NADA, ATD to Launch NADA University at Convention in February; Training and Technology Designed to Boost Performance and Profits

Initiative Includes Four 'Automotive Centers of Excellence' Delivered by Leading Interactive Training Systems Provider LightSpeed VT McLEAN, Va. (Dec. 22, 2009) – In February 2010, the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) and American Truck Dealers (ATD) will launch NADA University – an unprecedented online education and cutting-edge technology resource for NADA’s dealer members to enhance business performance in a complex marketplace. The launch, which will include substantial training and services at no charge for dealer members, will take place at NADA’s annual convention in Orlando, Fla., Feb. 13-15. Demos and member access credentials will be provided onsite at the NADA University booth (#1801) and the NADA University studio. NADA and ATD have teamed up with LightSpeed VT, a global leader in interactive-based training systems focused on the auto industry, to deliver NADA University to users in a convenient one-source format, combining both online and classroom-based solutions. Leveraging the expert resources of NADA, ATD and LightSpeed VT, NADA University encompasses four “automotive centers of excellence” that complement each other, including:

• NADA/ATD Academy – To build leadership skills and improve critical decision-making through executive education using such resources as the NADA and ATD Dealer successor, general management and large dealer group academies, and the highly acclaimed Babson College Executive Education program;

• Learning Hub – To train your staff in key business functions using a wide selection of online and instructor-led courses, Webinars and workshops focused on business management, legal compliance, customer relations, human resources, and fixed and variable operations;

• 20 Group – To improve business performance and profitability through access to 20 Group expert consultants, Lifeline to Profits in-dealership consulting and workshops, and the best-in-class online make-specific financial composites with programs tailored for executives, managers, and sales and service staffs;

• Resource Toolbox – Online, on-demand, and the only place to access valuable member resources such as Driven dealer management guides on the latest developments, regulations, trends and other essential information in the auto industry affecting key business decisions and Market Insight monthly Webinars with the latest data, analysis an industry-expert panel discussions. Get breaking news, NADA product support and other custom services -- all to help drive your sales, performance and profits.

“NADA University combines advanced technology with proven dealer-operations expertise to offer the most up-to-date, convenient and real-world education resource on the market today to help dealers, as well as manufacturers and related businesses, operate more efficiently and profitably for the long-term,” said NADA Chairman John McEleney. “It’s absolutely essential to ‘step up your game’ to survive in this challenging market,” McEleney added. "Keeping employees’ knowledge and skills current is a necessity. With the complexities of today's marketplace and ever-changing legal and regulatory requirements, cutting corners on training may result not only in lost business, but also costly compliance penalties. NADA University offers the resources and the tools for accountability that are key to operating a more cost-effective and productive business. It is the only tool that will give you all of that accessible in one online location.” Tapping the interactive training systems and technology resources of LightSpeed VT, NADA University will connect users to resources and training programs that offer trackable results. “NADA University combines the ‘best of breed’ training, leadership and expertise with the most cutting-edge interactive training platform to create a powerful new resource,” said Brad Lea, CEO and founder of LightSpeed VT. “In this market and economy, keeping everyone informed, motivated, trained and tracked is imperative for recovery and growth. NADA University will be an invaluable resource to its members and affiliates.” NADA and ATD members simply activate their access, using their member ID, at www.nadauniversity.com. They are able to add and maintain their list of authorized employee users – ideally every employee of the dealership – to reap maximum benefit from the many training and performance resources provided at no charge to dealers, and available exclusively through their NADA University account. Additional training and resources are available by subscription at discounted rates for members. Other industry professionals may also access a wealth of industry and NADA information, purchase training and resources, and engage to share their expertise and services with dealers through NADA University sponsorships and communication channels. ABOUT NADA: Founded in 1917 and based in McLean, Va., NADA represents the nation’s franchised automobile and truck dealers who sell new and used motor vehicles, and who engage in service, repair and parts sales. New car dealers employ nearly one million people nationwide. ABOUT ATD: Founded in 1970, the ATD division of NADA is the only organization representing dealers selling new medium- and heavy-duty trucks in the United States. ATD members receive full association services from NADA. ABOUT LIGHTSPEED VT: Founded in 2000 and located in Las Vegas, Nev., LightSpeed VT is the global leader in interactive, “experience based” training and communication platforms with over 100 million interactive training sessions served in more than 50 countries. Contact for More Information/Interview Requests: Jeff Beddow PR Consultant/NADA University (703) 304-8117 jbeddow@nada.o

