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CarsDirect.com Named Best Car Buying Site On the Web

30 March 2000

CarsDirect.com Named Best Car Buying Site On the Web for Third Consecutive Quarter; CarsDirect.com Continues to Lead the Pack In Gomez Advisors Quarterly Ranking

    CULVER CITY, Calif.--March 30, 2000-- CarsDirect.com, the leading automotive e-tailer, today announced that it has won top honors for the third consecutive quarter from Gomez Advisors, earning the ranking of best overall car buying site on the Web.
    Repeating its performance in the previous two scorecards, CarsDirect.com received accolades from Gomez Advisors for its customer service, up-front pricing, new online leasing programs and financial calculator that provides car buyers with an instant cost of their selected vehicle. On the Gomez Advisors point system, CarsDirect.com extended its lead over its nearest competitor by a substantial margin.
    "We are thrilled to once again receive top honors from Gomez Advisors," said Bob Brisco, CEO, CarsDirect.com. "This number one ranking from Gomez Advisors reaffirms our total commitment to customer satisfaction, and our ability to be both high tech and high touch."
    Each quarter, e-commerce authority Gomez Advisors issues an Internet Auto Buying Scorecard that evaluates and ranks online car buying sites based on a set of comprehensive criteria. "In evaluating all of the car buying sites, Gomez Advisors continues to present credible analysis that drills down and looks at the car buying experience through the customer's eyes," Brisco said.
    "Make it a three-peat for CarsDirect.com," said Adam Weiner, senior auto analyst, Gomez Advisors. "The new site design adds some new key functionality, such as vehicle filtering tools to effectively narrow down a consumer's list of potential vehicle purchases, as well as customer service, privacy, and buying process explanation links on the homepage. CarsDirect.com recognizes that keeping the consumer informed and happy is a huge part of delivering quality."
    Available for review at www.gomez.com, the Scorecard evaluates the online experience according to the following categories: ease of use, customer confidence, on-site resources, relationship service, as well as offering an overall score. Scorecards can additionally be viewed by buyer profile: Serious Shopper, Tire-Kicker, First-Time Buyer and Enthusiast.
    According to Gomez Advisors, to be included in this quarter's Internet Auto Buying Scorecard, companies must accept no-fee online consumer purchase requests for new automobiles, and have national or virtually national dealer coverage for all major car makes.
    Each site then was evaluated against more than 100 criteria that define the online car buying experience. Gomez experts determine whether a site meets a specific criterion via various data collection methods, including: direct examination of the site; performance monitoring of secure and non-secure pages; customer service interaction over the telephone and through the Internet, and supplemental questionnaire completed by the individual companies.

    About CarsDirect.com

    CarsDirect.com (www.carsdirect.com), the leading automotive e-tailer, is the first nationwide online service that puts consumers in control of the total car buying experience -- from research, pricing and customization to financing and delivery. With CarsDirect.com, car buyers can see and compare real, upfront prices on virtually every vehicle sold in the U.S, obtain a loan or lease, place their orders directly online and arrange for home or office delivery. More than 2,000 franchised dealers are a part of CarsDirect.com's Priority Dealer Network.
    Based in Los Angeles, CarsDirect.com is an idealab! company. The company is also funded by idealab! Capital Partners, Primedia Ventures, Foundation Capital, MSD Capital LP, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Hambrecht & Quist, E*O Investors LLC, Oracle Corp., Liberty Digital, TMCT Ventures L.P, Hikari Tsushin and Soros Private Equity Partners LLC.

    NOTE TO EDITORS: In the company name E*O Investors LLC noted in
    this news release, there is an asterisk between E and O. This
    symbol may not appear properly in some systems.