Kudos to Cars.com. They’re the first A-list, third party site to push out an iPhone automotive app for new and used car mobile shoppers. Their official announcement highlighted these features:
The Cars.com automotive app gives mobile car shoppers access to the most popular functionality on the Cars.com website. Shoppers can:
- Search millions of new, used and certified vehicles based on make/model, distance and maximum price preferences.
- Save specific dealerships and listings, along with notes and additional photos, to a favorites list for future access.
- Locate nearby dealerships to contact them by email or phone, visit the store, view their complete inventory or access their traditional internet site.
- Sort listings search results based on distance, mileage, price and model year.
- Access affordability and payment calculators, Cars.com Smart Target Pricing for new cars and Kelley Blue Book Values.
Smart move by Cars.com – besides being first to market with a retail automotive app, this is a great resource for consumers, regardless of their place in the buying cycle. New and used car dealers, even private party sellers, will benefit from the potential exposure within a mobile app. Plus, Cars.com acknowledged an iPad app is in the works; look for another shift in car shopping behavior when released.
If Cars.com really wants to put the screws to the competition, they’ll consider any of these ideas to help consumers while assisting dealers who pay good money to advertise on their site. (Hopefully, they’re one step ahead of me)
- Pulling car dealer social content into their dealer profiles – RSS feeds or even headline/content links
- Comment ratings and comparisons within individual vehicle listings
- An exclusive agreement with Facebook to push dealer inventory to car dealer Fan Page Tabs
High marks in my book. Which mobile car shopping app do you like?
Click images to see full iPhone screen shots