OAK BROOK, IL (December 21, 2009) - Larry Beasley has been named Senior Director of Performance Management at vAuto, a provider of used-car inventory management systems for the nation's franchised and independent car dealers.  Beasley will be responsible for developing and managing best practice workshops for vAuto's over 2,000 rooftop customers. Beasley was previously with Sonic Automotive Group, working as their Eastern and Western Used Vehicle Director as well as their Regional Used Vehicle Director. Prior to his tenure at Sonic, Beasley was the Vice President of Operations at Budget Car Sales, where he managed 13 locations in the Eastern Division. "Larry's extensive experience in automotive retail as well as his ability to identify and capitalize on current market trends makes him a great addition to the vAuto Performance Management Team," said John Griffin, vAuto's vice president of performance management. "We are excited as well as honored to have the opportunity to work with and learn from one of the industry's best." Beasley has been a member of the GM Certified Used Vehicle Dealer workgroup since 2004.  He has also been a frequent guest speaker for the National Remarketing Conference. In addition, he has been a speaker with Manheim, CarMax, and ADESA at NABD where he taught industry best practice workshops. Beasley received his B.A. in Business Administration from East Texas State University in Texarkana, Texas, and attended the General Motors Business Development School. Headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, Ill., vAuto also maintains a research and development center in Austin, Texas. The company's "Live Market View" technology currently allows more than 2,000 dealers to manage their used-car inventories based on comprehensive supply-and-demand information mined by vAuto for their specific market area. Details on millions of pre-owned vehicles are maintained and updated on a daily basis within vAuto's database. The nation's five highest-volume franchised dealerships by brand currently use vAuto pricing, appraisal, stocking, and merchandising systems. vAuto was recently ranked number 22 in Inc. Magazine's 2009 annual ranking of the fastest-growing, privately held companies in America. The company's chairman and founder, Dale Pollak maintains a blog for the discussion of used-car trends at www.dalepollak.com. More information on vAuto is available at www.vAuto.com. Media Contacts: Michelle Black vAuto Phone: +1.630.590.2023 E-mail: mblack@vauto.com

BURLINGTON, VT - December 21, 2009 - Dealer.com, the global leader of online marketing solutions for auto dealers, is a Leader award winner in the 2009 Summit Emerging Media Award (Summit EMA) for their work with the Brandon Ford website.  "We are honored by this award and proud of our work with auto dealership Brandon Ford," commented Dealer.com creative director, Ryan Dunn.  "They are a key partner in our pioneering communication products and services, including the latest MobileSites^TM technology.  They fully leverage our online marketing platform which allows them to communicate and engage more directly with shoppers, quickly connecting them to specific vehicles of interest, no matter how consumers choose to shop for vehicles online." Brandon Ford is a full service dealership located in Tampa, Florida.  The dealership has received Ford's prestigious Presidents Award for seven consecutive years and Ford Credit's Partners In Quality Award for five consecutive years.  The dealership carries a comprehensive line of new Ford vehicles, including the Edge, Focus, Escape, Mustang, Explorer, Taurus, Flex, F150, and Fusion, as well as an extensive used vehicle selection. The Summit EMA competition is based on the premise that advertising is consistently at the forefront of the technological evolution of communication. Some of this year's judges included: Peter Gorman  - Restaurant.com; Chris Jones - Stellar Debris Creative Studios; and Mahiette Tarrago - xpert-design.com. "Those involved in today's emerging media technologies are the leaders who are establishing tomorrow's avenues of advertising communications." Said Jocelyn Luciano, Executive Director for the Summit International Awards (SIA). "Most communication professionals recognize that established avenues of communication can be reliable and safe.  Developing and engaging in emerging media technologies, along with creative messaging and market awareness, is often a difficult criterion which makes earning a Summit EMA a significant achievement. The SIA organization is devoted to furthering excellence in the communications industry. It administers rigorous award competitions throughout the year with the goal of recognizing companies and individuals that excel. Throughout its sixteen-year history, the organization has established itself as one of the premier arbiters of communication excellence. Companies and individuals from more than 50 countries across five continents participate annually in its awards programs. The organization conducts three awards each year: Summit Creative Award, Summit Emerging Media Award and Summit Marketing Effectiveness Award. Additional information about the SIA and its competitions is available at www.summitawards.com. About Dealer.com (www.dealer.com) Dealer.com is the global leader in online marketing solutions for the automotive industry, providing award winning e-marketing solutions to OEMs, auto dealers and media companies.  More dealerships use the Dealer.com platform than any other platform in the world. Recent national and international accolades include: The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, top ranking in The Net Promoter® Score Survey of customer satisfaction, Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 and the Web Marketing Association's Automobile Standard of Excellence. In addition, Dealer.com was the 2008 top rated web provider on leading online rating websites, as well as the Gold Award winner from the Dealers' choice awards for best dealer website solutions. For more information visit: http://www.dealer.com/promo/look-inside.htm

