Auto Buyers Assistance, Inc. Launches National Car-Buying Service; Established DFW-Based Company Leverages Internet to Launch Nationwide Service for Auto Buyers

    DALLAS--March 22, 2001--In a time when many dot-com businesses are struggling to keep their doors open, Auto Buyers Assistance (ABA) has managed to use the Internet to significantly cut its costs and increase the size of its market.
    As a result of its success on the Net, Auto Buyers Assistance will no longer use any traditional media to market its services and will now rely 100 percent on the Internet. ABA now joins the ranks of Carpoint, Autobytel and Autoweb as a national online automobile purchasing service.
    Founded in 1989, ABA built its reputation by working with new car dealers through their fleet departments who offered a special, year-round discount auto buying and leasing service to members of the American Automobile Association (AAA) and the American Association for Retired Persons (AARP) in Texas. Previously, this service was only available to members of AAA or AARP but is now available to anybody with Internet access. Ronnie Shipper, president of Auto Buyers Assistance, believes this strategic decision will lower the company's operational costs and increase its potential market to a national, rather than regional, scale. The company previously focused solely on a few hundred dealers in Texas but now offers online customers more than 15,000 dealers nationwide.
    "Our database of participating dealers is at least three times larger than any other company offering this service," said Shipper. "Auto Buyers Assistance is poised for a tremendous amount of growth in the next few months. While other Net-based companies are struggling, we have managed to build a successful business model based exclusively on the Internet."
    Through autobuyersassistance.com, customers are offered the dealer's best price without having to "haggle." In addition to saving time, a customer can typically save $500 to $2,000 buying directly from a dealer right in his or her neighborhood by utilizing ABA's service.
    "Buying a car can be as painful as a root canal, and on top of that, it can be very time consuming," said Fred Shlesinger, a consumer who has used the site and saved approximately $1,500. "autobuyersassistance.com eliminates a lot of the pain involved in buying a car, and it saved me a lot of time. I think the Web site is a great concept."