Car Buying Sites - Get Online Quotes
First step - Get new car configured
Play around a little and see which one suits you best. Build a car configuration
that you like as your baseline configuration. Print it out and place it in your
quote folder.
Submit your configuration through the site for dealer quotes. You’ll receive
email responses from the Fleet Manager or the Internet sales
contact at participating dealerships.
You want those contacts for your Buying Campaign, so save their emails in a
special email folder.
Don’t worry about entering your email and phone information. They won’t harass you like
the retail salesmen do. These contacts are the high-volume, low-margin sales
department guys that you want to have competing for your business.
Best New Car Websites
In alphabetical order, here are the top ten sites we recommend using for research and
configuring your new car. Click on the site name to go directly to your selected sites.
Autobytel - Comprehensive, easy-to-use site that gives you multiple
ways to find the car you want: manufacturer, vehicle type, price range, and feature choices.
Auto Web - Good site for browsing by make and/or category. Time-saving
feature “Pros vs Cons” gives you a capsule look at what’s to like about each model.
Provides good details about what you’ll have to pay extra for in standard vs. optional equipment.
Car Smart - Selection by manufacturer and category. Compares
standard features and base price to other cars in its class. Offers nice
download of your selected car information - brochure, pricing details, options, etc.
Car.com - Site is easy to navigate. You can quickly find MSRP on any
base model. However, this site assumes that you already know the car maker’s
model variations very well. That means getting specific configurations is
confusing, so don't use this one first.
*****Cars.com -
Excellent site with informative articles, vehicle
profiles and buying guides. This site shows accurate dealer invoice pricing
for your base model and for all options right next to MSRP. Very easy-to-use configuration with
point-and-click buttons. Nice touch: Shows your selected color choice in picture
so you can easily compare color options.
CarPrices.com - New site with quick and easy quote process. Very fast loading and easy to use interface. Also handles used car buying and selling. Gives nice selection of dealers in major metropolitan areas for contacts for your Fax Buying Campaign.
Consumer Guide - Good information site from a company that reviews lots
of products besides automobiles. Has easy to print reports and complete option
lists with MSRP and “invoice price.” Doesn’t show big discounts, but still
provides excellent info for the folder. Very worthwhile site because they
include everything in their detailed list of options.
Edmunds - Select by category, make, price range, vehicle type, or
monthly payment. Lots of good information, but site is slow loading in several
critical areas. Has nice overall rebate info, but maddeningly frustrating to get
to it with repetitive clicks and page reloads galore. If you go there, be sure
to print out the detailed rebate info.
IntelliChoice - Select by manufacturer or category. Lots of drill down
clicks versus drop-down menus which produce faster results. Does a good job of
showing which options are included in a package. Nice summary page of your
configuration that’s printable. Site shows standard list of factory-to-consumer
rebates and financing deals.
Kelley Blue Book - Select by manufacturer or category. Good detail on
all the options. Great site for used car values. Be sure to get your trade-in
wholesale and retail blue book values. Nice touch: Printable price quote does show
all factory-to-consumer rebate information.
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