Oshkosh, WI, November 5th, 2009 – DealerFire, a leading provider of Website Design and Marketing services, received a very sought after award at last weekend’s Digital Dealer Conference in Nashville, TN as a result of an nationwide industry study. The Automotive Search Marketing report issued by the Pasch Consulting Group identifies Dealer Fire as one of the top website platforms in the automotive industry. The Pasch Consulting Group’s (PCG) 2009 Automotive Search Marketing Architecture (ASMA) study recognizes Dealer Fire as one of top industry leaders in automotive website platforms.   The report was issued at the Digital Dealer Conference and highlighted 9 of the industry’s top platforms. The 2009 ASMA report reviewed 34 website platforms in an effort to provide car dealers with an independent evaluation of automotive website platforms and integrated search marketing tools.  Of the 34 platforms reviewed, only 9 companies were highlighted as industry leaders in automotive search marketing. Brian Pasch, CEO of the Pasch Consulting Group, was the underwriter for the 2nd annual industry report.  The 9 companies highlighted, according to Pasch, are providing car dealers with the best tools for search marketing and search engine optimization. According to Pasch, DealerFire had an impressive offering of Google compliant website tools that integrate well with organic SEO, SEM and Social Media, and in his opinion, develop the “sexiest sites out there”. This combination gives dealers the best chance for reaching a wide range of targeted individuals. DealerFire now has even more momentum as they carry through with this extensive growth period. With sales reps now in almost every state, and an award winning reputation, DealerFire is enjoying a lot of buzz in this very competitive industry. The ASMA award means a great deal to Eric Hoopman, DealerFire’s Owner and Founder. “To be recognized as an industry leader in this very competitive market has already opened a lot of doors for us” said Eric. “Now we will have even more in our sales arsenal and with the reputation and recognition we need to back our products up, our potential for growth just got a lot bigger.” About DealerFire DealerFire, founded by Eric Hoopman, is an award winning custom automotive web design and internet marketing firm that caters specifically to the automotive industry. With its core focus on custom websites and marketing solutions tailored to meet the specific needs of each dealership, they’ve been working with dealer groups and independent dealers across the nation since 1999.  For more information about DealerFire, visit its website at http://www.dealerfire.com.

New Portal from LendingTree Taps Autobytel to Deliver a Consumer-friendly Car-buying Experience and Connect Dealers with More Qualified In-market Car-shoppers

