The MBA-like program focuses on leadership, management and entrepreneurship and offers dealers and managers information to help survive the challenging times. WELLESLEY, Mass. (Sept. 1, 2009) – After completing the National Automobile Dealers Association’s Dealer Executive Education at Babson College, graduates of the charter class have one bit of advice for other automotive professionals considering the program: Enroll. “As a leader, one needs to be constantly growing. Just as we train our employees, we need to train ourselves,” says Christine Caron, general manager of Honda Village in Newton, Mass. “Business is an evolving landscape that we must evolve with or get swallowed up. This program is an investment in the security of your future.” After graduating from NADA’s Dealer Executive Education in July, Bryan T. Gonzales was accepted into Babson’s fast-track MBA program, which starts in September. Gonzales, dealer principal and general manager of Gonzales Automotive Group, Inc. in South Gate, Calif., says the car industry has changed for good, and the skills he acquired at Babson have prepared him to meet tomorrow’s challenges head-on. “[The auto industry] will never be the same,” says Gonzales. “The higher education we received through the program will prepare us to become leaders of change rather than victims of it.” The charter class of NADA’s Dealer Executive Education program began in March 2008. Students completed six one-week sessions, which were spaced about three months apart on the campus of Babson College in Wellesley, Mass. The students graduated in July 2009. “The program is geared to those who have run dealerships but are looking to broaden their knowledge base on how to succeed not just in our industry, but in a rapidly changing global economy,” says Steve Nilsson, general manager of Glenwood Springs Ford Lincoln Mercury in Glenwood Springs, Colo. “As auto dealers, we must be conscious of the fact that our business is influenced by so much more than the events that are unique to our industry.” When first considering the program, Lisa Hurley, who’s been out of school for several years, was worried about the time commitment and the cost. But after completing the program, Hurley says it was well worth it. Hurley, president of Renner Motors, Inc. in Columbus, Ind., and also a graduate of the NADA Dealer Candidate Academy, says the executive education program provided her with a fresh perspective on issues affecting auto retailing. “Studying and analyzing ideas and issues from a viewpoint other than the car industry standpoint was helpful,” says Hurley. “Now after completing the program, I would advise anyone considering the course to attend.” Babson College is recognized internationally for its entrepreneurial leadership in a changing global environment. Its custom programs focus on a continuous learning cycle that empowers executives to acquire and apply knowledge, achieve results and identify new opportunities for achievement. “Babson has been the perfect partner for NADA in this new program, and the timing could not have been better for this charter class,” says John Lyboldt, NADA vice president of dealer operations. “Their faculty has been flexible and willing to customize what they do so well for the automotive industry.” Its MBA program has been ranked No. 1 in entrepreneurship for 13 consecutive years by U.S. News & World Report. “My learning at Babson was twofold,” says Lee Gonzalez, general manager of Gloucester Toyota in Gloucester, Va. “I learned from the experienced professors in the classroom, but I also learned a great deal from my peers.” Gonzalez says the classroom experience taught her how to be a better leader and develop a plan for the dealership’s future. “My peers helped me take the concepts we learned in class and how to apply them at our dealerships,” she said. “I would encourage anyone considering the program to enroll. This is a crucial time in the auto industry,” says Gonzalez. “And this program is just what we need in order to plan for a successful future.” In an uncertain market, it’s difficult to consider making both the financial and time commitments that are required to participate in this program, Nilsson says. “But this uncertainty is actually the best reason to get involved,” he says. “Every week spent at Babson produced something that could be brought back to the store and implemented. The program enables participants to interpret, plan and react to whatever circumstances come our way.” “The program provides the student with the ability to see beyond our industry and look for opportunities and trends that can be used to improve our own opportunities,” Nilsson added. Although graduating from Babson’s executive education program will not, in itself, be a guarantee of success, says NADA’s Lyboldt, learning the basics of leadership, management and entrepreneurship can increase the likelihood of graduates being able to survive tough economic times and identify and take advantage of opportunities when they arise. To learn more about the NADA Academy leadership development programs, including the Dealer Executive Education at Babson College, call (800) 252-6232 x 5 or e-mail dealeracademy@nada.org .

