ATLANTA—November 7, 2018 – Hearst Autos, parent to Car and Driver, and DealerScience today announced a first in car shopping. Consumers researching and shopping for cars online will now have access to a payment tool that offers accurate payments powered by DealerScience’s proprietary software. The accurate payment means that a full account of the price, including dealer and OEM incentives, state and federal taxes, and any fees, are included in what payment the consumer sees on a dealer’s website. While accurate pricing is common on many other retail shopping sites, it hasn’t existed in the auto shopping process until now.
“This new tool offered by Car and Driver and DealerScience enables consumers to truly complete a critical and necessary step in the online car shopping and buying process. Consumers prefer to use their time at a dealership learning about and test driving the car they intend to buy, rather than spending unwanted hours filling out paperwork and haggling over price and payment,” said Nick Matarazzo, president of Hearst Autos. This tool significantly accelerates the process for consumers and instantly improves dealer and OEM trust with consumers because they can now deliver on something that their potential customers have long wanted,” said Matarazzo. A recent car shopping study by Jumpstart Automotive Media revealed that 61% of consumers surveyed said that accurate pricing and payments were one of the most important considerations that influenced their car purchase decision.
DealerScience’s “Penny-Perfect Payments®”, is a proprietary tool that shifts the pricing paradigm when car shopping online. Said Andrew Gordon, president of DealerScience, “We recognized that automotive digital retailing experiences broke down when the consumer was offered different payments at different points in the sales process. At my family's Honda store, we realized that the best way to build trust throughout the car buying process was to ensure consistency for the consumer from the website to the showroom. So, we built the DealerScience engine to calculate penny-perfect payments, optimizing deals for the lender, term, interest, and taxes. Now we can present those accurate payments to consumers through lease and finance website buttons, automated specials, and payment search. We're proud to be powering Car and Driver Payments by DealerScience.“
About Hearst Autos
Hearst Autos delivers qualified, in-market car shoppers directly to dealer websites through the credibility and trust of Car and Driver’s research, listings, and shopping tools, and the scale and performance of Jumpstart Automotive Media’s audience of more than 20 million unique monthly car shoppers. Jumpstart Automotive Media’s rich data coupled with its proprietary technology solutions positions a dealer’s customized display advertising in front of the uniquely matched in-market shopper wherever they’re shopping across Jumpstart’s diverse portfolio of publishers (Car and Driver, U.S. News Best Cars, J.D. Power Cars, NADAguides, Autoweek.com, Autobytel, Autolist.com, Daily News Autos, LeftLaneNews.com, CarSoup, CarBuzz, CarStory, VehicleHistory.com and iSeeCars). With industry- leading consumer data, insights and analytics, Hearst Autos engages the consumer car shopper from inception to the point of purchase decision.
About Car and Driver
Founded in 1955, Car and Driver is the definitive voice for in-market car shoppers, enthusiasts, and industry leaders. With an audience of more than 12 million unique visitors per month, Car and Driver is dedicated to delivering expert content and leading-edge insights on all things related to new, used, and pre-owned vehicles. With the most comprehensive vehicle testing, research, and reviews in the automotive category, Car and Driver delivers the most trusted car shopping experience for consumers and deep engagement for auto manufacturers and dealers. Car and Driver extends across all platforms including web, mobile, iPhone/iPad apps, events, social media, and digital products.
About DealerScience
Founded in 2009 by a third generation Honda dealer, DealerScience provides tools that automatically generates Penny-Perfect Payments for lease and retail automotive purchases. These payments are visible to customers on dealership websites and provide an unparalleled level of transparency to customers. Dealers are able to automatically generate vin specific specials utilizing all national and regional incentives. In use in over 400 dealerships and growing rapidly, DealerScience tools are recognized for their level of accuracy and speed, reducing sales management tasks, and giving customers the information they want and need.
Media Contact:
Lou Laste
678.492.2737/
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