Priceline.com Expands "Name Your Own Price" Service
6 July 1998
Priceline.com Expands "Name Your Own Price" Service With An Entirely New Way to Buy a Car or Truck
STAMFORD, Conn.--July 6, 1998--Consumers Can Now Name Their Price for New Cars and Trucks Priceline.com Finds a Dealer Who Agrees to Their Price - in Writing
For the first time, consumers can use the Internet to buy any new car or truck at their price without ever talking to a car salesman. Unlike other Internet car buying services that give your name to car salesmen who then call back to provide the dealer's best price, priceline.com (www.priceline.com or 1-800-PRICELINE), lets buyers name their own best price. If the buyer's price is accepted, priceline e-mails the customer within one business day with a commitment from a dealer who has agreed, in writing, to the customer's price. The service launches today in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut tri-state metropolitan area.
"Priceline.com is radically different from Auto-by-Tel and Microsoft CarPoint," said Gary Arlen, president of Arlen Communications, Inc., a Bethesda, MD research firm specializing in electronic media. "Priceline turns the car-buying process upside down. It takes advantage of the Web's capabilities by letting the buyer name the price and inviting dealers to take it or leave it."
Other car-buying services on the Internet sign up a limited number of dealers who pay for the right to call prospects and try to sell them a car. Instead, priceline.com gets the price from the customer and then goes to all factory-authorized dealers within an area specified by the customer, without revealing the buyer's name, phone number or gender, to see if any of them will agree to sell the car at the customer's price. Priceline.com charges no membership costs or fees in advance. The service costs nothing unless a dealer agrees to the customer's price in writing.
Priceline.com is introducing its new car buying service just 90 days after nationally launching its popular first service for airline tickets. "Consumers recognize priceline.com as the Internet brand that means name your price," said Jay Walker, founder and chairman of priceline.com. "Millions of consumers have responded to our ads featuring celebrity spokesman William Shatner who also serves as the voice of priceline for new cars." The company will continue to aggressively introduce new "name-your-own-price" services to build on the success of priceline.com in the marketplace.
How priceline's New-Car Buying Service Works
Consumers visit priceline.com to fill out a Priceline Vehicle Request specifying the exact make and model of the vehicle they want to purchase (including colors and options). They also state the price they are ready to pay, the date the car must be available and how far they are willing to travel to pick up their new car from a factory-authorized dealer. To help buyers submit reasonable requests, priceline.com's Web site displays both the manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP) and the dealer invoice price for vehicles. If a request is accepted and a customer does not pick up a vehicle they have committed to buy, there is a good-faith cancellation fee of $200.
Once the customer submits a Priceline Vehicle Request, priceline.com contacts every factory-authorized dealer within the buyer's specified area for a dealer who will agree to the customer's price. The customer's privacy is absolute. At no time during the process does priceline.com give the buyer's name to a car salesman. Upon receipt of a Priceline Vehicle Request, factory-authorized dealers have two choices. They can accept the customer's price and commit in writing to sell the car, or if they have a similar vehicle or the same car at a different price, they can submit a non-binding counteroffer which priceline.com e-mails to the customer. Once a dealer agrees to the customer's price, the buyer receives an e-mail purchase confirmation from priceline.com confirming the price, make, model, options and vehicle identification number.
After the sale is complete, the customer pays $25 for the priceline service charged to their credit card. The dealer pays priceline.com $75. The buyer arranges vehicle financing from a bank, credit union or other source. Dealers may offer their own financing alternatives for the buyer to consider after the price is agreed to in writing. Trade-ins are handled separately between the buyer and the dealer.
About priceline.com
Based in Stamford, Connecticut, priceline.com LLC, a privately-held company with over 100 employees, has created the world's first buyer-driven commerce system. In April 1998, the company launched its first "name-your-own-price" service for leisure airline tickets. To date, more than 30,000 leisure travelers have bought tickets at their price. During peak periods, priceline.com's airline ticket service sells a ticket every 70 seconds. The priceline.com system was invented by Walker Digital, a high-tech marketing laboratory founded in 1996 by Jay Walker. More information on priceline.com can be found on its Web site.