Muinos brings over seventeen years auto industry experience and OEM insight to leading auto dealer CRM provider

San Clemente, CA - Sept 2, 2009 - Leading automotive CRM provider DealerSocket, member of the Inc. 5000 and winner of the Red Herring North American 100 award, announced today the addition of industry pro Reuben Muinos to the DealerSocket management team as Director of Business Development. In his new role, Muinos will focus on continuing to grow DealerSocket's OEM relationships and building additional business with large dealer groups.

Prior to joining DealerSocket, Reuben Muinos was with the Galpin Motors organization for a combined 17 years. In addition to being the number one volume Ford dealer in world for 19 consecutive years, Galpin is one of the most honored dealership groups in automotive history. Reuben has worked in many facets during his tenure at Galpin including E-commerce Director and technology advisor for all of Galpin's franchises which includes Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda, Jaguar, Volvo, Honda, Aston Martin and Saturn. As e-Commerce Director, Reuben propelled Galpin Ford to the number one e-Commerce store in the nation according to Ford Motor Company. In addition to his experience at Galpin, Reuben has been a featured contributor to many top tier industry magazines, conferences and seminars. He has traveled the country providing advice to dealerships, OEMs and dealer groups on how to best use technology to drive sales. "Reuben is an incredible asset and DealerSocket is very pleased to have a top notch industry veteran of his caliber join our team," said Matt Redden, DealerSocket Vice President of Sales. "DealerSocket has seen tremendous growth in our OEM and dealer group business. We have a focused offering for OEMs that enables better communication with dealers and visibility for the dealer and OEM to better interact and serve customers.  With Reuben on board and solely focused on building these relationships we anticipate continued growth and success in both areas." ABOUT DEALERSOCKET With the power to manage sales, service, CSI and marketing, DealerSocket's Customer Relationship Management solution is a single tool enabling all automotive dealership departments to achieve optimum results. DealerSocket provides dealers with the most comprehensive automotive CRM solution available today, allowing dealers to save critical time and money, while also increasing sales staff effectiveness.  More than 50,000 users at nearly 1000 dealerships throughout the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Australia now leverage DealerSocket's automotive CRM solution to optimize and manage marketing activities, sales processes, customer satisfaction and retention, and service department operations.  Based in San Clemente, California, DealerSocket has won numerous awards and industry recognition, including being named Best Overall Company globally in the 2008 International Business Awards.  DealerSocket is recognized by Deloitte & Touche as one of the fastest growing companies in North America.  More information is available at www.dealersocket.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:

• Has a working phone number for the person who submitted the lead.
• Represents an active, in-market consumer.
• Originates from an adult who is 18 years of age or older.
• Is not a duplicate of a lead provided by Dealix in the last 30 days.
• Is not 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." 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 the 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." 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 Pledge^TM: a distinct set of criteria that defines a quality lead and an invitation to use Hassle Free Lead Return^TM 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 Marketplace^SM. 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.

Program provides incentives for auto dealers to "trade-in" their antiquated CRM system for the DealerSocket Automotive CRM solution

San Clemente, CA - August 27, 2009 - DealerSocket, a leading auto dealer CRM provider and winner of the Red Herring North American 100, announced today a program that offers up to $4500 in incentives for automotive dealers who would like to switch to the DealerSocket auto CRM solution and turn off  their current antiquated and inefficient CRM system. DealerSocket's on-demand automotive CRM gives dealers cutting-edge tools that increase efficiencies throughout the dealership, saving them time and money and improving staff effectiveness, ultimately resulting in increased sales.  With DealerSocket's Dealer Cash for CRM Clunkers, auto dealers can take full advantage of all of the benefits gained by switching to DealerSocket while being rewarded for abandoning their outdated CRM.

