cars.com Offers Vehicle History Reporting to Consumers Through Exclusive Agreement With Carfax
21 June 1999
cars.com Offers Vehicle History Reporting to Consumers Through Exclusive Agreement With Carfax
CHICAGO, June 21 -- Cars.com, the industry's fastest growing
automotive Web site has signed an agreement to be the exclusive online
provider of several used vehicle reports from Carfax, Inc.
Over the next several months, the agreement will continue to provide
cars.com visitors exclusive online access to Carfax's rental checks, taxi
checks and flood checks. Access to these reports, along with Carfax's lemon
check, is available to cars.com visitors free of charge.
"Purchasing a vehicle is one of life's biggest financial decisions," said
Mitch Golub, general manager of cars.com. "Carfax's reports provide detailed
information on used vehicle history and can help give car shoppers peace of
mind with their purchase. In addition, car dealers can utilize Carfax's
reports to show customers that their vehicle of interest is a sound buy. This
instills customer confidence and creates stronger long-term relationships."
Consumers interested in receiving vehicle reports can access Carfax
information through the advice section of the cars.com site or by clicking on
a particular listed used vehicle and entering the Vehicle Identification
Number (VIN). The reports available to consumers are:
* Flood Check:
-- This report will provide information to a consumer if a vehicle
suffered flood damage.
-- As part of the agreement, flood check will be available exclusively
on cars.com for the first two months of the contract.
* Rental Check:
-- This report will let the consumer know whether a vehicle has
previously been used as a rental vehicle.
-- As part of the agreement, rental check will be available
exclusively on cars.com for the first four months of the contract.
* Taxi Check:
-- This report will let the consumer know whether a vehicle was
previously used as a taxi.
-- The taxi report is available exclusively on cars.com for the first
six months.
* Lemon Check:
-- A lemon report provides information on whether a vehicle has been
issued a manufacturer's buyback title.
"This program will enhance the valuable information and content cars.com
already provides with vital statistics on individual vehicles," says
Scott Fredericks, vice president of marketing for Carfax. "To get the same
information, consumers would have to run title searches in every state -- a
costly and time consuming process."
About cars.com
Cars.com, at http://cars.com, simplifies car shopping on the Internet.
Affiliated with more than 130 local newspapers, the e-commerce publisher
currently has inventory in 60 markets, including 25 of the top 30 markets in
the United States. Cars.com, the only automotive web site to provide daily
updates of dealer inventories, allows consumers to search vehicle listings by
zip code, vehicle make, model and year. In addition to vehicle pricing,
cars.com provides consumers with trusted automotive information, including
rich editorial content pertaining to real life issues such as how to purchase
a vehicle and tips for parents of young drivers. The site also provides
consumers with tools such as an auto loan calculator, news and reports on new
and used vehicles, more than 3,500 independent automotive reviews
(1983-present), vehicle performance data, and vehicle recall information.
Cars.com is a division of Classified Ventures, based in Chicago, Ill.
About Classified Ventures
Classified Ventures provides nationally branded online services for the
emerging e-commerce opportunities in the classified advertising marketplace
that build upon the capabilities and local expertise of a national affiliate
network. The company currently operates the apartments web site
Apartments.com, http://www.apartments.com, the auction web site Auction Universe,
http://www.auctionuniverse.com, the automotive web site cars.com, http://www.cars.com, the
moving information site MovingCenter, http://www.movingcenter.com, and the real
estate web site NewHomeNetwork, http://www.newhomenetwork.com.
Classified Ventures will also launch HomeHunter(TM), a resale real estate
service, later this summer.
Classified Ventures, Inc. was formed by eight leading media companies:
Central Newspapers, Inc.; Gannett Co.; Knight Ridder; The McClatchy Company;
The New York Times Company; The Times Mirror Company; Tribune Company and The
Washington Post Company. For more information on Classified Ventures, please
contact Mark Smith at 312-396-9718, mark_smith@pr21.com or visit the
Classified Ventures Web site at http://www.classifiedventures.com.
About Carfax
Founded in 1984, Carfax pioneered the concept of a used car history
report. Starting with 10,000 vehicle records, consumers running Carfax
reports today have access to nearly one billion vehicle records. Nationwide,
consumers and businesses -- car dealers, auto auctions and financial
institutions -- use Carfax Vehicle History Reports to make sure they know as
much as possible about the history of a used car before they buy, sell or
finance. Carfax reports can indicate if a used car has been totaled, in a
flood, classified as a "lemon" or had its odometer rolled back. The Carfax
database includes U.S. and Canadian title and registration activity, rental
and lease usage, odometer readings from emissions inspection stations, auto
auctions and other sources.
Contact: Nevenka Todorovic of cars.com, 312-575-2700, or e-mail,
ntodorovic@cars.com; or Larry Gamache of Carfax, 703-836-9222, or
PRSupport@Carfaxinc.com