Auto-By-Tel maintains dominance with new services

Auto-By-Tel, the Internet's premier automotive 
purchasing program, maintains dominance with new services

IRVINE, Calif.--Oct. 31, 1996--

  Online financing and used car cyberstore top the list of new 
  services announced at the first-ever Auto-By-Tel Satellite Summit

    A number of new and innovative services announced at the 
first-ever Auto-By-Tel Satellite Summit give consumers the power to 
perform every aspect of the car-buying process online.  
    Announcements made via satellite to Auto-By-Tel's Subscribing 
Dealers included the introduction of low-cost Online Financing 
through an exclusive Internet relationship with Chase Auto 
Finance; the formation of a Used Car Cyberstore; and the 
implementation of a high-tech real-time communications system.  
These programs give consumers easy access to low-cost new and used
car buying and leasing, low-cost financing and low-cost auto 
insurance through AIG.
    "Auto-By-Tel's goal is to ensure that our Subscribing Dealers 
lead the pack in today's rapidly changing automotive marketplace by 
providing consumers with low-cost, pain-relieving car buying," said 
Pete Ellis, Auto-By-Tel's president and CEO.  "The programs 
announced at the Satellite Summit place our dealers firmly on the 
cutting-edge of the automotive revolution."
    Speaker Michael Fuchs, former Chairman and CEO of Home Box 
Office (HBO), equated Auto-By-Tel's position in the automotive 
industry to HBO's unprecedented success in cable television.  Fuchs 
declared, "The automobile business is being revolutionized and 
Auto-By-Tel is the HBO of that revolution."
    Addressing that change, James David Power III, founder of J.D. 
Power and Associates, told the ABT Subscribing Dealers in attendance 
that the most recent J.D. Power study of new vehicle buyers in the 
United States found that 68 percent have and use computers.  The same 
study revealed that high-income households account for 55 percent of 
new vehicle sales, a number that's expected to reach 66 percent in 
the year 2000.  Since high-income households typically own 
computers, Power concluded, "Auto-By-Tel Dealers have the tiger by 
the tail."
    Auto-By-Tel's success is based on two general principles: (1) 
giving consumers an easy and painless way to purchase and finance a 
new or used vehicle at a low cost; and (2) providing ABT Subscribing 
Dealers with the tools necessary to compete in today's rapidly 
changing automotive industry by substantially lowering their cost of 
doing business.
    Auto-By-Tel engaged high-tech methods -- a closed-circuit 
interactive conference beamed to 47 locations across the United 
States and Canada via satellite -- to discuss its future plans with 
Subscribing Dealers.  Highlights of the new services include:

Auto-By-Tel Acceptance Corp. (ABTAC)

    ABTAC, Auto-By-Tel's new financing subsidiary, will introduce 
online leasing through GE Capital Auto Financial Services as well as 
online financing through Chase Auto Finance beginning next year.  
Auto-By-Tel customers will now be able to complete applications for 
financing online and, ultimately, receive a response within minutes.
    Sandy Derickson, president of GE Capital Auto Financial 
Services, told ABT Dealers: "Today's car buyers are the most informed 
consumers ever.  We believe Auto-By-Tel has designed a powerful 
marketing system on the Internet that will bring modern car buyers 
directly to your sales desk."
    Chase Auto Finance's automotive online financing is offered 
exclusively through the Auto-By-Tel website and Auto-By-Tel dealers. 
Jim Brew, president of Chase Auto Finance, said, "Chase is delighted 
to have the opportunity to work with ABTAC and its dealers to take 
the lead in providing Internet-based automotive financial services 
to this large and fast-growing market."
   
Used Car Cyberstore to Offer Largest Inventory of Used Vehicles

    Auto-By-Tel will implement the largest and most comprehensive 
online used-car network during the first quarter of 1997.  
Auto-By-Tel's Used Car Cyberstore will outdistance today's used car 
superstores, namely CarMax and AutoNation, in terms of volume and 
number of easily accessible locations.  The program will be 
exclusively available to members of Auto-By-Tel's new-car 
Subscribing Dealers.  "The ABT Subscribing Dealers will form the 
single largest network of used car centers in the world and will 
offer hundreds of thousands of certified, quality used vehicles to 
millions of consumers across the U.S. and Canada," said John 
Honiotes, National Sales Director.

Dealer Real-Time Communications System

    Availability of new technology will enable the real-time 
processing of Auto-By-Tel Purchase/Lease Requests by Subscribing 
Dealers.  Dealers that adopt the Real Time system will be informed 
of a Purchase/Lease Request the moment the consumer submits it, 
translating into better customer service and potentially more sales.

    Auto-By-Tel Corp. runs the leading online automotive purchasing 
program, having processed in excess of 300,000 Purchase Requests to 
date.  The company believes it has one of the largest commercial 
Websites, accounting for a substantial volume of Internet-based 
commerce.  There are more than 1,600 participating dealers servicing 
consumers in the United States and Canada.  All must maintain high 
CSIs and are constantly evaluated by the consumer.  The program is 
available on the Internet at http://www.autobytel.com or on any of 
the major online services and can be used by U.S. and Canadian 
residents (in English and French).

    --30--jw/la  les/la

    CONTACT:  Auto-By-Tel Corp.
              Cassandra Cavanah, 213/469-1906
              cassandra@autobytel.com
              Melanie Webber/Betsy Smith Isroelit, 213/960-1360
              betsy@autobytel.com