Invoicedealers.com: Simpleminded, Basically
Written: Apr 01 '04 (Updated May 10 '05)
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Automotive web sites can be both informative and helpful for a person who is looking to purchase a vehicle. With the advanced technology that is available, a potential buyer can logon to the internet and find all sorts of information on specific cars and even view a 360 degree image onscreen, making it almost as good as visiting a dealership.
Like any web service concept, there will always be a share of both good and bad sites and auto web sites are no exception. One auto web service that doesn’t quite make the grade is invoicedealers.com, a web site for buyers of new vehicles.
Features of This Service:
Invoicedealers.com is divided into the following sections:
Home Page- This is where it all begins, and as far as home pages go, this one is rather bleak. You can usually find a few automotive reviews on this page along with a search function to lookup price quotes on vehicles by make, year, model, and zip code. There is also a search function that locates new vehicles for sale by price, body style, and vehicle class.
Buy/Lease- This area includes basically the same search mechanism on the home page where you enter the make, year, model and zip code to get a price quote on a new car. You can also search for new car dealers by state and link into another affiliate site to buy or sell a used car. If you want a price quote, you must answer some questions about yourself and include a telephone number where a dealer can contact you. The information is then forwarded to a new car/truck dealership in your area.
Research- Here, you can conduct a little research on vehicles by browsing through cars and trucks based on price criteria, body style, or make. It allows you to look at the features and specifications of each car, view a photo or two, and make side by side comparisons.
Additional Resources- There are a few other services offered here, like assistance with getting loans, help reducing the cost of insurance, and quotes on warranties. Just like with the used car buying and selling, this area is nothing more than a few links into other web sites.
Customer Service:
Invoicedealers.com allows customers to send in comments via its feedback page. To speak directly with a rep about a problem with the site itself, you would have to call the corporate office for Dealix Corp. (the parent company) in Redwood City, California, 650-599-5500. You can also e-mail a question to webmaster@dealix.com. If you have an issue with a dealership whom you are working with through this web site, don’t bother calling Invoicedealers.com. Once a dealership has been forwarded your info and contacted you, any further issues you have are the responsibility of the auto dealer. It’s out of Invoicedealers.com’s hands at that point.
Final Thoughts:
Invoicedealers.com isn’t one of the better automotive web sites in cyberspace. It performs its primary function (forwarding your request for a price quote to a local dealership) in a satisfactory manner. But the site itself is sorely lacking in basic features and in overall appeal.
One thing that potential web surfers should know right away is that this is not a service for used cars. The search function on the main page that locates a vehicle by price, body style, and vehicle class is nothing more than a browsing function for newer cars. If your mind is set on a used car, you can get what you need here, by going to the Buy/Lease tab. But once here, you will quickly notice that anything dealing with used cars is nothing more than a link into another web site, like autoweb.com, carsdirect.com, autobytel.com, even ebay.com. Thus, in a nutshell, Invoicedealers.com is nothing more than an affiliate for this and other areas. Financing information, insurance, warranty, and leasing are also handled by affiliates. I don’t mind an occasional link into another web site and I don’t normally hold it against a web site if it outsources some of its business. But when you narrow it down, the only thing you can do in this site is get a price quote on a new car and view specifications on vehicles. That really is all there is to it.
The search function itself is simple enough to use. If you’re not sure what type of car or truck you want, you can use the general search function to help you make up your mind. After you enter your three selections for price, body style, and vehicle class (or default to no preference), the options that display will show you what types of late year models (2003 or 2004) fit into your specifications, with a price range you can expect to pay. If you want to go further, you must click on another icon to get a price quote for your area. This is easy enough to use, and there is an advanced search option that allows more criteria to be entered. But if you really want to look for something specific, you must go into the research section and lookup stats on your own, and then compare with different vehicles.
Most automotive web sites offer ways to view photos of the different vehicles to help aid in making a decision. Invoicedealers.com has photos, but just like with the rest of the site, the photos section is too basic. There is usually nothing more than a single photo of each vehicle, with no way to view the interior or take a 360- degree view. This doesn’t measure up to the more sophisticated automotive web services out there, some of which are so visual you almost feel like you’re right there, looking at the vehicle in person.
The pages of this site do load very fast- much more quickly than with other automotive web sites, which is a plus for those who are impatient. Of course, the reason is probably due to the fact that the service is so simple. There isn’t much to this site and it appears that it was assembled together in a matter of maybe one or two days. There are no user tools to help you choose the right car, except for a link called “find the right car” which is nothing more than a lecture on what to do. It doesn’t offer any surveys to answer to help select the car that is right for you. It’s more or less a self- directed type of site.
Overall, this web service gets a thumbs- down from me. It does manage to get your information to a dealership in reasonable time (I was contacted in 25 minutes after I submitted the form). There is no charge to use this service and the pages load quickly. But the site is so basic that most anyone with minimal web design experience could set up something just as useful right from their own home computer in a very short time. It’s a simple site, designed for those who already know exactly what they want or for those who are not picky and don’t want to commit to investing the necessary time to find the right vehicle. For the rest of us, Invoicedealers.com is a waste of time and effort- so simplistic, it’s almost insulting.
Be Sure to Click on the Links Below to Read More Reviews on Related Web Sites:
Cars Direct.com
Autoweb.com
Discount Tire Direct.com
Car Prices.com
Carmax.com
Cars.com
Pricequotes.com
Autonation.com
Recommended:
No
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? New Ford Truck
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