Irvine, CA - December 14, 2009 - Autobytel Inc. (Nasdaq: ABTL), a leader in providing online consumer leads and marketing services to the auto industry, today announced that Autobytel's vehicle price quote and dealer selector platform will power LendingTreeAutos.com, the recently launched car-buying portal of LendingTree LLC, the nation's number one online lending exchange. "This is good news for car-buyers and dealers alike. It provides new opportunities for both by connecting millions of in-market consumers with an expansive and highly qualified network of auto retailers," said Autobytel Chief Operating Officer Mark Garms. "Through the power of Autobytel's online automotive expertise and LendingTree's proven, consumer-friendly financing tools, car buyers will have access to compelling financing offers and a convenient car purchasing process, while auto dealers will have the opportunity to serve a greater number of in-market consumers." The agreement is an extension of a long term marketing relationship between Autobytel's Car.com Special Finance Program and LendingTree.  Online pioneers Autobytel and LendingTree helped to revolutionize their respective industries by bringing choice and empowerment to consumers.   Now, in addition to helping LendingTree customers with their car purchases, the new agreement includes opportunities for Autobytel's dealer network to offer financing options to premium credit customers from LendingTreeAutos.com, as well as to credit-challenged car-buyers through the Car.com Special Finance Program. A leader in helping consumers make smart financial decisions, LendingTree has long provided auto loans as part of the more than 25 million loan requests the company has facilitated since its inception.  In addition to auto financing, LendingTreeAutos.com provides consumers with a dedicated channel to manage the entire car-buying process - from researching makes and models, to making a purchase from a local dealer. The Autobytel engine allows LendingTree customers to request a vehicle price quote and be instantly matched by zip code and vehicle type with a member of Autobytel's nationwide network of automotive dealers. "Given the economic pressures that many consumers are experiencing, we believe that it's more critical than ever before to provide access to the best car-purchasing experience and financing options available," said LendingTree Autos National Account Director Gary Pierce. "Since both companies share a long-standing emphasis on consumer advocacy, the partnership between Autobytel and LendingTree was a natural fit. With LendingTreeAutos.com, we can ensure that consumers remain empowered to make the best possible decisions when it comes to buying a car. So they can get the car they want, from the dealer they like, at the price they need - and with the financing they can afford." About Autobytel Autobytel Inc. (NASDAQ: ABTL), a leading automotive marketing services company, pioneered the automotive Internet when it launched autobytel.com in 1995. Since then, the company has helped tens of millions of automotive consumers research vehicles; connected thousands of dealers nationwide with motivated car buyers, and helped every major automaker market its brand online. Today, through its flagship website Autobytel.com^®, its network of automotive sites including Autoweb.com^®, AutoSite.com^®, Car.com^sm, CarSmart.com^®, CarTV.com^®, and MyRide.com,^® and its respected online partners, Autobytel continues its dedication to innovating the industry's highest quality Internet programs to provide consumers with a comprehensive and positive automotive research and purchasing experience, and auto dealers, dealer groups and auto manufacturers with one of the industry's most productive and cost-effective customer referral and marketing programs. Autobytel's New and Used Car Programs connect dealers, dealer groups and OEMs with a steady flow of serious, in-market car shoppers from Autobytel's family of websites and other premium Internet brands, as well as providing a suite of value-added tools proven to help close those leads, including Rapid Response^sm, Custom Messaging^sm, Email Manager^sm, and LeadCall^sm. About LendingTree, LLC LendingTree, LLC is the nation's leading online lending exchange, providing a marketplace that connects consumers with multiple lenders that compete for their business. Since inception, LendingTree has facilitated more than 25 million requests for loans online and $185 billion in closed loan transactions. LendingTree provides access to lenders offering mortgage home loans, refinance mortgage loans, home equity loans & lines, auto loans, personal loans and credit cards via www.lendingtree.com and 800-555-TREE. Launched in 1996 with headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., LendingTree also owns and operates LendingTree Loans (SM), GetSmart.com, RealEstate.com, Tree.com and HomeLoanCenter.com. LendingTree, LLC is a subsidiary of Tree.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: TREE - News). Media Contacts Autobytel Inc. Crystal Hartwell 949.437.4755 CrystalH@autobytel.com Melanie Webber, mWEBB Communications 949.307.1723 melanie@mwebbcom.com Tree.com, Inc. Kevin McLaughlin Resound Marketing 609.279.0050 x102 kevin@resoundmarketing.com

OAKBROOK, IL (December 7, 2009) - Automotive dealers now have the ability to better manage their used vehicle end-to-end processes with the release of vAuto's LifeCycle Manager. vAuto's LifeCycle Manager provides dealers with the ability to tightly track all processes from the moment of acquisition to time of sale. Working from a central dashboard, dealers can drill down car by car to proactively correct any delays or process gaps. Dealers are able to examine time through reconditioning, time through service, time through generating descriptions and uploading photos as well as a multitude of additional dealership specific milestones. "With increased pressure on margins, the need to manage used vehicle time-to-market is greater than ever," said Keith Jezek, vAuto's president and CEO. "Our LifeCycle Manager provides a detailed view into a used car's progress through many varied processes, all of which are critical to turn and ultimately the bottom line." "We've been tracking our processes manually for years," says Andrew Wright, Lehigh Valley Honda in Pennsylvania. "This new functionality from vAuto saves us hours of time and provides us with data that we were unable to effectively measure before. This translates into improved turn and increased profits." In addition to LifeCycle Manager, vAuto has introduced a scrolling feed to provide current dealership news as well as recent inventory updates to all vAuto users. Having a quick snapshot of what is taking place and what needs immediate attention is another effort to assist dealers in managing in real time. Headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, Ill., vAuto also maintains a research and development center in Austin, Texas. The company's "Live Market View" technology currently allows more than 2,000 dealers to manage their used-car inventories based on comprehensive supply-and-demand information mined by vAuto for their specific market area. Details on millions of pre-owned vehicles are maintained and updated on a daily basis within vAuto's database. The nation's five highest-volume franchised dealerships by brand currently use vAuto pricing, appraisal, stocking, and merchandising systems. vAuto was recently ranked number 22 in Inc. Magazine's 2009 annual ranking of the fastest-growing, privately held companies in America. The company's chairman and founder, Dale Pollak maintains a blog for the discussion of used-car trends at www.dalepollak.com. More information on vAuto is available at www.vAuto.com. Media Contacts: Michelle Black vAuto Phone: +1.630.590.2023 E-mail: mblack@vauto.com

