auto2auto.com Chooses Nashville Area for Corporate Headquarters

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--May 24, 2006--auto2auto.com, a full-service online used car dealership that operates nationwide, will open its corporate headquarters in Maury County near Nashville, creating 200 new jobs in the first year and up to 300 more over the next three years. The company has signed an agreement to purchase the 341,000-square-foot former GE/Accuride Building in Columbia, Tenn.

auto2auto.com allows consumers to browse, finance and buy certified used vehicles online. The vehicle is delivered through Pep Boys auto parts stores, which has partnered with auto2auto.com to conduct rigorous auto inspections at the company's new Nashville-area corporate headquarters and warehouse facility, or another designated pick-up area. Missouri-based Dent Wizard International, a paintless dent removal company, will also be part of auto2auto's Middle Tennessee operations. auto2auto.com maintains an extensive inventory of certified used vehicles.

The announcement by auto2auto.com and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce is the latest in a series of major business expansions and relocations in the Nashville region. Nissan North America is in the process of moving its corporate headquarters and some 1,300 jobs from Los Angeles. Great American Country television (GAC) relocated its corporate headquarters from Denver in September. Federated Department Stores is opening a 600,000-square-foot distribution center. And earlier this month, Gateway Inc. announced plans to open a 300-plus person configure-to-order manufacturing facility for desktops, notebooks and servers.

With the latest announcement, auto2auto.com CEO Ben Freeland said the company will begin filling the initial positions in Columbia immediately, including management positions in information technology, accounting and marketing. Interested applicants should apply through the Tennessee Career Center by contacting Judy Vick at julia.vick@state.tn.us.

"This operation marks the launch of our new concept, and we felt there were a number of logistical and other advantages to launching it in the Nashville area," Freeland said. "This facility will house all functions of auto2auto, from our corporate staff, sales and customer care to the vehicle reconditioning and distribution."

A consortium of local and state officials worked with auto2auto to recruit the company. They include the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and its Partnership 2010 economic development initiative, the Maury County Alliance, the City of Columbia and the Tennessee Valley Authority.