Autobytel Will Sell Cars Online

Autobytel.com, an Internet shopping service for car buyers, will begin selling vehicles directly to customers on the Web. The new service will act as a broker between shoppers and car dealers, posting inventory and prices from dealers, then handling the purchase, as well as financing and trade-ins. The company also will deliver vehicles, even though the dealership will remain the seller of record.

     Autobytel, based in Irvine, Calif., sells about 50,000 vehicles a month by collecting customer requests, then sending them to any of 3,000 dealerships that subscribe to its service. The new service will compete with automakers such as General Motors and Ford, which plan to beef up their own Internet referral programs. Autobytel said its plans were different than other direct sales businesses.

     "Other companies claim to make '`direct' sales over the Internet, but none have the inventory to actually deliver the promised vehicle within a reasonable timeframe,'' says Mark Lorimer, president and CEO of Autobytel.com. "Those so-called 'direct' companies are forced into calling dealer after dealer to find cars and negotiate prices--a brokerage model that promises to fail.''