Hometown Auto Launches Cyberlot With Over $16 Million of Inventory
14 January 1999
Hometown Auto Launches Cyberlot With Over $16 Million of Inventory
WATERTOWN, Conn.--Jan. 14, 1999--More Than 1000 Hits a Day Prior to
Official Launch
www.hometownautoretailers.com
Hometown Auto Retailers, Inc. (NASDAQ NM:HCAR) today announced that it has launched Cyberlot, an interactive used car salesroom located at www.hometownautoretailers.com.
The site will feature over 1,000 cars from its nine dealerships throughout the Northeast. Each listing will be accompanied by a digital photograph of the car, relevant information and the opportunity to have the car delivered within 24-hours to the buyer's local dealership or home. In addition to the convenience for the car buyer, dealers will now be able to cross-utilize the inventory of all Hometown dealerships in a ground breaking new development in the automobile dealership consolidation business.
Joseph Shaker, President and Chief Operating Officer of Hometown Auto, said, "This level of customer service is unprecedented. No other dealership in the Northeastern United States can offer this level of shopping convenience to its customers. If you log onto the site you will immediately notice how easy it is to use and how extensive the inventory is. Customers get a very clear photograph of the car they are buying -- not a stock photograph from the manufacturer. All the relevant information is posted on the same page, allowing the buyer to make easy price comparisons. With a $500 deposit, we can also guarantee 24-hour delivery times because of the proximity of our dealerships to each other. It's a revolutionary way to do business and we have great expectations for our Cyberlot sales."
For Hometown Auto, Cyberlot provides another way to move cars at very low cost. The Company saves on overhead, personnel and through the cross-utilization of the dealerships' inventory. Because there is now a digital camera in every dealership, cars are loaded to the web site the same day they come in. This allows for greater visibility both within the dealerships and on the internet.
Hometown Auto Retailers, Inc. is engaged in the business of selling new and used cars and light trucks, providing maintenance and repair services, selling replacement parts and providing related financing, insurance and service contracts through eight franchised dealerships located in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont. The Company's dealerships offer 12 American and Asian automotive brands, including Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, Eagle, Ford, Isuzu, Jeep, Lincoln, Mercury, Oldsmobile, Plymouth and Toyota. The Company also operates a free-standing neighborhood collision repair center and is active in two "niche" segments of the automotive market: the sale of Lincoln Town Cars and limousines to livery car and livery fleet operators and the maintenance and repair of cars and trucks at a Ford and Lincoln Mercury factory authorized free-standing service center.
This release contains "forward-looking statements" based on current expectations but involving known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results or achievements may be materially different from those expressed or implied. The Company's plans and objectives are based on assumptions involving judgments with respect to future economic, competitive and market conditions, its ability to consummate, and the timing of, acquisitions and future business decisions, all of which are difficult or impossible to predict accurately and many of which are beyond the control of the Company. Therefore, there can be no assurance than any forward-looking statement will prove to be accurate.