CHICAGO – Cars.com, the premier online resource for buying and selling new and used cars, today announced that Kia Motor Company has partnered with the site to promote Kia Certified Pre-Owned vehicles, effective Nov. 1, 2012. As part of the program, Kia will sponsor certified branding and the listing of all certified inventory on Cars.com at no cost to Kia dealers, accompanied by information for consumers explaining the Kia Certified Pre-Owned vehicle program.
“Cars.com receives 24 million visits from in-market consumers per month to its desktop site and mobile properties, providing one of the largest audiences of highly qualified, ready-to-buy car shoppers in the industry,” said Tom Loveless, Executive Vice President, Sales, Kia Motors America. “Our goal in listing our dealers’ Kia Certified Pre-Owned vehicles and raising visibility for the Kia Certified Pre-Owned program on the site overall is to drive more consumer consideration of our dealerships, and provide opportunities for them to grow their business.”
According to a recent Cars.com study*, more than half of online CPO shoppers believe a certified, pre-owned vehicle is worth an extra $1,000-$2,500 over the price of a non-certified used vehicle. Many CPO shoppers consider certified pre-owned vehicles a more affordable alternative to buying new – nine in 10 luxury CPO shoppers and eight in 10 non-luxury shoppers are cross-shopping new vehicles. Seventy percent of all CPO shoppers are also open to buying a non-certified used vehicle.
“With their like-new warranties and quality assurance, we’re seeing certified pre-owned vehicles gaining interest among car shoppers on our site – and they’re willing to pay more for that peace of mind,” said Brendan Dougherty, Senior Manager, Advertising Solutions, Cars.com. “Kia dealers are in a great position to use this program to their advantage to differentiate their inventory and their stores on Cars.com.”
For more information, Kia dealers can contact their Cars.com sales professional, visit http://dealers.cars.com/Kia or call 800.298.1460.
*Source: Cars.com Online CPO Insights Survey, June 2012
ABOUT CARS.COM
Cars.com is an award-winning online destination for car shoppers that offers information from consumers and experts to help buyers formulate opinions on what to buy, where to buy and how much to pay for a car. Cars.com offers thousands of new and used vehicle listings, consumer reviews, side-by-side comparison tools, photo galleries, videos, unbiased editorial content and many other tools. Cars.com put millions of car buyers in control of their shopping process with the information they need to make confident buying decisions. Launched in June 1998, Cars.com is a division of Classified Ventures LLC, which is owned by leading media companies, including A.H. Belo (NYSE: AHC), Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI), Tribune Company and The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO).
