Buying Your Car Online

Written by Terry J. Schultz    Monday, 09 February 2009

To gauge how good a deal you can get using the web to help you buy a car, we examined five of the most popular sites that let shoppers solicit dealer bids. First, we evaluated the sites' privacy policies, ease of use, and quality of information. We found them generally satisfactory. Then, to assess how well the web sites work, we commissioned a panel of 1,056 online shoppers to request quotes for six different vehicles - a minivan, a sport-utility vehicle, a luxury import, a sports sedan, and two midpriced sedans - each equipped with specific options. We specified two critical requirements. First, dealers who responded had to be located within 100 miles of the shopper. Second, we asked dealers to deliver the quotes by e-mail or phone within two business days. On the first score, the sites worked fairly well. Of dealers who responded, more than two-thirds were reasonably close to our shoppers. But in other important ways, the results were disappointing, though perhaps not surprising, for an industry still in its infancy. For starters, only 35 percent of our shoppers received a quote within the 48-hour limit; 11 percent experienced technical glitches with the web site or their own computer. When prices were produced, they were often not for precisely the cars we specified. In fact, 22 percent of the shoppers were told they would have to visit the dealership to get a firm price. That defeats one of the main aims of online shopping - namely, fending off pushy salespeople. Only two out of three dealers who responded said they had the car or could get their hands on it quickly. Prices were patchy. None of our five web sites consistently produced high or low prices. Overall the price quotes they generated fell between 5 and 10 percent below MSRP, reasonably competitive for some models but pricey for others. Despite the problems they encountered, 60 percent of our shoppers told us they would consider shopping on the web site they tested, which suggests that when the online options mature and dealers become more responsive, consumers might well prefer the Internet to showrooms. Guide to the site evaluations. Our Ratings of car-referral web sites are based on an independent judgment by our expert consultant and on the results of a specially commissioned panel of 1,056 online shoppers. Policies is based on a reading of the companies' privacy, security, and customer-service practices, as stated on the web site. Usability includes measures of a site's design, search features, and ease of ordering information. Content judges the quality and depth of information available at the site. Timely quotes indicates the percentage of our shoppers who received a reply to a request for a bid from a dealer within two business days. No local dealer indicates the percentage of shoppers who were informed that no dealer representing the requested model could be found within 100 miles.

Last Updated ( Monday, 09 February 2009 )