"In the spirit of the government's 'Cash for Clunkers' program, DealerSocket is proud to offer this incentive to new customers for the next ninety days," said Matt Redden, DealerSocket Vice President of Sales. "Outdated CRM solutions are causing auto dealers to waste time, energy and money, much like the older, non fuel-efficient cars they see consumers bringing in for trade. This program allows a dealer to get a substantial discount and 'trade-up' to a new and more efficient tool - the DealerSocket Automotive CRM solution. Auto dealers who use the DealerSocket CRM have experienced incredible results in marketing, sales, service and CSI departments. Examples of current customers who have realized significant impact include:

• Porsche of Stevens Creek increased service department visits by 29% in one month through targeted service marketing
• Allen Cadillac sold three vehicles after launching a DealerSocket Call Center campaign to just 85 individuals
• Jack Maxton Chevy has doubled the efficiency of their business development center by using DealerSocket to manage the workflow of all leads

Effective immediately, new DealerSocket customers will be able to take advantage of special discounts. Discounts will be based on retail price and is subject to approval by an officer of DealerSocket.  The program is valid for all new agreements signed prior to November 28, 2009 and cannot be combined with any other offers or incentives. For complete details, please call 866-523-8807 or visit www.dealersocket.com.

ABOUT DEALERSOCKET With the power to manage sales, service, CSI and marketing, DealerSocket's Customer Relationship Management solution is a single tool enabling all automotive dealership departments to achieve optimum results. DealerSocket provides auto dealers with the most comprehensive CRM solution available today, allowing dealers to save critical time and money, while also increasing sales staff effectiveness.  More than 50,000 users at nearly 1000 auto dealerships throughout the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Australia now leverage DealerSocket's CRM solution to optimize and manage marketing activities, sales processes, customer satisfaction and retention, and service department operations.  Based in San Clemente, California, DealerSocket has won numerous awards and industry recognition, including being named Best Overall Company globally in the 2008 International Business Awards.  DealerSocket is recognized by Deloitte & Touche as one of the fastest growing companies in North America.  More information is available at www.dealersocket.com.

