The Car Connection Integrates Vehicle Searches with Review Data
Car review and data site The Car Connection is adding something new to its information offerings: searchable new- and used-vehicle inventories.
High Gear Media, publisher of The Car Connection, has announced that within a matter of days it will launch this vehicle search section on the company’s flagship site, integrating the listings with its research, reviews and ratings data.
By working with industry partner sites, the company’s plan is to offer more than 3 million vehicle listings.
“That 3 million number shows we’re serious," Jeff Birkeland, vice president of product management for High Gear, told Auto Remarketing on Monday. "The point being that we’re not just publishing listings; we’re connecting them to our great content created over the years. For example, if you’re looking for a 2009 Toyota Camry, we have a review for that too.
“Secondly, we’re adding an interesting data layer on top of the listings. Users can see, for example, how a vehicle’s price and mileage compare to other similar vehicles in the area,” he said.
Users will also have the ability to contact vehicle sellers through the site.
All of the search listings and related information will also be available on The Car Connection’s mobile site, an integration Birkeland said is particularly important.
“The world is going mobile; we’ve seen that in our activity,” he said, noting that mobile web accounts for 30 percent of High Gear’s traffic. “Our users on mobile, in some ways, are more transaction-defined than those using desktop.”
For both desktop and mobile, Birkeland said, “We want to make the overall experience as easy and fast as possible.”