealix leads the industry in technology and supply investment, but it’s still hard to guarantee that every lead will be good 100% of the time. With this new program, we are the only marketing company in the auto industry who is saying to dealers, ‘In the event you get a lead that does not represent a real opportunity, return it to us hassle free, and we will not charge for the lead.”

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Other benefits of Dealix’s Quality Pledge include:

• Enabling dealers to optimize sales every month. By encouraging them to quickly identify and return leads that can’t be sold, Dealix creates an opportunity for the dealer to receive more good leads immediately so they can hit monthly sales goals.
  
• Encouraging dealers to contact their leads quickly. The seven-day lead return window motivates dealers to contact each lead promptly, preferably upon receipt. Research repeatedly shows that dealers who launch a fast response upon receiving a lead have a much higher rate of selling a car to that consumer.
  
• Allowing dealers to understand whether less than expected sales results are attributable to poor lead quality or a flawed sales process, as 100% of leads returned undergo follow-up verification by the Dealix Quality Team.
  
• Giving Dealix valuable information on lead supply quality in order to provide dealers with superior products.

The Dealix program has been available to 30 franchise dealers in a beta test for four weeks. “We became a pilot dealer for the Quality Pledge because we like the goals of the program: to help us get more good leads each month,” said Merick Sherline, fleet and Internet director for Stokes Brown Toyota in Beaufort, South Carolina “So far we have found the program to be straightforward and useable. We’ve gotten a speedy response about the status of the leads we’ve submitted, with about half of them being accepted as valid returns. I’m optimistic this program will help us turn more leads into sales.”

The Quality Pledge is only the latest in a series of enhancements that Dealix has made to its new car and used car lead programs. In the last 12 months, the company has improved new car lead supply through exclusive agreements to power the dealer selector and price quote platforms of Yahoo! Autos, MSN Autos, and AOL Autos, as well as improving its used car lead supply with the re-launch of its flagship portal UsedCars.com. In April 2009, the company announced a major overhaul of the Dealix Leads Platform, including technology upgrades to deliver leads faster and the addition of lead verification through an agreement with Targusinfo.

“Dealix can offer this Quality Pledge because we have the strongest lead supply network in the market, comprised of the top auto sites, and the most powerful lead sourcing, verification, and delivery technology. This, combined with our decade of experience delivering over 300,000 new and used car sales leads monthly to dealers and OEMs, gives us total confidence in the value our products bring to dealers,” continued Zornosa.

The Dealix Quality Pledge with Hassle Free Lead Return is available now. For more information, visit www.Dealix.com or call (800) 903-1965.

About Dealix
Dealix, a division of Cobalt, is the world’s leading provider of quality leads for new and used cars for dealerships, dealer groups, and automotive manufacturers. Dealix is the only Internet marketing company that backs its new and used car leads with the Dealix Quality PledgeTM: a distinct set of criteria that defines a quality lead and an invitation to use Hassle Free Lead ReturnTM if a lead lacks any one of those criteria. The company can offer this Pledge because it has the broadest reach and the highest quality lead supply network in the industry, including Yahoo! Autos, Kelley Blue Book, Edmunds.com, AOL Autos, MSN Autos, and others. Dealix powers the dealer selector and price quote platforms on Yahoo! Autos, AOL Autos, MSN Autos, and NADA Guides; represents Edmunds’ Premier Dealer Program; and places dealers’ used inventory in the Kelley Blue Book Trusted MarketplaceSM. Dealix connects dealers with the millions of car shoppers who prefer independent Internet sites when shopping for new cars and used cars online. Dealix’s all new Leads Platform quickly matches thousands of serious new and used vehicle buyers to the most appropriate dealers daily, delivering a quality car buying experience for consumers and providing dealers with one of the most efficient methods available today for marketing and selling cars.