New Case Study Shows Auto Dealers Embracing DrivingSales' Social Media Platform to Collaborate, Survive and Thrive in the Recession SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- DrivingSales (www.drivingsales.com), the auto industry's leading social media platform and largest online community, today announced that it has grown its member base an average of 30% a month since launching nationally in June 2008. Until just over a year ago, the auto and dealer industries lacked a true B2B social media platform and user-generated vendor/technology rating system, but DrivingSales.com has quickly established itself as the most read, fully-collaborative and participatory automotive trade media property - now boasting thousands of members and hundreds of vendor ratings. And a just-released case study (available at www.drivingsales.com/casestudy) reveals how this neutral, open social platform has been critical in helping dealers, vendors, technology providers and automakers survive one of the worst years in the industry's history - including the recent challenges of Cash for Clunkers. "While the largely negative media attention on the automotive crisis gives the impression that our industry is too stuck in its old ways to innovate and evolve, the rapid adoption of DrivingSales proves that stereotype to be absolutely wrong," said DrivingSales Founder and CEO Jared Hamilton.  "Dealers by the thousands are using the most progressive media technologies to band together, collaborate to solve problems and find success despite the tremendous uphill climb they are facing.  The growth of DrivingSales speaks volumes about the resilience of our industry and the unique power of social technologies." Created as a private automotive business community in 2003 by Hamilton to network his NADA Dealer Academy class, 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. What DrivingSales Provides the Auto & Dealer Industries: * Networking: Users create profiles and manage industry connections using the online hub to receive automatic updates on their network, to find opportunities, recruit, and stay in the 'best practice' loop, etc. * Vendor Ratings: Bombarded with vendor calls each week, dealers struggle to make smart spending decisions. The industry's first neutral, comprehensive vendor rating forum features real-time peer reviews and honest competitor comparisons - searchable by category, company or rating. Vendors also have the opportunity to provide review feedback and showcase products and services. *Knowledge Base: A rich library and blog community, providing access to community-rated strategies, best practices, videos, interviews, newsletters, problem-solving groups and forums. *Social News Feed: A news and information 'waterfall' that helps users connect with, and rank, the latest and most useful news in an industry in critical flux, while at the same time driving traffic back to those news sources. *Advanced filters: Users can drill down to find the precise knowledge they're seeking. For instance, a user can now select a category like 'Fixed Ops,' 'New Cars,' or 'Marketing,' then select an action like 'Grow Sales' or 'Cut Costs' and the technology isolates, categorizes and presents all the site's rich information on that topic. Case Studies Reveal Real-World Impact On Dealers, Vendors, Consultants: The just-released DrivingSales automotive social media case study - (www.drivingsales.com/casestudy) - underscores the direct impact the social network is having on its diverse user-constituents, whether dealerships, vendors and technology providers, or industry consultants and experts. In the context of the severe economic challenges facing dealerships today (plummeting car sales, an industry reporting no profits on new-vehicle sales), dealers report they're turning to the site daily to educate themselves on what the most successful businesses are doing right, to identify and evaluate vendor and technology providers, and stay abreast of industry trends. For instance, Hyundai of St. Augustine in Florida consults the site daily and implemented a super-successful consumer review platform as a result of practices learned on DrivingSales.  Says Andrew DiFeo, General Manager: "One of our industry's biggest challenges is consumer trust, and our high volume of positive customer reviews provides us with tremendous credibility."  DrivingSales has also been critical in the dealership's Internet and SEO strategies that have increased web traffic by 40%. "Because of things we've learned at DrivingSales' blogs and forums, we've nearly doubled our monthly sales...and are having one of our best months, when the industry is experiencing one of its worst." But perhaps nowhere has the real-time relevance of DrivingSales had a greater impact than in helping DiFeo navigate the challenges of Cash for Clunkers: "The DrivingSales community was letting people know the pitfalls...It was comforting to see we were all facing these challenges together...I wish the people from NHTSA were coming through DrivingSales forums so they could understand first-hand, from those on the ground, the unique challenges of Cash for Clunkers!" Prestige Volvo of New Jersey reports the site was invaluable in their search for the best SEO provider, which resulted in an extraordinary increase in their Web traffic. "With all the forums and postings, not only was I able to get more educated about SEO in general, but the precise vendor ratings gave me an invaluable industry reference point on how each vendor was performing and who I should be talking to," said Prestige's General Manager, Matt Haiken. And LorMar Auto Group's ISM, Andy Warner, sees Driving Sales as a wider barometer of the future: "By utilizing DrivingSales, we are actually experiencing what the future of the consumer experience in automotive could, and most likely will, be like." Industry vendors and technology providers, also severely challenged by the economy, similarly report powerful benefits from DrivingSales.com - concurring that the forum provides unique visibility for vendors big and small through blogging and ratings forums. For instance, Brian Pasch of Pasch Consulting likens the forum to a 'Consumer Reports' for the auto industry, and has found the best-practice blogging opportunities and merit-based peer reviews to have been a serious boon for his Internet marketing business - while noting that the open forum is spurring the entire vendor industry to perform better. And Paul Rushing of ismintraining.com - who says that 90% of his clients resulted from his presence on DrivingSales - views the site "as an eHarmony for dealers and service-providers." Industry analyst, and former V.P. at J.D. Power & Associates and Executive Editor at Kelly Blue Book, Charlie Vogelheim, of Vogelheim Ventures, summarizes: "Driving Sales occupies a unique position in the auto industry...a gathering place for dealers, vendors and auto professionals to separate the wheat from the chaff, share in-the-trenches insight, and give living testament to the fact that there are still real success stories in our industry - of dealers utilizing new technologies to put themselves ahead of the current downward curve." Because of the site's rapid adoption, the extensive feedback from the network, and the company's ongoing investment in R&D, DrivingSales launched an enhanced new technology platform just this month. The only automotive social media solution specifically built to meet the needs of automotive professionals, DrivingSales' completely redesigned, proprietary architecture was built entirely from the ground up, unlike most social media sites that run on, and recycle, plug-in apps. http://pitch.pe/20650 LEARN MORE: To access the DrivingSales Social Media Case Study click here: www.drivingsales.com/casestudy. About DrivingSales DrivingSales.com (www.drivingsales.com) is the largest and premier 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 knowledge base; 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 Angela Jacobson (Angela@mwebbcom.com), mWEBB Communications

