Many Internet Car Price Sites Still Inaccurate: CNW Study
The U.S. car industry continues to be plagued by Internet price and orderability inaccuracies, according to CNW Marketing Research's second annual "Online Vehicle-Pricing Accuracy Study."
Consumers who rely on the Internet for dealer invoice and Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) pricing data are being led astray by as much as hundreds of dollars, according to the Bandon, Ore.-based automotive research firm.
In addition, the 2001 study shows many instances of a consumer's ideal vehicle not being "buildable" on some sites even though the configuration of make, model and options is offered by the manufacturer.
CNW measured 10 third-party online automotive information providers including AOL.com, AutoWeb.com, CarsDirect.com, CarPoint.com, CarPrices.com, ChromeData (through Yahoo), Edmunds.com, IntelliChoice.com, Kelley Blue Book (KBB.com), and Vehix.com.
The most accurate pricing and configuration information provider was Chrome for the second year in a row with an average error of barely $24, down from $84 a year ago.
While this year's study shows vast improvements for some of the sites including Chrome and Kelley, overall inaccuracy grew from $444 in the 2000 study to $630 this year.
In a second phase of the study, "average consumers" using various types of computer systems were asked to rate each of the online information providers.
CarPrice.com was ranked highest at 8.34 on a 10-point scale. It, too, uses Chrome as its price and vehicle-configuration provider. Kelley and Edmunds were second and third. AOL, AutoWeb and IntelliChoice were rated lowest.
"As many now-defunct automotive dot-coms discovered, online new-car pricing is tricky and difficult," said CNW Marketing Research president Art Spinella.
"It requires precision software that reduces the likelihood of consumer errors while accurately reflecting the manufacturers' dealer-invoice and MSRP prices."
Because of the flaws in many of those former automotive sites, consumers are not as trusting of online automotive data as they were just a year ago, other CNW studies reveal.
This increasing rate of skepticism and a rebirth of in-person comparison-shopping means a dealer or online site must have the most accurate information possible or suffer the potential loss of valuable customers, CNW said.
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