Does Adam Simms Have a Sale?

By: Constance LoizosWed Dec 19, 2007 at 12:22 AM

The CEO of iMotors.com wants to use the Web to sell his customers exactly the used car they want at a no-haggle price. But first, in a brutally harsh climate for dotcom retailers, he has to sell his strategy. Do you buy his model?

-- Chris Denove, partner, J.D. Power and Associates

"I would guess that the segment of our population that knows specifically what type of used car it wants is probably bigger than most people estimate. But I also think that the percentage of those people desiring to go through a concierge service like what iMotors offers, as opposed to a classified service, is still small. It's a niche model. And while there is certainly room on the Internet for a lot of niche models, iMotors will need to find that niche quickly and then exploit it."

-- Josh McCarter, VP, international, autobytel.com

"If Adam is able to sell used cars to the masses, I will be as happy as anyone for him. But frankly, I don't think that the business of selling cars is going to change in the ways that dotcom-ers think it will. After all, traditional dealers live in their customers' community; they become a part of it. And they know their customers in a way that no Internet company can. I believe that people will continue to pull information off the Internet but that they'll come in and shop from the local dealer. At the end of the day, customers prefer to see a car before they make a decision to buy it."

-- Ken Hall, president of Hall Auto World Inc., a 25-dealer franchise based in Hampton Roads, Virginia