Expansion of Autobytel's New Car Program Provides Dealers with Access to Most Comprehensive VIN-based Coverage in the Industry Irvine, CA ---December 2, 2009 --- Autobytel Inc. (Nasdaq: ABTL), a leader in providing online consumer leads and marketing services to the auto industry, today announced a new agreement with Edmunds.com, Inc. to include inventory-based leads sourced directly from the Edmunds.com site as part of its New Car Leads Program for dealers.  The inclusion of VIN-based leads from Edmunds.com, widely considered to be one of the top online destinations for prospective car-buyers, is the latest step in the evolution of Autobytel's New Car Leads Program to meet increasing consumer demand for specific online inventory. "We are pleased to expand our relationship with Edmunds.com to include these high conversion, high purchase intent leads as part of our new car Leads Program for dealers," said Autobytel COO Mark Garms.  "With data showing that new car shoppers are five times* more interested in specific inventory than in price quotes, it is critical to generate the broadest range of highly motivated inventory-based car shoppers.  This is exactly what the Autobytel program is designed to do as it gives dealers access to the most comprehensive VIN-based inventory lead coverage in the industry." As part of the agreement with Edmunds.com, VIN-based leads submitted on Edmunds.com for a specific vehicle in the inventory of an Autobytel member dealer will be included as a part of the mix of high quality consumer leads Autobytel sends to its dealers.  Each customer lead will go through the patented Autobytel lead process and the company's proprietary Quality Verification System®, and will benefit from Autobytel's multi-pronged lead follow-up treatments, such as Rapid Response, Custom Messaging and Email Manager.  The VIN number will be included in each lead to ensure a knowledge-based customer interaction.

This further expansion of the Autobytel New Car Leads Program is the latest in a series of initiatives from Autobytel to generate higher lead conversion for its network of dealers and is specifically designed to help member dealers reach the online in-market car shopper of today who, increasingly, is demanding the ability to search new car inventory. Most recently, Autobytel announced an agreement with Vast.com for the addition of inventory-based leads from high quality lead sources (including AOL and KBB) into the Autobytel New Car Leads Program. *Source: Edmunds.com About Autobytel Autobytel Inc. (NASDAQ: ABTL), a leading automotive marketing services company, pioneered the automotive Internet when it launched autobytel.com in 1995. Since then, the company has helped tens of millions of automotive consumers research vehicles; connected thousands of dealers nationwide with motivated car buyers, and helped every major automaker market its brand online. Today, through its flagship website Autobytel.com^®, its network of automotive sites including Autoweb.com^®, AutoSite.com^®, Car.com^sm, CarSmart.com^®, CarTV.com^®, and MyRide.com,^®and its respected online partners, Autobytel continues its dedication to innovating the industry's highest quality Internet programs to provide consumers with a comprehensive and positive automotive research and purchasing experience, and auto dealers, dealer groups and auto manufacturers with one of the industry's most productive and cost-effective customer referral and marketing programs. Autobytel's New and Used Car Programs connect dealers, dealer groups and OEMs with a steady flow of serious, in-market car shoppers from Autobytel's family of websites and other premium Internet brands, as well as providing a suite of value-added tools proven to help close those leads, including Rapid Response^sm, Custom Messaging^sm, Email Manager^sm, and LeadCall^sm. Media Contacts: Crystal Hartwell, Autobytel Inc., 949.437.4755, crystalh@autobytel.com Melanie Webber, mWEBB Communications, 949.307.1723, melanie@mwebbcom.com