OAK BROOK, IL (August 17, 2009) - vAuto has been named one of the fastest-growing, privately held companies in America by Inc. magazine in their annual Inc. 500 list. A provider of high-tech used car inventory management systems, vAuto ranked 22nd on the list overall and second among all software companies. "We are very excited to be part of the Inc. 500 list," said Keith Jezek, vAuto's president and CEO. "We have experienced unprecedented growth in the face of significant industry challenges, due to the acceptance of vAuto's new approach to managing used vehicle operations. It is also a testament to the talent and hard work of our team, all of whom share a passion to help dealers achieve competitive dominance and record results in their used car market." "If you want to know which companies are going to change the world, look at the Inc. 500," said Inc. editor Jane Berentson. "These are the most dynamic, fast-growth companies in the nation, the ones finding innovative solutions to problems, creating smart systems, and inventing products we soon discover we can't live without. The Inc. 500 list is Inc. magazine's tribute to American business ingenuity and ambition." Since 1982, businesspeople have eagerly sought out Inc.'s annual ranking of fastest-growing privately held companies in the U.S. The list gives readers insight in to the hottest trends and emerging themes in the evolving economy available nowhere else, the companies on the Inc. 500 have always been ahead of the curve. The 2009 Inc. 500, unveiled in the September issue of Inc. magazine (available on newsstands August 17 to November 15) and on Inc.com, reported aggregate revenue of $18.4 billion-up significantly from last year's $13.7 billion-and a median three-year growth rate of 880.5 percent. The companies on this year's list are also responsible for creating more than 55,000 jobs since their founding, making the Inc. 500 perhaps the best example of the impact private, fast-growing companies can have on the overall U.S. economy. The largest company on the list, flat-panel-TV maker Vizio, broke the $2 billion revenue mark. Complete results of the Inc. 500, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found on Inc.com. Despite the ongoing recession, the 2009 Inc. 500 offers a glimpse of the future of the U.S. economy. In the health sector, which saw aggregate revenue of $1.1 billion and a 917 percent median growth rate, businesses are moving forward on cancer and stem-cell research, clinical trials, and medication management. More than 25 percent of companies in the energy sector ($2.5 billion aggregate revenue; 942 percent median growth rate) focus on solar and other alternative sources. Fewer than a third of retailers ($356 million aggregate revenue; 914 percent median growth rate) have even a single brick-and-mortar store. And the number of companies providing technical services to the various branches of the federal government continues to rise. About vAuto (www.vauto.com) 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 and stocking systems. The company's chairman and founder, Dale Pollak maintains a blog for the discussion of used-car trends at dalepollak.com Methodology The 2009 Inc. 500 measures revenue growth from 2005 through 2008. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by the first week of 2005, and therefore able to show four full calendar years of sales. Additionally, they had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for profit, and independent-not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies-as of December 31, 2008. (Since then, a number of companies on the list have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2005 is $200,000; the minimum for 2008 is $2 million. About Inc. Magazine Founded in 1979 and acquired in 2005 by Mansueto Ventures LLC, Inc.(www.inc.com) is the only major business magazine dedicated exclusively to owners and managers of growing private companies that delivers real solutions for today's innovative company builders. With a total paid circulation of 712,961, Inc. provides hands-on tools and market-tested strategies for managing people, finances, sales, marketing, and technology. Visit us online at Inc.com

