New and Used Vehicle Search Site Continues to Add
More Dealers, More Cars, and More Choices for Car Shoppers 

Wow. Has it really been a year already? On Oct. 1, 2009, we officially launched the CarLocate.com new and used vehicle search website, with the goal to help car buyers across the U.S. “shop smart” for their next car.

Many things in the auto industry have changed in the past year… the addition of new and innovative car models like the Cadillac CTS Wagon, Lexus HS250h hybrid sedan, and electric-powered Nissan LEAF… discontinuation of the Mercury brand… Toyota’s recall issues and rebound… and so on. However, our goal of helping you quickly and efficiently find your next new or used car, and our approach to designing the site to help reach that goal, remains the same.

On CarLocate.com, you’ll find:

• A clean, uncluttered design that's easy to navigate;
• A single focus on helping you find the right car;
• More efficient vehicle search features to deliver results more closely tailored to what you want; and
• Easy-to-use tools to narrow searches across more than a dozen specific attributes – Green, location, car model, engine type, price, miles per gallon – or search on several attributes simultaneously.

To that end, we've undertaken a number of product development projects in the past year to help improve your car shopping experience on our site. Our latest enhancements are focused on improving how you search for cars – making it faster, easier, and more intuitive.

Some other improvements include the addition of the CarLocate.com mobile site that works on any Web-enabled cell phone on any carrier, Green Search to find environmentally friendly new or used cars, CarMatch automatic vehicle finder e-mail alerts, and our automotive forum to help you connect with other car buyers to share your experiences.

At the same time we’ve been making improvements to the site, we’ve also been focused on getting the word out. This includes Twitter and Facebook, as well as some of the fun activities that we’ve shared in with you – from our first college football game and tailgating at the University of Tennessee to our NASCAR sponsorship to the “Click Your Pic” photo contest.

So what’s ahead for the next year?

Our general manager, Nicole Case, summed it up this way, “With CarLocate.com, our goal is to make your car shopping experience as easy, efficient, and enjoyable as possible. That’s why we’ll continue to add more car dealerships with more cars for you to choose from, as well as adding more resources and communication options. We want to help you not only make the best possible car-buying decision, but also find your ‘perfect match’ in the dealership you want to buy from and the vehicle you want to buy.”

If you have an idea to improve CarLocate.com or if a particular feature has been really helpful to you in your car search, we’d love to hear from you. Send us feedback.