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REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Dealix, a division of Cobalt, on Wednesday announced that it has continued to enhance UsedCars.com since the company re-launched the site last year.

The latest new feature, "My Account," is a tool that can allow vehicle shoppers to filter their searches more thoroughly.

Site officials explained that consumers can utilize UsedCars.com's advanced search filters and vehicle merchandising to pinpoint the exact type of unit they want. The shoppers can then ask the site to "do the work for them." That work includes an alert every time a vehicle matching their criteria is added to the site's inventory by a dealer.

The search tool also can allow shoppers to maintain a list of dealers they have already contacted about vehicles listed on UsedCars.com.

"The UsedCars.com site was designed to make this purchase process more streamlined by offering buyers tools that allow them to easily target and customize their vehicle searches as well as to quickly identify cars in their market with special attributes, including those with below Kelley Blue Book pricing," Dealix officials emphasized.

Site executives rolled out the new tool while highlighting how much growth UsedCars.com has shown since it was revamped in 2009. They said visitor traffic has increased by nearly 40 percent, while vehicle inventory has expanded by 45 percent.

Dealix attributed that growth to several other new features, which include:

—Best Value Gallery & Tag: UsedCars.com offers what its officials believe is the "best value" in each market based on the difference between a dealer's posted price and the Kelley Blue Book Suggested Retail Value.

—Intuitive Vehicle Badges: These badges can identify vehicles with special attributes, such as recently reduced, new listing, green vehicle or certified pre-owned.

—Green Choice Center: A one-stop resource for consumers that features information on hybrids, as well as vehicles that have high fuel economy and low emissions.

—Certified Pre-Owned Center: Site officials pointed out that they currently partner with six manufacturers' CPO programs through UsedCars.com

—Dealer Spotlight: This function can produce dynamic banner ads that can display dealers' live inventory to in-market buyers and allow buyers to click on ads to view a dealer's expanded inventory. 

Dimitar Alexandrov, director of used-car products for Dealix, stressed that the new "My Account" feature augments all of the enhancements already made to UsedCars.com

"We've invested considerable resources over the past year to build tools and functionality that help to shorten the time it to takes for online auto buyers to find the right used car," Alexandrov stated.

"The My Account feature is one of many that we've developed which leverage our advanced search capabilities to present users with the most relevant and targeted information to aid them in their used car search," Alexandrov concluded.