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida – AutoUSA, the industry’s leading provider of the highest quality, Internet-generated consumer leads to auto dealers nationwide, today announced the launch of a new service that allows consumers shopping online for a vehicle to immediately contact dealers by phone when viewing a classified vehicle listing. The new phone lead service is part of AutoUSA’s used car inventory lead program, and available for vehicle listings on sites such as kbb.com, AOL Autos and Overstock.com. “Down funnel buyers that are researching vehicles often want to contact the dealer by phone if they’re interested in a listing – which makes phone leads extremely valuable,” said Phil DuPree, president of AutoUSA. “It also gives dealers who include phone numbers on their used vehicle listings a competitive edge in the marketplace.” Through the new service, AutoUSA will provide unique phone numbers for each dealership. Incoming consumer phone calls are automatically tracked and routed to the dealership for handling and recorded for the dealer’s review. Dealers are only charged for the call if the consumer hasn’t phoned the dealership within the last 30 days, and if the call is longer than 65 seconds. “Customers can call a dealership for reasons unrelated to a specific vehicle. We don’t want dealers paying for those types of calls,” says Mike Shawd, AutoUSA’s Director of Sales, who adds “This new program ensures dealers connect with customers quickly and at their peak level of interest, and that they only pay for these high quality phone leads.” AutoUSA’s used car inventory lead program lets dealers post their used vehicle inventory at top automotive sites such as kbb.com, AOL Autos, CarPerks.com, Overstock.com, AutoMedia.com, CarDomain.com and AutoUSA’s used car Web site, AutoUSAused.com. Used car inventory data is pulled through the dealership’s existing polling partners, such as Dealer Specialties, DMI, HomeNet, and many more with no additional effort on the dealer’s part. Dealers who sign up for the program can have their used vehicle inventory appearing online within a week. The program includes a pay-per-lead pricing structure where allowed by law, in which dealers only pay for the leads they receive each month. Dealers can opt out of the program at any time with a 30-day notice. AutoUSA’s used car inventory lead program employs the same stringent filtering and scrubbing process used to generate its award-winning new car leads. The system eliminates duplicates and filters out leads with missing or incorrect contact information such as phone and email addresses. For more information on AutoUSA’s used car inventory pay-per-lead program, call 800-243-9935. About AutoUSA (www.AutoUSA.com) AutoUSA, Inc., is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and a subsidiary of AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE: AN), the largest retail automotive company in the United States. AutoUSA is an independent third-party provider of leads to more than 4,000 dealerships. The company has built its success on a combination of advanced web-based technology and a network that includes the country’s most well respected online automotive resources, including Edmunds.com, Kelley Blue Book, AOL Autos, MSN Autos, Yahoo! Autos, NADA Analytical Services Group, AutoVantage.com, AutoNation.com and AutoUSA.com. The vast majority of Ward’s Top 100 eDealers use AutoUSA. More information is available online at http://www.AutoUSA.com

vAuto has further integrated vehicle history information from Carfax into its used vehicle software application. With this current improvement, vAuto dealers get additional VIN specific details – including clean title and Carfax1-Owner indicators – to find out how similar vehicles are being marketed online by other dealers. 

 

About vAuto (www.vauto.com) 

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 and stocking systems. The company’s chairman and founder, Dale Pollak maintains a blog for the discussion of used-car trends at www.dalepollak.com.  

 

About Carfax (www.carfax.com)

 

 

 

Driving Sales' New Customizable Architecture Makes It Easier For Dealers To Access Critical Information They Need to Survive and Thrive

DrivingSales (www.drivingsales.com), the auto industry’s leading social media platform and largest online community, today announced a dramatic upgrade to its current platform in response to the explosive growth the site has experienced since its national launch one year ago. Now, dealers and auto industry professionals will be able to instantly find and share information from across the site’s robust library of knowledge – putting the most relevant information they’re seeking - whether ‘best practices,’ blog or forum postings, industry news, vendor ratings, video, etc. – right at their fingertips.

“Given the severe challenges the industry faces, our new platform was expressly designed to make it far easier and faster for the industry to access the best, most targeted mission critical knowledge, to help increase profitability, and survive and thrive in tough times,” said DrivingSales CEO and Founder Jared Hamilton.

The only automotive social media solution specifically built to meet the needs of automotive professionals, DrivingSales’ completely redesigned, proprietary architecture was built entirely from the ground up, unlike most social media sites that run on, and recycle, plug-in apps.

Critical features of the all-new platform include greater scalability, a sleek new interface including much more dynamic profiles and “friending,” significantly faster processing, and advanced filters that allow users to drill down to find the precise knowledge they’re seeking. For instance, a user can now select a category like ‘Fixed Ops,’ ‘New Cars,’ or “Marketing,’ then select an action like ‘Grow Sales’ or ‘Cut Costs’ and the technology isolates, categorizes and presents all the site’s rich information on that topic.

“With its new functionality, DrivingSales will serve an ever greater role in putting information, solutions and 20-group style networking and collaborative problem-solving right at the fingertips of dealers and other industry professionals – and without them ever having to leave the office or showroom floor,” concluded Hamilton.

