Chrome(R) Launches All New Automotive Description Service

The Robust Web Service Interface Delivers Comprehensive Content on Decoded VIN's

PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 9 -- Chrome Systems Inc., the industry leader in automotive data, today announced the introduction of an all new Automotive Description Service (ADS). ADS is a Chrome-hosted web service with the ability to deliver more accurate and comprehensive vehicle descriptions than the VIN decoder products currently on the market. ADS allows users to:

  *  Use detailed descriptions to make used inventory look as good as new
     inventory

  *  Conduct robust inventory searches on dealer and consumer websites by
     providing normalized vehicle names, equipment descriptions, and color
     descriptions

  *  Improve VIN decoding to increase the accuracy of vehicle valuations

  *  Normalize inventory for website and database analytics

  *  Easily and automatically map vehicle data among various data sources.

Chrome designed ADS to make it as simple as possible to get accurate and comprehensive information from a VIN. The ability to drill-down to in-depth vehicle information, such as trim color, means that customers who rely on accurate information to market or value vehicles will have complete data for the best sales and financing decisions. Because ADS can detect VIN and vehicle name mismatches, customers can automate processing and cut costs, and take advantage of robust reporting about invalid VIN's or data inconsistencies. In addition, because ADS can standardize a vehicle description with or without a VIN, customers can analyze inventory data, perform inventory searches, and use Chrome data to map to other providers, even if parts of the vehicle description are inconsistent, misspelled, or abbreviated.

Combining the ease of implementation inherent in a web service, powerful VIN decode technology, and Chrome's 20-year library of vehicle data, Chrome's ADS is an easy and cost-effective way to get instant detail on decoded VIN's.

"We have effectively broken the cycle of 'garbage in, garbage out' that plagues vehicle inventory," said Peter Batten, General Manager of Chrome Systems Inc. "By marrying our configuration logic with new text-matching and error-handling technology, users get a wealth of details from even limited input. Our web service is so easy to implement that our clients are getting results within minutes of signing up."

About Chrome (www.chrome.com)

Chrome, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, provides vehicle content, software, technology and services to deliver complete enterprise solutions to all segments of the automotive retail industry. These segments include manufacturers, fleet companies, dealers, Internet sites, and financial institutions. Chrome pioneered the technology behind electronic vehicle configuration with the introduction of PC Carbook(R), and since 1986 has collected, analyzed and enhanced "raw" automotive data from all manufacturers. Chrome Systems Inc. is a subsidiary of DealerTrack Data Services, Inc., a DealerTrack Holdings, Inc. company .