Cars.com Helps Dealers Drive More Ready-to-Buy Traffic with Enhanced Photo and Vehicle Merchandising Capabilities

-- Dealers Can Now Include Up to 32 Pictures in Their Classified Listings --

CHICAGO, Sept. 6 -- Cars.com announced today several enhancements to its photo platform, allowing dealers who use its MultiPhotos product to include as many as 32 pictures per vehicle in their listings. Additionally, photo sizes have been increased by 15 percent on "More Details" pages, and car shoppers can "supersize" vehicle images. The new capabilities make it easier than ever for dealers to give buyers the complete picture.

"Photos help to build an important emotional connection between the car and the car buyer," said Mitch Golub, Cars.com president. "By telling the vehicle's entire story, dealers drive more qualified, ready-to-buy traffic to their stores. In fact, our dealers who use multiple photos generate 31 percent more contacts from their listings compared to those who post only one image. More importantly, we know that the use of multiple images can drive higher quality traffic as potential buyers see the complete picture."

At Subaru of Dallas, sales manager Cooper Williams said the additional photos attract higher quality buyers and allow him to compete on a regional basis. Customers routinely travel to his store from neighboring states, he noted, some putting down a deposit over the telephone after seeing the vehicle on his Cars.com listing.

"We get a lot of quality leads. It's just visibility," Williams said. "The more photos you have, the more exposure you're going to get. (Car shoppers) are just one click away from another car. The more information you give customers, the more they can make decisions."

Beyond the addition of more images and larger photo sizes, Cars.com increased the speed and frequency of photo uploads. Photos are refreshed four times a day, ensuring they are always current. Dealers can automatically update photos via feeds from their photo service providers or manually through Cars.com's easy-to-use inventory tool, MyDealerCenter.

To help dealers effectively use photos to better merchandise their inventory, Cars.com hosts a free webinar on Sept. 15 at noon ET. Part of its dealeradvantage LIVE webinar series, the session will offer photography tips and techniques aimed to help dealers stand out online and drive quality traffic. Registration and more information are available at http://dealeradvantage.cars.com/ .

About Cars.com

Partnered with more than 200 leading metro newspapers, television stations and their websites, Cars.com is the most comprehensive destination for those looking to buy or sell a new or used car. The site lists more than 1.8 million vehicles from 12,000 dealer customers, classified advertisers and private parties to offer consumers the best selection of new and used cars online, as well as the content, tools and advice to support their shopping experience. Recently selected by Forbes.com as a Best of the Web site for car shopping, Cars.com combines powerful inventory search tools and new-car configuration with pricing information, photo galleries, buying guides, side-by-side comparison tools, original editorial content and reviews to help millions of car shoppers connect with sellers each month.

Launched in June 1998, Cars.com is a division of Classified Ventures, LLC, ( http://classifiedventures.com/ ), which is owned by leading media companies, including Belo , Gannett Co., Inc. , The McClatchy Company , Tribune Company and The Washington Post Company .