Click a Button, Buy a Car

When the time came for George Welch, 71, to replace his 2007 Nissan Murano, he wanted to avoid his ritual hassle of haggling for a new car at a dealership in Ada, Okla. So he decided to give the Internet a try.

He punched in his request for a 2010 Murano, outfitted with satellite radio and the other accessories he likes, and found one at a dealership 70 miles away, listed for $29,000. He printed the quote and called to confirm it. Two days later, he walked in and bought his new vehicle—equipped and priced exactly as he’d specified. The starting-point sticker price for someone walking in off the street, he noticed, was $34,000.

To Welch, the process felt quick, easy and painless. “I’ll never go into a dealership again unless I have a printout,” he says.

The Internet has long been an ideal aggregator of classified ads for used vehicles, allowing buyers to compare options from private sellers and dealers throughout the country. Now its power as a marketplace for new cars is growing. No longer are buyers constrained by the inventory and tactics of their local dealers. In fact, those dealers are rushing to post their vehicles on Internet sites that list autos for sale. Roughly 30 percent of new cars purchased in the United States are selling online, according to Edmunds.com. At eBay Motors, a site that attracts 13.4 million visitors a month, 3.6 million new and used cars have been sold since the site launched in 2000. AutoTrader.com, which has more than 15 million visitors a month, includes listings from 30,000 dealers.

While the Internet is often perceived as a tool of younger, theoretically more tech-savvy buyers, older Americans are flocking to the computer for big ticket items like vehicles. With good reason: Edmunds.com estimates that taking advantage of the Internet can save consumers at least $1,000 per car. And whether or not people actually make the purchase online or at the dealership, they’re clearly using the Internet as a research tool. Among people 55 and older buying used vehicles last year, J.D. Power & Associates found that nearly half used the Internet while shopping, up from 30 percent in 2002. That portion is even higher for new vehicles: In 2008, 63 percent of that segment used the Internet while shopping, according to the company’s most recent Autoshopper.com survey. “That’s a significant number that I expect to grow,” says Arianne Walker, J.D. Power’s director of marketing and media studies.

Knowledge is power

One of the most attractive aspects of online buying is that it removes face-to-face negotiations from the equation. Who hasn’t felt the calculating stare of a showroom sales shark? Dealers have been known to make judgments on any number of personal qualities, age among them, and leverage those perceived vulnerabilities to create a stressful buying experience.

A big way to combat feeling disadvantaged is to be informed, and the Internet offers tons of information that consumers are using. Brad Joseph, a dealer at Oliver C. Joseph in Belleville, Ill., says it’s not uncommon for older shoppers to bring in their laptops and flip them open on his desk: “They’ll say, I have this price right here from your competitors. Can you match it?”

Indeed, as more and more consumers inform themselves online about everything from pricing to inventory to trade-in values from the Internet, dealers are transforming the way they do business. Before people had access to such a wealth of information, “dealers were in a position to take advantage of consumers if they chose to,” admits Les Abrams, management instructor for The Academy, a National Automobile Dealers Association training division for aspiring dealers. But now they’re having to negotiate on more honest terms, and car buyers enjoy a more level playing field. “That’s been a healthy transformation for the auto industry,” he says.

From couch to driver’s seat

There’s a wide range of sites devoted to helping you purchase a vehicle.