Buying a Car Online

by Sandy Berger

If you are old enough, you may remember the excitement that came each fall as the automobile manufacturers prepared to unveil next year's new models to the public. In showrooms, new creations were shrouded in tarps until the official announcement date. The mounting excitement culminated as the vehicles were uncovered and the thrilling  new features were shown. In the fifties and sixties, every year was exciting. One year cars appeared wrapped in chrome, the next there were wonderful two-tone colorations; then came the legendary "fins," followed by the now-famous muscle cars.  

Somehow during the next few decades car buying became boring and uneventful. All the cars began to look alike, and the exciting unveilings were a thing of the past. Recently, however, auto manufacturers have taken a definite step towards reinstating some of that old fashioned excitement into the process of purchasing an automobile.

Interactive Experience

With the involvement of the Internet, automobile manufacturers have an opportunity to create an entirely new and unique car buying experience. For example, General Motors, the nation's largest maker of cars and trucks, plans to let customers watch their new cars being built. By this fall, customers who order their vehicle through GM's Web site, GMbuypower.com will receive an e-mail when their vehicle is on the production line. Future owners will be given a link to a Web site where they can view the production process. Purchasers will actually be able to see their vehicle as it rolls off the assembly line.

Internet Only Offers 

Volkswagen of America recently instituted an interesting "Internet only" offer. Limited editions of the first of two new colors of the recently redesigned Beetle, vapor blue and reflex yellow, can be ordered, but only online.

What could be more exciting to the American public than saving time and money? In years past, a consumer had to go from dealer to dealer searching for the right car at the right price. The average consumer was at a disadvantage in that he or she never knew the exact amount the car dealer had paid for the vehicle that they were considering. The Internet has changed all that. Edmunds.com is a site that offers car-buying tips as well as the dealers' invoice price for a vehicle. As other Web sites started publicizing dealer costs, even the National Automobile Dealers Association, a trade group for car dealers, went online with listings of invoice prices, inventories of new and used vehicles, and a directory of dealers searchable by distance.

General Motors recently launched gmtickettoride.com a Web site that offers cash rebates of up to $750 on selected cars and sport utility vehicles to Web surfers. If other manufacturers follow this trend of online specials, buying a car online could prove to be a very cost effective method of shopping.

Other Services 

Other car buying services abound. At Autos.com. you can select and order a vehicle online and arrange for pickup or delivery. Autobytel.com is an online car-buying service that puts prospective buyers in touch with local dealers who will provide them just the vehicle they want for a no-haggle price. Kelly Blue Book at http://www.kbb.com will help you determine the trade-in value of your old vehicle and/or purchase a used vehicle. Visiting any of these sites can put the consumer in a much-improved position to bargain and save some money.

Car manufacturers are now including the Internet in every aspect of their business. At both Ford's Web site and Chevy's Web site,  you can build your own car selecting options right down to the color of the interior, obtain financing and leasing information, and locate a dealer that you can then e-mail for a quote.

Buying Online 

The auto industry and the Internet have proved so compatible that soon you may be able to complete the entire car buying process online. Ford and Toyota have already established test Web sites to let consumers in several regions of Canada log on, choose their vehicle, get a price for their trade-in, complete financing arrangements, and place an order. The order is placed through a participating dealer but the process is handled entirely online. Users of these test sites are giving the process high marks.

Most automobile manufacturers are aiming to allow customers to go online where they can quickly and easily buy a car with only a few clicks of a mouse. One of the beauties of this type of Web-based purchasing is that consumers can specify exactly what they want. Consequently manufacturers will produce not only more customized vehicles but also more of what the consumer wants. This may eventually result in a built-to-order scenario where one could choose, for example, a Bose sound system, a Volkswagen body, and a Mercedes engine. Well, that may take a few years, but for right now, I sure do love those Volkswagen Beetles.  Do you think I could get one with a two-tone paint job?