Cartel Marketing and TurboCoverage, Inc., specialists in dealer point-of-sale auto insurance, on Jan. 22 announced they have formed a new company, ExpressLink, to provide online insurance to car buyers in dealerships.

More than 7 million people, representing 15 percent of all cars bought in the United States each year, need auto insurance at the time of the vehicle sale. ExpressLink's insurance platform leverages the strength of Cartel’s 20-year-old insurance distribution network and TurboCoverage’s first-of-its kind technology platform for online auto insurance, according to ExpressLink CEO Phil Barry.

“ExpressLink is focused on a large, attractive market of consumers who each year make millions of insurance purchases in auto dealerships,” Barry said. “ExpressLink is well-positioned to offer consumers and dealers a better way to secure insurance because of our proven track record of success, a highly experienced management team and board of directors, and a set of strategic partners that create significant barriers to entry. This merger is a perfect match of complementary skills.”

ExpressLink’s Internet-based platform introduces speed, reliability and convenience into the insurance process in the dealership, according to Berry. “Through Expresslink, consumers can arrange coverage in minutes and immediately take possession of their vehicle, while satisfying state insurance requirements,” Barry said. At the same time, ExpressLink enhances deal-flow to help vehicle retailers sell more units and improve overall customer satisfaction, according to Barry.

ExpressLink plans to roll out its platform nationally through an exclusive agreement with CVR (Computerized Vehicle Registration), a wholly owned subsidiary of ADP and Reynolds and Reynolds. Together CVR, Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) and Reynolds and Reynolds have relationships with more than 80 percent of the dealers in the country.

“Our strategic partnership with CVR provides ExpressLink with a footprint to expand our national sales efforts, while giving us a very important interface to the ADP and Reynolds and Reynolds dealer management systems,” said Jack Edelstein, president of ExpressLink. “As a result, we will move quickly to build a national business.”

ExpressLink will leverage CVR’s national sales force to sell to automotive retailers. “We will benefit from the integration of the ExpressLink Auto Insurance product with the major dealer management systems to provide a more efficient product that will automatically pre-populate consumer and vehicle information directly into the online insurance application,” said Dale Penn, vice president of sales and marketing.

The ExpressLink Insurance Market

Each year, more than 7 million consumers, or 15 percent of the vehicle buyers in auto dealerships, purchase auto insurance at the time of the vehicle sale. This market of buyers represents more than $1 billion annually in revenue.

Buyers of auto insurance in dealers are typically defined as “non-standard” drivers. These consumers are primarily first-time motorists with no previous insurance; those whose coverage has lapsed; or those considered higher risk based on their previous driving record.

ExpressLink says it currently sells more than 70,000 policies a year, making it the largest single, point-of-sale insurance provider in the country. The company offers insurance products in California, Nevada and Arizona, and plans to be approved in the 40 most populous states in 2002.

The ExpressLink Team

ExpressLink says its management team has more than 140 years of insurance, dealership and technology experience. The team includes the following executives:

• Robert Humphries, chairman
  

• Phil Barry, CEO
  

• Jack Edelstein, president
  

• David Diem, chief operating officer
  

• Dale Penn, vice president, sales and marketing
  

• Laurie Holcomb, national sales manager
  

• Pam Vogt, vice president of finance
  

• Jon Danley, vice president of administration
  

• Sean Willis, director of Information Systems
  

In addition to Humphries, Barry, Edelstein and Diem, ExpressLink’s board members include:

• Michael Smythe, formerly president of Smythe European, Inc., the nation’s fifth-largest Mercedes Benz and the second-largest Volvo dealership. Symthe was formerly chairman of the board of TurboCoverage.
  

• Eric McAfee, principal in Berg McAfee Companies and Cagan McAfee Capital Partners, a member of Pres. George Bush’s Information Technology National Advisory Board, and an active Silicon Valley venture capitalist with holdings in more than twenty-five technology companies.
  

• Ron Goldsberry, a former Ford Motor Co. executive with more than 30 years of business experience with companies such as Boston Consulting Group, Hewlett-Packard, Gulf Oil Company, and NASA Ames Research Center. Goldsberry is currently chairman of the board of OnStation, an e-commerce company providing software for the automotive after market, and is on the Board of Stanford Graduate School of Business.
  

About ExpressLink

ExpressLink is one of the nation's largest providers of auto insurance to auto dealerships, serving a $1 billion market of more than 7 million carbuyers annually.

The company says it enables dealers to sell more vehicles by expediting the insurance process and offering consumers a low-cost insurance option at the point of sale.

ExpressLink is marketing its insurance solution nationally through an exclusive strategic partnership with CVR (Computerized Vehicle Registration), an electronic vehicle registration company.

The company is headquartered in Encino, Calif.

For more information, contact ExpressLink at (800) 373-5057, or visit www.explink.com.