DrivingSales Acquires Revenue Guru; Dennis Galbraith to Head Research and Data for DrivingSales

SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — DrivingSales announced today that it has acquired consulting, training and research company Revenue Guru.  As part of the acquisition, Revenue Guru founder and veteran automotive digital marketing expert Dennis Galbraith will join DrivingSales to lead and develop its research and data division.

“Without question, Dennis Galbraith is one of the leading marketing thinkers and analysts in our industry and, along with Revenue Guru, brings further depth and breadth to our training and business intelligence initiatives,” said DrivingSales CEO and Founder Jared Hamilton.  “No one understands marketing data research better, has a clearer view of trends (before they unfold), or knows how to drive traffic better than Dennis. That, coupled with his uncompromising integrity and commitment to dealers, will ensure that our research and data initiatives lead the industry in delivering unbiased actionable business intelligence for Tier 3 retailers.”

Hamilton noted that the acquisition of Revenue Guru is part of DrivingSales’ ongoing mission to expedite and improve information flow to car dealers in a digital universe that moves at the speed of light.

Founded in 2009, Revenue Guru provides consulting, research and interactive training programs for dealer groups, manufacturers, and vendors and is guided by Galbraith’s over 11 years of experience at the center of automotive digital marketing, including tenures running the automotive internet division at J.D. Power and Associates and as Vice President of Advertising Products and Training at Cars.com.

“I am proud to join a company driven by a passion for helping dealers, by a belief in the power of data and research to drive informed and profitable decisions and, importantly, a company that doesn’t wait for the market to move but seeks to move the market,” said Galbraith. “Marketing at the Tier 3 level has long needed a research organization dedicated to it — one that can go beyond opinions and deliver the hard facts and actionable solutions from an unbiased platform. The time has come, and DrivingSales is that organization — I cannot wait to start delivering on its promise!”

In addition to his tenure at J.D. Power and Associates and Cars.com, Galbraith has taught marketing for NADA Academy and is widely known for his dynamic speeches and videos as well as his informative writing. Galbraith served the auto industry through the 1990s as the owner of Dennis Galbraith Marketing Services and taught marketing at the graduate and undergraduate level for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

About DrivingSales.com
DrivingSales is the auto industry’s fastest-growing, most influential trade media property focused on delivering actionable profit-building information and business intelligence to auto retailers and industry professionals. Approximately, one in every four dealerships in the United States has a registered member in the DrivingSales community.

DrivingSales’ information network includes flagship property DrivingSales.com , the world’s largest car dealer social network; DrivingSalesTV (www.drivingsalestv.com), an interactive web channel which helps car dealers and auto professionals keep tabs on their industry and emerging technologies 24/7; DrivingSales University, an on-demand training platform where dealerships learn the latest web strategies from top e-commerce experts; DrivingSales Executive Summit (DSES) the industry’s leading conference where progressive dealers collaborate and learn from world renowned experts, and DrivingSales Dealership Innovation Guide, a quarterly free publication featuring case studies of the industry’s most innovative dealerships, solutions and best practices.

DrivingSales encourages innovation and excellence in the industry with its annual Dealer Satisfaction and Innovation Cup Awards, whose winners are determined solely by the dealer community. Founded by Jared Hamilton, a third generation car dealer, DrivingSales won a “Top 25 Under Five” award from the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum (UVEF), was named a 2011 Fast 50 “Emerging Eight” company by Utah Business magazine, and received an Interactive Media Award (IMA) in 2011 for Outstanding Achievement in the ‘Automobile’ website category. Additionally, DrivingSales was named one of ten social media gambits for 2009 by Automotive News and one of the Top 10 Companies to Watch in 2010 by Auto Success Magazine.

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WALTHAM, MA – November 14, 2011 – DealerRater, the premier car dealer review web site, today announced continued expansion with the launch of a Canada-specific web site dedicated to auto consumers and car dealers throughout Canada.  The new site will serve as a central collection point for consumer reviews of Canadian car dealerships.  Using DealerRater’s new site, Canadian auto consumers will be able to search for car dealerships, read existing reviews of car dealers, or post their own descriptive review of a car dealership experience.

