Black Book/National Auto Research has released of vehicle valuation software for Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) utilizing the Palm(R) Operating System.

"The automotive industry, like most others, is moving into the electronic arena," said Mike Compton, IT director for Black Book. "Our P.D.A. XPRESS(TM) software allows automotive and related professionals to have the best features of our P.C. products combined with the convenience of our printed guides. The initial P.D.A. Suite consists of three programs: used cars, motorcycles and exotic & older cars. They have excellent value retrieval times, and are very user friendly."

According to Compton, the mechanical requirements for subscribing to and operating the programs are that you own a handheld computer using Palm(R) Operating System 3.0 or higher and that you have Internet access for updating the programs at the Black Book Web site, www.BlackBookUSA.com.

The P.D.A. XPRESS(TM) Used Car contains regionalized wholesale, retail and loan values, as well as the VIN model number, for the past 15 model years of domestic and import cars, light trucks, vans and sport utility vehicles. As in other Black Book products, values are given for four vehicle classifications, Extra Clean, Clean, Average and Rough.

The program allows adjustments for both optional equipment and mileage, and offers a "Quick List" to save valuations for fast retrieval. It may be updated each week on Friday after 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time at the Black Book Web site, according to Compton.

In addition to retail, trade and loan values for motorcycles, P.D.A. XPRESS(TM) Motorcycle contains those same values for ATVs, personal watercraft and snowmobiles. It provides MSRP, engine displacement and number of cylinders, and is updated monthly via the Internet.

The third program, P.D.A. XPRESS(TM) Exotic & Older Car, with quarterly Internet updates, reflects the retail market for highline and older vehicles dating from 1946 by providing Excellent, Good and Fair values.

For more information, call Black Book Electronic Sales at (800) 367-3759 or visit www.BlackBookUSA.com.

About National Auto Research

National Auto Research is a Division of Hearst Business Media, an operating group of the Hearst Corp.

The Hearst Corp. is one of the nation's largest diversified communications companies. Its major interests include magazine, newspaper and business publishing, cable networks, television and radio broadcasting, Internet businesses, television production and distribution, newspaper features distribution and real estate.

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