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Consumers Can Now Generate An Instant Cash Offer For Their Used Vehicles Via Their Smartphones With AutoTrader.com's Trade-In Marketplace


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ATLANTA--May 21, 2014: To provide consumers with the opportunity to generate an Instant Cash Offer for their current used vehicles any time any place, AutoTrader.com® has integrated the Trade-In Marketplace® tool across its mobile properties. With this new integration, shoppers can generate an Instant Cash Offer by accessing either the AutoTrader.com mobile site (m.autotrader.com) or the AutoTrader.com apps on the iPhone® and Android® platforms. Shoppers can redeem their Instant Cash Offer at a participating dealership for cash or use the amount toward the purchase of their next vehicle.

"One of the first things car shoppers want to know is how much they can get for their current vehicles," said Tom Fyrer, general manager of AutoTrader.com's Trade-In Marketplace. "By bringing the Trade-In Marketplace to AutoTrader's mobile properties, we are making it easier than ever for them to get an Instant Cash Offer whenever and wherever they happen to be."

AutoTrader.com's Trade-In Marketplace is the only tool available in the market today that gives consumers an Instant Cash Offer on their used cars, sight unseen. The offer, which is valid for 72 hours, represents an amount that a dealer would be willing to pay for that specific vehicle today. In generating the Instant Cash Offer, the tool takes into account an extensive set of parameters, including VIN-specific information, details surrounding the condition of the car and the impact of the specific vehicle's history and after-market equipment.

Consumers can take their vehicle and Trade-In Marketplace Instant Cash Offer to a participating dealer, and as long as the vehicle's condition has been accurately represented, they can walk away with a check for that amount or use the amount toward the purchase of another vehicle. To be a participating dealer in the Trade-In Marketplace program, dealers pay a monthly subscription that gives them access to consumers who generate an Instant Cash Offer through the tool.

This new integration comes at a time when mobile traffic to the AutoTrader.com site has shown significant increases. Since January of this year, AutoTrader.com has experienced four straight months of double digit gains in mobile traffic growth, with over one third of the monthly unique visitors accessing the site from a mobile device.1 Additionally, a study conducted in 2013 by AutoTrader.com showed that people are increasingly using multiple devices to shop for vehicles. In 2013, 23 percent of car buyers used multiple devices during their car shopping process, but that number is projected to rise to more than 52 percent by the year 2017.2

"At AutoTrader.com, our goal is to connect buyers and sellers, and the Trade-In Marketplace has been a key factor in further enabling us to accomplish that," Fyrer continued. "Each month, more than 250,000 Instant Cash Offers are generated through the Trade-In Marketplace3, and we believe that this mobile integration will provide dealers with even more opportunities to engage consumers who are looking to trade-in or sell their vehicles."

To access the Trade-In Marketplace via a mobile device, smartphone users can go to AutoTrader.com, and they will automatically be redirected to the mobile site. iPhone and Android users can download, or update, the AutoTrader.com app through the respective app stores.