Higher Prices Double Length of New Car Negotiations

Buyers Negotiate Longer And Harder When Discounts Are Low

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Aug 31, 2011, 03:00 ET

BURLINGAME, Calif., Aug. 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- CarWoo! data, obtained from their online MarketPlace for new car buyers and sellers, reveals that after peaking during July, the rigor of negotiation appears to be lessening as new car prices begin to return to first quarter levels.

In March of 2011, online new car buyers were making their purchase decisions in just over one day. By July, as the full effects of the inventory disruption impacted new car prices, buyers were taking nearly two full days to make their decisions. The online interactions between buyers and dealers increased over 30% between March and July.

Prices in August began trending back toward early 2011 prices and as of the end of August, buyers are making their decisions in 1.5 days and are interacting with dealers only 10% more than in March.

"The CarWoo! MarketPlace allows us to observe all aspects of the online transaction," says Tommy McClung, CarWoo! CEO. "We are able to see the interaction between price and buyer behavior. As buyer interaction went up, we also saw the importance of dealer behavior. As we have observed before, professionalism trumps price in these negotiations, with the winning offer being the lowest less than 43% of the time."

Additional information can be found on the CarWoo! Chronicle.

CarWoo! recently passed 100,000 fans on Facebook. In celebration of this CarWoo! has launched a sweepstakes on Facebook and will give away a Honda Fit when it reaches 200,000 fans. Details for the sweepstakes can be found at the CarWoo! Chronicle or on Facebook.

About CarWoo!

CarWoo!, as seen on The Today Show, CNN Money and other leading national media outlets, is the only online marketplace for car buyers and sellers where buyers remain anonymous and dealers are ensured buyers who purchase within two weeks 80% of the time. It was founded in 2008 by serial entrepreneurs, Tommy McClung, Erik Landerholm and Michael Young with early funding by Y Combinator, CarWoo! is based in Burlingame, CA and is now funded by Blumberg Capital, Comcast Interactive Capital and Interwest Partners. Find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/carwoo and on Twitter at twitter.com/carwoo.