‘Virtual Showroom’ Going Nationwide On Internet System Enables Consumers To Shop For Cars, Car Parts Using Home Computers

Auto dealer Marty Rood’s idea for selling cars and trucks through the Internet may quickly grow into a business that links thousands of sellers with buyers across the country.

That’s the plan of Reynolds and Reynolds Co., a major supplier of computer business systems for car dealerships. Reynolds this week bought Rood’s Dealer Internet Services Corp. and its DealerNet “Virtual Showroom.”

DealerNet is a site on the Internet’s World Wide Web, where computer users can find words, pictures, sounds and video at the click of a mouse button.

DealerNet’s interactive displays currently link buyers to a couple of dozen car dealerships in Michigan, Washington, Oregon, California, Texas and New Jersey.

With the backing and sales force of Reynolds, that number could grow dramatically. Reynolds had revenues of $809 million last year and already does business with 90 percent of the nation’s 20,000 franchised car dealers.

“This has been one of the hottest topics with all our customers,” said Kevin Distelhorst, director of online services for Dayton, Ohio-based Reynolds. “They all seem to be asking about used cars. They all seem to be asking about Internet services.”

Reynolds plans to meld into DealerNet its computerized locator services for new and used cars and parts. That would mean a computer user could go to DealerNet, specify what they are looking for - a red 1994 Mustang convertible, for instance - and have DealerNet locate it at specific dealerships.

After that, customers then can either call or e-mail the dealer and express interest.

“The customer can do the whole negotiating over the Internet, down to working out the monthly payments, and then go down and pick it up,” Rood said Thursday. In fact, customers can go as far as arranging for purchase and delivery of the car to their homes, he said.

Plans call for adding a financing component to DealerNet so that a shopper can apply for and receive approval for a car loan as well, he said.

As a practical matter, shoppers probably would stick to nearby dealers. But one customer in Iceland did arrange for the shipment of a Volvo part from Rood’s own dealership after spotting the item in DealerNet.

The company hopes to expand DealerNet substantially, in time to take advantage of the thousands of computer users who will gain access to the Internet through Microsoft Corp.’s Windows ‘95 operating system software, scheduled for release by fall.

Rood, who created DealerNet as an outgrowth of his Lynnwood, Wash.-based Nissan-Volvo dealership, will continue to oversee the system, working for Reynolds.

xxxx