The Web Puts You in the Driver's Seat

You can't beat our prices! Everything must go! No reasonable offer refused! You don't need a hard sell to be convinced that the Web is reshaping the way people are tackling one of their most personal, most important -- and, all too often, most unpleasant -- buying experiences: buying a car. Just look at the statistics: A 1999 J.D. Power survey reported that the percentage of new-car buyers who make some use of the Internet before they buy a car is up to 40% -- compared with just 25% in 1998. Such sites as Autobytel.com, Autoweb.com, Microsoft's CarPoint, and Cars.com are just a few in the growing roster of sites designed to give car buyers more information -- and, in theory, more clout with dealers. Autobytel alone claims that purchase requests on its site generate sales of $1 million an hour.

But why rely on statistics when you can read testimonials from satisfied customers? Take, for instance, Tracy O'Such, 38, vice president of executive recruitment for Cablevision. She recently decided to upgrade from a 1991 Mazda Protegé to a new Mercedes. She did some research, visited a dealer, went for a test drive, and did some pricing research on the Web to get a realistic estimate of what she was willing to pay. When the dealer refused to meet her offer, she walked -- to the Web.

O'Such tried priceline.com (www.priceline.com), the name-your-price service that at first sold only airline tickets but has since expanded into other products, including cars. She placed her bid, and within 12 hours priceline notified her that it had found a dealer willing to match her price. Here's the kicker: It was the same dealer that O'Such had walked out on the day before! "I couldn't believe it," she says. O'Such got her 1999 Mercedes C280 for about $3,500 less than the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP). "I'll never go to a dealer again, except to test-drive a car. After I do that, I'll just go to priceline, put in my bid, and wait for my car to come to me."

Road warning: Not every virtual car deal goes that smoothly. The Web does indeed promise to reshape the relationship between customers and dealers. But that change is still in its formative stage. Today, the Web is most powerful as a tool for educating buyers in the range of choices they have, in the strengths and weaknesses of a particular model, and even in such little-known details as the price the dealer paid for the car you want to buy.

Still, if you envision a bidding war for your business -- 10 dealers fighting to sell you a Ford Explorer -- expect to be disappointed. But if you want to be able to negotiate from a stronger position, then the Web is the place to start. Consider this edition of @work as a road map for buying a car on the Web. On it, you'll find evaluations of the top car-buying services and tips from an industry insider on how to get the best deal, as well as directions to useful sites that can help you wherever you are along the car-buying highway. So fasten your seat belt, and get ready for an eye-opening ride.

Where to Start When Your Car Won't

Monday morning and you're late for work. In a panic, you spring out of bed, throw on some clothes, grab your briefcase, and jump into your 10-year-old car that's got 150,000 miles on it. You turn the key -- and, for the third time in a week, nothing happens. You need a new car. But should you go for the Saab 900 that so many of your friends are driving? What about the roominess and reliability of a Ford Explorer? How much can you afford? What kind of car would you design for yourself if you could?

Go to the Web: It can help you get answers to all of those questions -- and it's a great place to start when your own car won't. CarWizard's data engine on Lease Source (www.leasesource.com/workshop) looks like the dashboard of a car. But what's really impressive is the data engine's features: The "Make/Model" search is perfect if you already know what car you want to buy. There's also a "Type" search on vehicle categories (pickup, convertible, SUV, van, and so forth). Plus, the site suggests vehicles based on your seating-capacity and drivetrain preferences as well as on the number of miles you drive per year. The "Payment" search lets you specify a monthly loan payment, a down payment, and loan terms. After you key in your choices, you'll get a list of suitable cars.

Still feeling lost? Then visit CarMatch on Personalogic (www.personalogic.com), a division of America Online. This site's Q&A format guides you through a series of questions on such particulars as car type, price, size, safety ratings, and preferred manufacturer. A running tally is shown on the left-hand corner of your browser that lets you know how many cars are in the database and how many make the cut, based on your specs. When you've completed the questionnaire, you'll get a list of vehicles, in order of most to least suitable, that fits your profile. You can then email the list to another address or save it on your hard drive.