Created as a private automotive business community in 2003 by Hamilton to network his NADA Dealer Academy class, and opened nationally in 2008, DrivingSales’ mission is to marry the power of technology with the power of community to provide dealers, dealership managers and other industry professionals with a vendor-neutral, online environment where they can collaborate and share best practices, industry trends and news.

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.

Costa Mesa, CA -- With the media already heralding the end of the recession, OneCommand today announced an upcoming webinar specifically designed to help dealerships navigate what promises to be a challenging ‘recovery’, including critical best practices for compliance with new FTC rules coming into effect on September 1st. The webinar, being presented at no cost and open to dealerships, manufacturers and automotive industry influencers, will be conducted on August 20th, 2009 at 10:00am PST, and will feature strategic advice from dealers and marketing experts, as well as compliance advice from an FTC expert. “As the nation enters recovery, consumers, who were driven by price in the recession, will start placing greater emphasis on the purchase or service experience. Dealers who recognize and adapt to these changes in consumer behavior will have new and exciting opportunities to generate customer loyalty,” said OneCommand CEO Al Babbington. “By focusing now on three basic needs of the 'recovery' consumer - process simplification, going ‘green’ and customer personalization – dealers can increase owner loyalty, positioning them for greater profitability and equity value as vehicle demand increases in the post-recession economy.” Babbington also noted that understanding the new FTC rules, which come into effect on September 1st, will be an important and inextricable part of working with the post-recession consumer. The new FTC amendment takes another great step toward eliminating unwanted, solicitous calls. These added regulations provide dealers an excellent opportunity to increase response to timely and relevant communications soon to be free from the clutter of unwanted “boiler room” type messaging. In the upcoming webinar, OneCommand will discuss an all-new series of best practice communications to create greater consumer loyalty and ensure total compliance. OneCommand will also provide access to a Dealership Guide to FTC compliance for all participants that register. “At OneCommand we’re active supporters of the new FTC legislation which is why we’ve created a user-friendly guide to help dealers navigate the rules,” continued Babbington. “Nothing destroys a potential or existing customer relationship faster than an unwanted solicitation, or an irrelevant message in an inappropriate format. These new rules are great news for compliant marketers because the overwhelming and negative clutter of solicitous telemarketing undermines the meaningful, informational ones that are the bedrock of building relationships with your customer base.” Titled “Selling to Post-recession Car Buying Customers: Its NOT all About Price,” the OneCommand-sponsored webinar will provide a profile of the post-recession consumer and equip dealerships with actionable and specific strategies to position them to meet the needs of this new consumer profile, as well as best practices for generating loyal consumer behavior, including workshops on PURLs, (personal Web pages), preference management / permission marketing, social and interactive media, and compliant, multichannel communication. The webinars will be helmed by Babbington, Ronald A.J. Fortt, OneCommand’s Vice President of Training & Development and Leonard Traficanti, OneCommand’s Chief Compliance Officer. To register for the OneCommand webinar go to: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/405084258 or for more information call 866.567.8577. About OneCommand (www.onecommand.com) OneCommand is a leading provider of integrated and automated, personalized communications designed to streamline work-flow, reduce marketing expense and generate superior customer response. Focusing on the delivery of the right message, at the right time, and through the right channel, OneCommand has rapidly expanded its market penetration by helping its clients realize significant improvements in loyalty and retention, frequency of visit and overall profitability. In 2008 the Company delivered over 150 million personalized communications on behalf of over 4,000 clients throughout North America. OneCommand’s proven, web-based Relationship Marketing Solutions enable customers to leverage the power of their voice through a multitude of channels, including voice messaging, mobile messaging, e-mail marketing, live call center services, direct mail and a variety of two-way communication streams. By providing a seamless solution for communication from shop to buy to service and repurchase, OneCommand offers the opportunity to coordinate a unified message to customers. This approach, paired with custom automation of timely, relevant and consistent communications, has led to significant reductions in marketing expense and even greater improvements in the customer experience. For more information call 1.800.814.6820, email lleugers@onecommand.com or visit www.onecommand.com.