In 2007, Trevor Traina and two other business partners decided to develop a website catering to car dealerships, mechanics, and car owners looking to buy/sell or repair their vehicles. Traina made this drastic decision amongst one of the worst decrease in the car industry in history. The website that Traina and his partners developed is called DriverSide.com. As I stated before, it connects car dealerships, mechanics, and drivers all on one website. This allows for faster and easier connections to develop. The website makes money by charging as much as $895 for each car dealership and mechanic shop. The car owners use the website for free to search for the best dealership and mechanic shop. Subscribers number at 1.9 million, and over 500 dealers and repair shops.
Traina's website utilizes IT and internet capabilities to attract car dealers to pay for and use his website. The first feature the article discusses is a tune-up reminder. This allows the car owner to automatically receive reminders on when their car needs service. A very attractive technological feature that attracts customers. Ownership tools also include a repair-cost calculator, and a way to diagnose car problems before contacting mechanics. All of these IT features are great ways to attract new customers and make a higher profit. The dealers who subscribe to DriverSide.com pay for access to the special website features including personalized virtual garages embedded on their sites to maintain contact with drivers and showcase lucrative parts and services. This feature targets a recently growing market. Since the economic recession, less people have been purchasing new vehicles. This means that repair shop, and new part sales are increasing. This is because more people are adapting to their circumstances and saving money rather than buying a whole new car. Paul Taylor, chief economist at the National Automobile Dealers Assn. in McLean, Va said DriverSide is "trying to put all the decision-making in one place for the consumer and marketing that to dealers." The article states that parts sales from franchise dealers totaled $76.2 billion last year alone. Traina estimates that the revenues from repair shops, insurance, extended warranty products, and other services will extend into a hundred billion dollars in the following years. DriverSide.com is not Traina's first start up website. He has sold two other companies to Microsoft and Intuit for roughly $160 million combined. Traina used his knowledge of internet tools to connect drivers to their repair and parts needs.
When Traina started DriveSide he received some opposition. Everyone perceived the auto industry as a failing industry and didn't think investment in a online website catering to dealer and repair shops was a good idea. I believe Traina's idea for this kind of website is a great investment. One might look skeptical towards this website at first but once you really look into the market you will soon realize it is booming. With new car sales down, parts will be a great industry. Traina is using this website and IT to tap into a booming market and connect customers to franchise dealers.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2010/tc2010114_953498.htm
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