Finding Your Dream Car at Work

Employers turn to Driveitaway to sell premium off-lease vehicles to employees

CHICAGO, March 28 -- Your family needs a minivan to drive the carpool. Your daughter would like her first car, but you don't want to spend an arm and a leg and the car must be reliable. You have your eye on a nice sedan that your colleague has been driving, but you wonder if you can afford it.

Today it's easier than ever for you to buy an additional car, if your company has a program to let employees buy off-lease vehicles at a deep discount to retail prices.

"Buying a car off-lease is a great deal," says John Possumato, founder and vice chairman of Driveitaway, a Chicago-based provider of Web-based vehicle remarketing technology for fleet managers. "Since a new car loses about 25% of its value the moment it leaves the lot, many people turn to low mileage used cars to save money. But confidence in a used vehicle's reliability is also paramount."

Many companies are now using the Internet to provide a unique benefit to employees: the chance to purchase the company's off-lease vehicles at near- wholesale prices. Employees can search on a secure Web site to cruise through hundreds of vehicles, many with complete maintenance histories.

Benefits of a company-sponsored used vehicle "remarketing" program include:

   -- More information: Complete maintenance history and at least 20 photos
      of the car, showing any scratches or dings
   -- Near-wholesale pricing: an average of $2,000 per car below the Kelley
      Blue Book price
   -- Attractive vehicles: fleet cars have a good specification and often
      have low mileage - 30,000 to 60,000 miles
   -- Convenience: financing and service contracts are available online

"It's a win-win for companies who save money on selling off-lease cars and employees who get a great deal," Possumato says. "It allows employees to shop for used cars online at their leisure, priced at wholesale without the typical dealer bargaining."