Provider of live chat for car dealer websites, ContactAtOnce!, announces immediate availability of  free and simple integration with leading website analytics platforms. ATLANTA, GA - December 2, 2009 - ContactAtOnce!, (contactatonce.com) a leading provider of live chat for car dealer websites and other internet marketing tools that move online shoppers into live conversations with car dealers, today announced the immediate availability of features that enable customers to integrate ContactAtOnce! live chat for car dealer websites with website analytics and business intelligence platforms from Google and Omniture. "Analytics help our customers understand consumer behavior and, ultimately, which of their marketing initiatives are working and which aren't," said Marc Hayes, Founder and EVP of Products for ContactAtOnce!.  "By integrating our live chat for car dealer websites solution with the leading analytics and business intelligence platforms we are making it simple and easy for our customers to get even more value from their ContactAtOnce! investment." ContactAtOnce! powers presence-aware "drop-in business cards" that appear on car dealer websites alerting shoppers when dealer personnel are available to answer questions.  Shoppers may then initiate instant communications whenever they choose.  ContactAtOnce! live chat for car dealer websites automatically measures advertising effectiveness, helping dealers constantly improve their businesses. Google Analytics is an enterprise-class web analytics solution that provides rich insights into website traffic and marketing effectiveness.  It is provided by Google free-of-charge and is widely used on car dealer websites. The newly released website analytics integration features are immediately available, free of charge, to all ContactAtOnce! customers. About Live Chat for Car Dealer Websites Provider ContactAtOnce!: Contact At Once!, LLC is a leading provider of live chat for car dealer websites and other internet marketing tools for automotive sales, apartment leasing, and other industries where consumers conduct research online before visiting a dealership or office. The ContactAtOnce! service typically moves at least 25% more website visitors into live conversations with sales people by utilizing a suite of technologies such as presence, IM/chat, VoIP telephony, video chat and text messaging, resulting in increased revenue and a better return on marketing expenditures. ContactAtOnce! is the only solution with features specifically for vertical search websites and over 35 such sites, along with thousands of merchant businesses, are using it today. www.contactatonce.com