“Our new Canada site addresses the immediate need for auto consumers across Canada to be able to easily research and find Canadian car dealers that are committed to quality customer service,” said Chip Grueter, president of DealerRater.  “With the launch of this Canada-specific dealer review site, we are excited to expand the DealerRater community and build lasting partnerships with additional Canadian dealerships.”

DealerRater was founded in 2002 as North America’s first review web site dedicated solely to automotive dealerships.  In the last two years, the site has demonstrated record growth in the number of dealer reviews as well as web site visitors.  In addition, the volume of Canadian dealers and reviews represented in DealerRater’s database has grown at a rate of 3,711% and 1,342%, respectively, over the past year.

Dealers throughout the U.S. and Canada have embraced DealerRater as a third-party review site and trusted partner that is critical to their online reputation management efforts.  The DealerRater Certified Dealer Program, created in 2008, is a certification program and reputation management tool offered to qualified car dealers.  The program is designed to help car dealerships connect with automotive consumers at the most critical phase of the buying process, while demonstrating an utmost commitment to quality service.

“DealerRater gives a simple and effective conduit to represent the dealerships brand and experience through a rating online,” said Mitch Gallant, internet department manager of Capital Ford Lincoln, which was the first dealership in Saskatchewan to qualify for and embrace the DealerRater Certified Dealer Program.  “As a Certified Dealer, we now have a tool to focus on not only building reviews but sharing them through our website, RSS feeds and staff pages.”

DealerRater maintains more than 4,100 dealer partners through its Certification Program, and has experienced a 327% increase in Canadian dealers joining the program over the past year.  As auto consumers increase their reliance on online reviews when selecting a car dealer, building third-party reviews and defining a proven strategy to manage and leverage those reviews is becoming a critical component of a successful sales process for car dealerships.

About DealerRater
DealerRater was founded in 2002 as the first car dealer review website worldwide.  DealerRater is the world’s #1 online resource for anyone seeking third-party information on automobile dealerships.   DealerRater features more than 41,000 U.S. and Canadian car dealers, 460,000 user reviews and over 1,000,000 cars for sale.  DealerRater attracts more than 5 million consumers every year who visit the site to search for car dealerships, read current reviews, write their own descriptive reviews, and find car deals – all for free.  Car dealers are rated on the criteria of customer service, quality of work, friendliness, price and overall experience.  In addition, DealerRater offers qualified car dealers a Certified Dealer Program as a reputation management tool to help them grow their online presence and achieve higher SEO rankings across the Web.  Today, more than 4,100 dealers are members of DealerRater’s Certification Program.  For more information, visit www.DealerRater.ca or call 800-266-9455.

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DealerRater® Launches PrivateBuy™ in Association with CarWoo!

Waltham, Mass. – DealerRater®, the nation’s premier car dealer review website, today announced the launch of DealerRater PrivateBuy™ in association with CarWoo!, the exclusive online marketplace for car buyers and sellers where buyers remain anonymous.  PrivateBuy will help DealerRater consumer members find the best market prices online while avoiding dealers that do not value quality customer service.  Car buyers visiting the DealerRater site and reviewing dealer ratings, will be presented the opportunity to use CarWoo! through DealerRater PrivateBuy.

“Purchasing a car is a complex process, said Tommy McClung, CEO of CarWoo!  “By teaming with DealerRater on PrivateBuy and including its dealer reviews into our dealer ratings and our unique car buying process, car buyers will enjoy a superb car buying experience that is predicated on total transparency and great customer service.”

Through DealerRater PrivateBuy, dealers participating in the CarWoo! MarketPlace will be notified on behalf of the consumer and will present multiple offers for the consumer to evaluate and compare, while the auto consumer remains anonymous throughout the entire negotiation process.   In addition, DealerRater’s 460,000 dealer reviews will be incorporated into the car buying experience to supplement the reviews generated by CarWoo! customers, enabling consumers to evaluate and select dealers as part of the process.

“We are thrilled to partner with CarWoo! to provide the DealerRater user base with the comprehensive tools they need for a quality, well-informed online car buying experience,” said Chip Grueter, president of DealerRater.  “Car buyers deserve a great experience when working with dealerships, and by integrating DealerRater reviews into this unique online car buying process, auto consumers can rely on PrivateBuy to find the best car deal online and determine, in advance, what dealerships are committed to quality customer service.”

