Everything is online. If this is not the case for your business, it probably means you are going out of business. Since you are reading this blog, you are probably on the right track. Here is my story.

Call it mid-life crisis, but a few months ago I was desperate for a red Corvette. The first thing I did was research the car thoroughly so that I could become an informed buyer. I did an online search for “corvette” and found a forum called the Corvette Forum (http://forums.corvetteforum.com), which is an online community for Corvette enthusiasts. Chock-full of information from hundreds of Corvette owners from all over North America, I was ready to take the next step.

This meant that I had sell my old car, which was a red 2004 Nissan 350Z with only 7000 miles (yes, you may be seeing a trend here). I advertised my “Z” on Autotrader (http://www.autotrader.com/), which is the largest online car site with over 2 million used vehicles listed. I sold my car in three weeks to a buyer who lived 300 miles away; he had been searching for my “Z” for about a week.

Money in hand, I started my search for a red 2005 Corvette with a six speed manual transmission, a removable hard top, and a Z51 performance package. Low mileage was a must since low miles is the single most important factor in preserving resale value for a used Corvette. Conveniently, most “Vette” owners choose to drive their cars only on weekends; the weekend drive is done only after the car is washed, waxed, and polished. More than one Vette owner that I talked with referred to their cars as their “baby”, which tells you a lot about the psyche of the Corvette owner.

I did my search for my “baby” with the internet. It turns out that there are car dealerships which only sell and service Corvettes. One is called Corvette Mike’s (http://www.corvettemike.com/); see my blog entry called “Niche Marketing With Passion” from Sunday, October 29th, 2006). With multiple locations in the North America, Corvette Mike’s sells new and used Vettes, along with parts and accessories. But, my research showed that buying the car from a private party was probably the best way to go. I located a number of Vettes within a 100 mile radius of my Orange County home, and the fun began: I got to test drive the different cars for sale. Hot dang!

The actual purchase was easy since there were so many low mileage Vettes in near perfect condition. The ultimate seller lived about 75 miles away and was moving to Europe and had to sell her 2005 red Corvette with only 6000 miles. Call it destiny or whatever, but I found my car in a matter of minutes in perfect condition and at the right price.

As far as new car financing, I did a web search for used auto financing and chose to go with Well Fargo (https://autofinance.wellsfargo.com/home.jsp) for their competitive rates and ease of doing business with them. I did this all via the web.

With the transaction made, I decided to upgrade the floor mats and ordered them from an online store in Houston, Texas (http://www.corvettesofhouston.com). Now my Corvette was really perfect. Also, I needed to change my insurance, so I emailed my insurance agent (who lives in San Jose by the way) to drop the Nissan and add the Corvette.

The point of this story is about the process I used to buy and sell my cars. It was virtually all online with help from others located all over North America. Had this been even five years ago, I would have bought and sold my car locally and relied upon local merchants, local buyers, and local inventory. I am positive that the web delivered a quicker and better transaction.

Everything is online. Is your business up to the challenge?

John Bradley Jackson
© Copyright 2007 All rights reserved.

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1 Comment
  1. I rec’d a number e-mails from people interested in buying a Corvette. With the slowing economy and the release of the new 2008 models with special financing, it is a great time to buy a used Corvette. Prices have fallen substantially in the last six months for 2007 and older models. The new 2008 models are great with 430 horsepower, but you can get a tremendous value in the used market and you will save thousands of dollars. Also, there are still thousands of new 2006 Vettes on the lots; oddly enough dealers won’t budge on pricing on these. My advice is go with a used Corvette which was carefully maintained and not driven on the track.

    JBJ

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