Largest Online Used Car Dealer Adds Third LA Facility: Driven by Customer Demand, iMotors.com Adds New Glendale Delivery Center
26 September 2000
Largest Online Used Car Dealer Adds Third LA Facility: Driven by Customer Demand, iMotors.com Adds New Glendale Delivery Center
GLENDALE, Calif.--Sept. 26, 2000--N. Brand Ave. Store-Front "Lot" Needs Just Three Parking Stalls
iMotors.com, the nation's largest online used car retailer, today announced the opening of its third Los Angeles-area Delivery Center in Glendale. iMotors' used car "lot" is a ground floor retail space within a large office building in the heart of the Glendale business district at 550 N. Brand Blvd.
iMotors' CEO Adam Simms said the Glendale facility would help iMotors meet the online company's growing customer demand in the Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena and San Fernando Valley communities. "Los Angeles is the car-capital of America, and our goal is to become the premier used car dealer of Los Angeles," Simms said.
The DMV-licensed Delivery Center needs only three stalls to accommodate vehicles being picked up by customers, all reserved in the building's parking lot. Customers come to the centers to review their vehicles, take a test drive and sign all remaining paperwork.
iMotors allows consumers to custom-order the one-to-four-year-old vehicle they want via its Web site or though its full-service call center. Once a customer orders, iMotors' nationwide network of experienced buyers finds and buys the vehicle that meets the customer's specifications and iMotors' high quality standards. iMotors then tests, inspects, and certifies every vehicle at one of its three state-of-the-art Vehicle Certification Centers near Sacramento, Atlanta and Cincinnati. The vehicles are then trucked to Delivery Centers.
"Only iMotors.com gives customers the ability to chose the vehicle they want from a vast pool of used cars and trucks that are available nationally," Simms said. "Only iMotors.com gives customers the savings that comes from our no-inventory, no-big real estate, national dealership," he said.
iMotors recently announced it had raised $62.5 million in private investment, one of the largest funding rounds for any business-to-consumer online retailer since the Spring 2000 technology market downturn. iMotors plans to use these funds to fuel continued national expansion and investment in its technology infrastructure. Including this latest round of financing, iMotors has raised $139 million in equity financing since its inception.
Unlike other online used car buying services, iMotors is a dealer - not a broker, classified or finder service. This means that customers never have to settle or be steered to an existing inventory and never have the hassle of being handed off to another party. As a state DMV-registered dealer, iMotors warrantees every vehicle, and is accountable for every transaction. "iMotors takes complete responsibility for the entire customer experience," Simms said.
The year old company has been serving the Los Angeles area since November with delivery centers in Torrance and the City of Industry, with other Southern California locations in Orange, Ontario and San Diego. Based in San Francisco, iMotors.com now operates throughout the West Coast, New York and Atlanta.
Here's how iMotors works:
| -- | A customer specifies the year (1996 - 1999), make, model, options and color preferences he/she wants and places an order with a $250 fully refundable deposit via the Web site, www.imotors.com, or by calling 1-888-IMOTORS (466-8677). |
| -- | Through its network of off-lease, auction, and other public and non-public sources, iMotors' expert buyers find and purchase the vehicle that the customer ordered. |
| -- | iMotors transports the vehicle to one of its state-of-the-art Vehicle Certification Centers where ASE and I-CAR certified technicians test, inspect and certify the vehicle. iMotors makes needed repairs, replaces parts, and performs preventative maintenance, bringing the vehicle back up to like-new standards both mechanically and cosmetically. |
| -- | iMotors delivers the car to the customer at the nearest, licensed iMotors Delivery Center. iMotors backs every vehicle with a 3-month/3,000-mile comprehensive warranty, a 7-day/700-mile money-back guarantee, and an AutoBiography(SM), detailing the vehicle's history. |
About iMotors:
iMotors was launched in September 1999 as the Internet's first and only used car company, allowing customers to buy thoroughly tested, inspected and certified used vehicles entirely online. iMotors is a privately held company, backed by a renowned group of investors with successful track records at leading land-based retail and Internet/e-commerce businesses. For additional information, visit www.imotors.com or call 888-IMOTORS (466-8677).