About CarWoo!
CarWoo!, as seen on The Today Show, CNN Money and other leading national media outlets, is the only true online marketplace for car buyers and sellers.  In the CarWoo! marketplace buyers remain anonymous, get great market prices, save a ton of time and dealers are ensured buyers who purchase within 3.5 days 80% of the time.  It was founded in 2008 by serial entrepreneurs, Tommy McClung, Erik Landerholm and Michael Young. With early funding by Y Combinator, CarWoo! is based in Burlingame, CA and is now funded by Blumberg Capital, Comcast Interactive Capital and Interwest Partners. Find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/carwoo and on Twitter at twitter.com/carwoo.

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VAUTO DELIVERS USED VEHICLE BREAKTHROUGHS FOR DEALERS 

(Oak Brook, IL) November 11, 2011 – vAuto announces the release today of Provision, a powerful used vehicle inventory management engine that will eliminate the pain of finding used vehicles and optimizing inventories for profitability for auto dealers.

“This is a business intelligence break-through for the automotive industry, made possible through our alliance with AutoTrader.com and Manheim,” says Dale Pollak, vAuto founder. “Provision brings game-changing insights and tools to help dealers efficiently and effectively know what vehicles to stock, what to pay and where to find them—all with a real-time, precision approach.”

The Provision engine is based on the three “W’s” of astute used vehicle management:

What cars should I stock? Provision starts with a dealership’s own strategy, using its targets for used vehicle inventory value, age, turn rates and gross profits as foundational parameters. Next, Provision applies a seven-point, market supply/demand-based diagnostic test to all available used vehicles. The diagnostic measures indexes like “Demand” and “Interest,” which distill real-time clickstream data from AutoTrader.com, an industry first.

“Dealers haven’t seen this data before, and Provision ensures it’s front and center for their vehicle sourcing and decision-making process,” Pollak says.

Provision sifts this market intelligence to find and recommend the “right” vehicles for a dealership, down to equipment and trim—even if a store lacks history with a particular make or model. The Provision report card assigns an A-F letter grade to individual vehicles to help dealers make the “pursue or pass” decision.

What should I pay? For vehicles that make the grade, Provision applies an age-old axiom: “you make your money when you acquire a unit.” With this in mind, Provision recommends a wholesale acquisition price for each potential vehicle based on:  a) where the vehicle needs to be priced to assure the maximum and most immediate Internet response; b) reconditioning/other expenses needed to retail the unit; and c) a dealer’s gross profit goal. Provision also flexes to meet individual dealer preferences, allowing them to create “what if” scenarios such as, “If I pay $X for a vehicle, what retail price should I ask to make $Y in gross and sell in Z number of days.”

“Some dealers call this ‘dialing for dollars’ and I heartily agree,” Pollak says.

Where can I get the car? Provision answers this question by going straight to the industry’s top wholesale vehicle sources. The Provision engine links with the industry’s top auction outlets and lets dealers quickly drill down to run lists and lanes for the vehicles they want—another industry first. Provision allows dealers to set up automated proxy bids and/or buy outright with the system’s “click-to-purchase” functionality. Provision will also ease “get it home” logistics, with the eventual addition of automatic transport scheduling with dealer-approved providers for maximum acquisition efficiency.

“Provision goes a long way to eliminating the ongoing pain of used vehicle sourcing and management challenges at dealerships,” Pollak says. “We’ve built a bridge between the top retail (AutoTrader.com) and wholesale marketplaces and made it easy to cross.”

Consolidation = Collaboration = Innovation

The release of Provision is the first vAuto major product launch since the company’s acquisition a year ago by AutoTrader.com.

“When we acquired vAuto just over a year ago, it was with the promise that we’d leverage the strengths of AutoTrader.com and its family of companies to benefit dealers,” says Chip Perry, AutoTrader.com CEO.

“Provision brings AutoTrader.com, Manheim and vAuto to the same table,” Perry says. “It’s a partial fulfillment of our initial promise. I say ‘partial’ because there is more innovation and dealer benefits to come.”

“We’re excited to further our commitment to dealers and other wholesale customers through Manheim’s collaboration with vAuto and AutoTrader.com on the Provision engine,” says Sandy Schwartz, Manheim president.

