CMS 4030
April 14, 2005
Andre Chekan
Analysis of Car Websites
My hobby is cars; I love to read about cars, research cars,
drive cars, and build them. My current project is 2001 Honda Civic coupe which
I’m building right now. It’s long term process since the components are
expensive and difficult to find. Term building refers to installing high tech
performance parts on the car to make it faster and more fun. I love speed and
that explains numerous speeding tickets I got. Whether you looking for advice, or
simply looking to sell or purchase a vehicle, there are thousands of sites
devoted to automobiles. With so many sites available, the first major obstacle
is locating a site with the relevant content. The content of the site is not
the only consideration. Along with content, the site’s design and
implementation will ultimately be the critical factors for the individual’s overall
level of interest in the site. For anyone interested in Cars, the Internet provides
abundant source of information. The design and implementation of a web site
consists of many components. Some of these components include the site’s
presentation and layout of the content, ease and intuitiveness of site
navigability, overall user usability of the site. In reviewing content, design
and implementation of car related sites, I picked three sites that I feel
provide user with relevant information as well as opportunity to buy or sell.
Each site is slightly different but overall content is similar.
Autotrader.com
I recently used autotrader.com to sell my 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid. I was
very happy with this website because is easy to navigate, and is user friendly.
The site is very clean. The search tools
allow you to locate cars of any make and model with in a set distance to your zip
code. Then you simply click the link to email the seller and if you like the
car do the business. Along with the site, the seller’s ad is posted in Autotrader Magazine, where ad runs until car sells (at the
right membership level). The site has all major cars listed from A to Z; it
feels like a guide to every car on sale in the country at any given time. The
only real downside is that you have to register to enjoy some of the bonus
features such as searching by year, engine size or mileage. But to be fair
joining isn't really a major problem and well worth it for these extra benefits
if you want to buy a car. I would recommend this site to buyers and sellers
even if you want to just compare the going prices for what you are buying or
selling.
Vehix.com
Vehix.com is a comprehensive website that gives you a variety
of options to use when buying or selling a car.
First time car buyers can use the Vehix
"Side-by-Side" comparison tool, which tells you everything you want
to know about the cars you are interested in. This helps you compare similar
cars by feature and cost. The Vehix.com home page is simple to use and
understand. It makes getting around their website very easy. This is a great
website for browsers. Running an
advertisement on Vehix.com to sell your car is quick and easy. For just thirty
dollars you can list your car's price, pictures and selling price on Vehix.com
until the time that your car actually sells. Filled with information, you can
find all the facts here. The home page of Vehix.com makes it easy for you to
get a price quote, research your new car options or search for local dealers in
your area. Once you are connected through the website to dealers in your area,
you can get the cost of the vehicle you like and the address of where the car
is located. You can also design a car to meet your own unique specifications.
They allow you to apply online for financing and insurance. Vehix.com provides
you a great way to buy a car and research it before the deal is made. This
website is very user friendly and fun to surf through. It gives you access to a
huge car inventory throughout the
Cars.com
Cars.com is an excellent source for
accurate car information but it also offers excellent photography, 360 degree
views on new cars, and is an excellent place to sell your vehicle or buy a new
or used vehicle. Cars.com also offers individual vehicle history, blue book
values, informative reviews, and insurance rates. The site is very clean and easy to use; every
feature displayed very clearly. Navigating through the site very easy and fun. Cars.com has
a great help section if you have any problems using the site. There is no
membership fee whatsoever; in-fact there is no membership available. Just log
on the Cars.com and you have instant access to everything Cars.com has to
offer. Cars.com makes most of their money from advertisements which are visible
on almost every page. Buying a new or used car via Cars.com is simple. To buy a
car you simply type the make and the model of the car you are looking for, the
amount you want to spend, your area code, how many miles you would travel to
buy the car, and then click 'go'. A list of the car you want to buy will appear
if it is available in your price range or location. The phone number of the
seller is given along with a description of the car; it's exactly like a
classified ad. Selling your car is a bit more difficult than buying, but is
still relatively easy. In fact, I’m currently selling my 2002 Mitsubishi
Montero through Denver Post and my ad appears on Cars.com which runs in the paper for 30 days or until it sells online. When you are selling a car you do need to
create an account which will be issued after you have submitted all the
information on the car that you want posted for sale. For 25 dollars you can
post your ad along with a picture. Cars.com receives hundreds of thousands of
individual visits per day so it's well worth the money. Besides getting
accurate car info, site provides users with excellent car reviews. To me it's very interesting to read car reviews
that once were new and glamorous, and now considered to be junk by many. Downloading times can be slow at many times
during the day because of heavy internet traffic. Cars.com could use some improvements, but as
it stands, Cars.com proves to be a very refined website dedicated to cars.
References
autotrader.com
vehix.com
cars.com