Independent Study Reveals Superiority of NADAguides.com Dealer Leads

MBA Students at the Columbia School of Business Commission Study to Analyze Quality of Website's Consumers

COSTA MESA, Calif., Jan. 31 -- MBA students at the Columbia School of Business today announced findings of an independent study designed to analyze the quality of automotive consumers at NADAguides.com (www.NADAguides.com), the nation's most comprehensive vehicle information website.

According to the findings of the study, more than 52% of men and 33% of women who submitted a vehicle purchase request at NADAguides.com ended up buying a car(1). Additionally, closing ratios for NADAguides.com dealers averaged 18%, more than double the national average of 6 - 7% closing ratios.

"Our findings are pretty astonishing," said David Graham, lead researcher/EMBA student at Columbia Business School and president of Arizona Bay, a leading provider of technology solutions for the automotive industry. "The statistics clearly show that a great majority of NADAguides.com consumers are serious car-buyers and that NADAguides.com dealers fulfill vehicle purchase requests at a greater percentage than more than twice the national average. Our findings demonstrate the success of the NADAguides.com lead program for consumers and dealers alike."

"When we initially commissioned this study, we wanted to analyze an independent, third-party website that focused on providing in-depth vehicle information in addition to vehicle purchase request services," Graham added. "Our initial hypothesis was that NADAguides.com would net a much more serious automotive consumer because of the website's comprehensive information and wide range of vehicle purchasing and dealer locator services. In the end, our findings more than supported our initial premise."

The Columbia School of Business study analyzed consumers who submitted purchase requests at NADAguides.com over a 12 month period. The study garnered more than 2,700 respondents. Of the more than 2,700 consumers who completed the survey and confirmed they submitted a purchase request through NADAguides.com, more than 1,400 confirmed they purchased a vehicle after submitting their online requests.

The study also revealed that while a great majority of NADAguides.com consumers purchased cars after submitting their requests, 64% of those who actually purchased bought cars from dealers outside the NADAguides.com dealer network. Since the average new car purchase was $24,000, in the end, more than $21 million in new car sales was realized by dealers outside the company's existing network.

"While this data is extremely positive and confirms our long-time position that NADAguides.com dealer leads are some of the most qualified on the market, these findings support our efforts to increase our dealer network and funnel additional new car sales and, ultimately, additional new car profits to our own dealer members," said Rob Bollinger, dealer sales manager for NADAguides.com. "It's simple. Our consumers are qualified, dealers participating in our lead program sell cars, and we charge less for our leads than any other provider on the market. It makes perfect sense for dealers to participate in our program."

Dealers who are interested in the NADAguides.com lead program can contact Rob Bollinger via phone at (866) 357-6584 or email at leads@nadaguides.com. Industry professionals who are interested in reviewing the executive summary of the Columbia study can contact Jennifer Lange via phone at (714) 556-8511 ext. 265 or email at jlange@nadaguides.com.

(1) Independent study commissioned by Executive MBA students at the Berkeley Columbia Executive MBA Program. Lead researcher and MBA student, David Graham, is president of Arizona Bay, a leading provider of technology solutions for the automotive industry. Other researchers include Jason Berkin, Angelike Clemmer, and Andrew Hui. The study garnered more than 2,776 respondents of which 2,775 confirmed submitting purchase requests at NADAguides.com over a 12-month period in 2003. Of the 2,775 respondents who submitted purchase requests, 1,409 actually bought cars after submitting their requests at NADAguides.com and of the 1,409 who purchased, 52% were male and 33% were female. Of the 1,409 who purchased, 511 (or 36%) purchased from NADAguides.com dealers, while 898 (or 64%) purchased from dealers outside the NADAguides.com dealer network. According to the study, closing ratios for NADAguides.com dealers averaged 18%. A complete executive summary is available upon request.

About N.A.D.A. Appraisal Guides (www.NADAguides.com)

N.A.D.A. Appraisal Guides is the world's largest publisher of vehicle valuations and specification information for new and used cars, trucks, vans, and SUVs, as well as van conversions, limousines, classic and collectible cars, boats, RVs, motorcycles, snowmobiles, personal watercraft and manufactured housing. The company's consumer web site, NADAguides.com (www.NADAguides.com) offers a variety of new and used vehicle services in addition to valuation information. Throughout its 70-year history, N.A.D.A. Appraisal Guides has earned the reputation as the recognized authority for vehicle valuations. Its web site, NADAguides.com, is the most comprehensive vehicle information resource on the Internet today.