“It’s a perfect blend of our people and respective market intelligence, technologies and resources to create a win-win for everyone,” Schwartz says. “Provision will be a transformative force for the industry.”
For Pollak, the Provision release is particularly profound. “I put my company, people and reputation on the line with the decision to sell to AutoTrader.com,” Pollak says. “I’m excited about the synergies we’ve created and delighted that 11-11-11 will forever mark a new beginning for the automotive industry.”

About vAuto

Headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, IL, vAuto also maintains a research and development center in Austin, TX. vAuto’s innovative “Live Market View” technology allows dealers to manage their used-vehicle inventories based on actual supply-and-demand for their specific market. Today, more than 3,500 dealerships across the country use vAuto’s pricing, appraisal, stocking and merchandising systems. Dale Pollak, vAuto’s founder, is the author of two books featuring best practices and strategies for the used car department, Velocity: From the Front Line to the Bottom Line and Velocity 2.0: Paint, Pixels & Profitability. vAuto is a wholly owned subsidiary of AutoTrader.com. Additional information about vAuto is available at www.vauto.com.

About AutoTrader.com

Atlanta-based AutoTrader.com, created in 1997, is the Internet’s ultimate automotive marketplace and consumer information website. AutoTrader.com aggregates in a single location millions of new cars, used cars and certified pre-owned cars from thousands of auto dealers and private sellers and is a leading online resource for auto dealers, individuals and manufacturers to advertise and market their vehicles to in-market shoppers. The company also provides a robust suite of software tools for dealers and manufacturers to help them manage and market their vehicle inventory and display advertising on the Internet. AutoTrader.com continues to grow key business metrics, including revenue, profitability and site traffic. Today, AutoTrader.com attracts more than 15 million unique monthly visitors who utilize the site to review descriptions, photos and videos of vehicles for sale; research and compare vehicles; review pricing and specials; and read auto-related content like buying and selling tips and editorial coverage of major auto shows and automotive trends. AutoTrader.com operates two other auto marketing brands, AutoTraderClassics.com and AutoTraderLatino.com. AutoTrader.com also owns used vehicle management software company vAuto, Kelley Blue Book (Kbb.com), HomeNet Automotive, a leading provider of online inventory management and merchandising solutions for the automotive retail industry and VinSolutions, a leading provider of end-to-end solution platforms for dealers.  AutoTrader.com is a majority-owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises. Providence Equity Partners is a 25 percent owner of the company and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is also an investor. For more information, please visit www.autotrader.com.

About Manheim

Manheim is the world’s leading provider of vehicle remarketing services. Through its 118 worldwide wholesale operating locations, Manheim impacts every stage of a used vehicle’s life cycle, helping commercial sellers and automobile dealers maximize the full value of their vehicles. Drawing from its auction transaction volume, Manheim Consulting publishes the annual Used Car Market Report, the definitive source of data for the used car industry. Manheim Consulting offers a wide range of services including custom analytics, business optimization and macro economic analysis. Manheim is the online vehicle remarketing leader, connecting buyers and sellers to the world’s largest, most comprehensive wholesale marketplace through its extensive in-lane and online offerings. Manheim.com receives nearly 900,000 visits each week. Headquartered in Atlanta, Manheim is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, a leading communications, media and automotive services company. For more information, please visit www.manheim.com.

Media Contacts:

Lance Helgeson

vAuto

Phone: +1.708.613.5816

E-mail: lhelgeson@vauto.com

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WEST CHESTER, PA, October 12, 2011 – HomeNet Automotive, a leading provider of automotive inventory merchandising, management, and marketing services, today announced that it has collaborated with OPENLANE, Inc., a leading online auction company in North America for automotive dealers to buy and sell wholesale vehicles, to offer HomeNet dealers an easy and efficient way to list and wholesale their aged
inventory.

Dealers using HomeNet’s flagship product, the Inventory Online (IOL) Vehicle Marketing Suite, can now publish selected used vehicle inventory on OPENLANE’s Open Auction to sell their vehicles wholesale to a nationwide audience of more than 25,000 franchise and independent dealers on a 24–hour basis, 7 days a week.

Through this partnership, HomeNet users now have a quick and seamless way to control the distribution of both retail and wholesale units from one convenient platform, saving time and money and providing maximum exposure for vehicles for sale. From within IOL, dealers are able to publish their wholesale used vehicle units to OPENLANE’s Open Auction with one simple click and manage their entire online inventory from one centralized location.

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