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Westar Financial to Offer Intranet Services for Automobile e-Finance

22 December 1999

Westar Financial to Offer Intranet Services for Automobile e-Finance to Affinity Organizations

    OLYMPIA, Wash.--Dec. 22, 1999--Westar Financial Services Incorporated (OTCBB:WEST), today reported that it has launched a new Intranet service in conjunction with DriveOff.com, Inc., a bundled vehicle acquisition and financing solution offered on a complete turnkey basis to affinity organizations. The development of its new service enhances Westar's leadership position as an innovator in the business to consumer e-finance industry.
    "We originally designed our high-speed decisioning and communications capabilities to answer the needs of the DriveOff.com Internet program which launched September 28th and is now operating in a pilot mode in eight markets. It's been a nice surprise to find our solution both scalable and adaptable for a wide range of users," said R. W. Christensen, Jr., Westar's president. "Our newest service is ideal for organizations which wish to offer a large number of individuals the incredibly favorable pricing which bundled transactions uniquely allow, coupled with the high touch service Westar delivers to its clients."
    The Westar Intranet business model provides organizations with at least one million customers, clients or members an in-house automobile purchasing and financing capability through both Internet and 1-800 origination channels. Individual participants have their choice of makes, models and options using DriveOff.com's proprietary technology as well as their choice of financing terms and types from Westar, including loans, leases and cash purchases. The program also allows each organization to customize its automotive Intranet site to reflect proprietary or exclusive options and can become a new source of income for the sponsoring organization.
    There are up to 100 companies, organizations or affinity groups large enough to benefit from Westar's Intranet program, nationwide. Currently, Westar has committed more than $1.5 billion for funding its direct and e-finance product lines, composed of Internet, Intranet, Private Label and Dealer Direct Retail Leasing origination channels.
    WEST is the only publicly traded automobile lease finance company focused solely on the prime-credit segment of the $530 billion auto finance market. Westar entered into automotive e-finance through a $1 billion funding commitment to DriveOff.com, a 3rd generation e-commerce business model allowing consumers to buy and finance new automobiles in a single electronic transaction. Through DriveOff.com, Westar completed the first entirely electronic Internet automobile purchase and lease transaction in October 1999. The company operates its Dealer Direct leasing program in the western US, and is rapidly expanding its consumer and business-to-business e-finance capabilities nationally.
    DriveOff.com Inc. is an automotive e-commerce company that provides world-class automotive web sites including DriveOff.com, CarWizard.com and LeaseSource.com. The company's flagship web site, DriveOff.com, is the world's first true automotive e-commerce web site -- allowing consumers to complete their entire vehicle transaction online. DriveOff.com Inc., based in Englewood, Colorado, is a subsidiary of e-business solutions and services provider, Navidec, Inc. .