More CBLT data.......Number of Car Dealers Online Rising
By REUTERS
ETROIT -- More U.S. new vehicle
dealers are finding the Internet a
friendly place to do business.
Eighty-three percent of all dealers have Web
sites, up from 74 percent last year, according
to a survey by the National Automobile
Dealers Association (NADA), which
represents 19,300 franchised new-car
dealers in the United States.
Sixty-two percent of dealers with Web sites
have completed sales online, the first time
NADA began tracking that measure, a
spokesman said.
``This shows how dealers are embracing the
Internet as a new means of marketing
products and interacting with customers,''
NADA Chairman Harold Wells, a new
vehicle dealer in Whiteville, N.C., said in a
statement.
The survey showed that 98 percent of dealer
Web sites are interactive, allowing the
customer to send e-mail, order online or
obtain financing online.
Dealerships that have been operating Web sites since 1995 generate 13
new vehicle sales a month, while stores that launched Web sites in 1999 or
this year generate just five new vehicle sales a month from Internet leads,
the survey said.
``The more they work at it, the better they get at it,'' NADA chief
economist Paul Taylor said. ``There's a learning curve.''
NADA has surveyed dealer Internet use since 1997. |