Awards Measure Dealer Satisfaction with Vendors in 10 Categories, including CRM, Third Party Leads, SEO, and Lead Management Salt Lake City, Utah - December 1st, 2009 -- DrivingSales (www.drivingsales.com), the auto industry's leading social media platform and largest online community, today announced that the first annual DrivingSales Vendor Ratings Awards will be presented in Orlando, Florida at the 2010 NADA Convention and Expo.  The DrivingSales Vendor Ratings Awards measure dealer satisfaction with vendors in ten categories, including CRM, Third Party Leads, SEO and Lead Management, and will be awarded to the vendors who achieve the highest dealer satisfaction rankings as determined by the thousands of dealers in the DrivingSales community.  Winners will also be showcased in the premiere issue of DrivingSales Dealership Innovation Guide which, in addition to being distributed at the NADA Convention and Expo, will be delivered to every new car dealership nationwide, as well as to he top 100 used car dealerships. "DrivingSales launched its interactive Vendor Ratings feature last year with a mission to help dealers make the smartest vendor spending decisions that will provide them with the highest ROI," said DrivingSales founder and CEO Jared Hamilton.  "Dealers value the opinion of their colleagues above all else when it comes to making these critical decisions.  The Vendor Ratings Awards are a natural extension of this collaborative decision-making process, recognizing the top three vendors in each category as ranked by the thousands of dealers who use them." DrivingSales Vendor Ratings are the industry's first neutral, comprehensive vendor rating forum featuring real-time peer reviews and honest competitor comparisons - searchable by category, company or rating - and are one of the most popular features of DrivingSales.com.  DrivingSales.com opened nationally in 2008 in response to the industry's need for an open, objective collaborative forum to help the leading edge of the industry navigate through the current crisis -- and into the future. According to Hamilton, DrivingSales is already surveying the nation's dealers about their current vendor satisfaction.  Dealers are asked to rate their vendors on a 1-5 star scale, including whether they would recommend the vendor product to colleagues, and why they would or would not recommend the product.  All survey-takers are required to submit valid contact information so that DrivingSales can verify that the reviewers are actual dealership employees; however the identity of the survey takers will remain anonymous to the public.  The survey is currently deployed on DrivingSales.com and participation is open to the nation's over 20 thousand dealerships. The ten vendor categories are: Websites, CRM-Variable Ops, 3rd Party Leads, Vehicle Classifieds/Listings, Internet Lead Management Tools. DMS, Owner/Database Marketing, Inventory Pricing Tools, Inventory Data Management and SEO Services. Prestige Volvo General Manager Matt Haiken reported that DrivingSales Vendor Ratings helped with critical vendor decisions at his dealership that ultimately resulted in significant web traffic increases: "DrivingSales vendor ratings provide me with an invaluable industry reference point, on how each vendor was performing and who I should be talking to." In addition to showcasing Vendor Ratings Award winners, the premiere issue of DrivingSales Dealership Innovation Guide, an annual publication, will also feature cutting-edge and proven best practices as submitted by the DrivingSales.com community and will also be available online at DrivingSales.com. "Because of its thousands of engaged dealership members and its uniquely interactive and collaborative format, DrivingSales has a wealth of best practice information to share," said Hamilton. "We wanted to pull together 2009's top best practices in one publication to coincide with NADA, so dealers can literally carry this critical information with them -- as they 'walk the floor' at NADA -- and back home in the dealership." If you are a US new or used car dealership and would like to participate in the Dealer Satisfaction with Vendors survey (and please remember that your contact information will be verified), click the link below: http://www.drivingsales.com/surveys/rate_vendors/survey1 http://www.drivingsales.com/surveys/rate_vendors/survey2 For more information about the DrivingSales Vendor Ratings Awards and DrivingSales Dealership Innovation Guide, email melanie@mwebbcom.com. About DrivingSales DrivingSales.com (www.drivingsales.com) is the largest and premiere online community for the auto industry, where its thousands of members, including dealers, dealership managers, manufacturers, industry experts and vendors, collaborate and share best practices in a 20-group style setting. At DrivingSales, members create profiles and communicate with each other; build their networks and knowledgebase; share and rate proven strategies, and have access to relevant content contributed by fellow industry experts, including blogs, videos, interviews, a social news feed and more. Dealer members rate and review vendor products - sharing their experiences with the DrivingSales community - while vendors have the opportunity to provide feedback on reviews and showcase their products and services. DrivingSales was created and built from the ground up in 2003 by Jared Hamilton, a third generation auto dealer, as a private automotive business community to network his NADA Dealer Candidate Academy class.  The site opened nationally in 2008 and is the auto industry's leading social media custom platform. Media Contact: Melanie Webber (Melanie@mwebbcom.com), mWEBB Communications 949.307.1723

ORANGE, Calif., Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- TK Carsites announced the appointment of James "JD" Rucker to Chief Marketing Officer. In this new position JD will merge dealer client marketing with TK Carsites' own marketing efforts under a new "results-based" marketing initiative. His goal will be to focus on the marketing efforts of their dealers first and utilize their successes to power TK's marketing campaigns. As a veteran on the TK Carsites team, JD has been invaluable in advancing the search engine and social media aspects of the organization. By implementing critical functionality, his efforts have raised the search engine visibility for over a thousand sites and increased consumer traffic as a result. JD is recognized as the foremost authority on automotive SEO and is a world renowned social media expert. He is also a regular contributor to major auto industry trade publications and social networks. Richard Valenta, the CEO of TK Carsites said, "JD and his unique skill set have brought our organization to the forefront of the industry, and due in part to his efforts we have received numerous industry awards including the recent Automotive Search Marketing Architecture (ASMA) Super Charged Search Award presented at the recent Digital Dealer Conference in Nashville." JD Rucker shared, "TK Carsites is going in a new and fresh direction with our marketing. By focusing our marketing efforts on our dealers, the marketing of the company itself will follow their success. It's classic trickle-down marketing: if we push our clients' exposure and success as high as possible, the marketing as a result will naturally flow down to give our company greater exposure and a higher level of success." Prior to joining TK Carsites, James served as the Internet Manager for an automotive dealer group in Oklahoma City, OK where he was responsible for the creation and management of a high volume Internet marketing department. Working in this capacity, he acquired his knowledge of SEO before branching out and optimizing other dealers and websites. About TK Carsites, Inc. TK Carsites, Inc. is a marketing and technology services company providing solutions to automotive retailers. Currently they offer their 1300+ auto dealer clients websites, email and search engine marketing programs along with numerous interactive and rich media campaign strategies. www.tkcarsites.com (714) 937-1239 SOURCE TK Carsites, Inc.