Consumer Reports is getting into the car business by helping consumers purchase new vehicles at competitive prices from dealers who are held accountable for high customer satisfaction.
Consumer Reports? Build & Buy program, developed with Zag.com, Inc., allows consumers to get low, guaranteed upfront price quotes from local dealers for the specific car of the consumer?s choice. Participating local dealers have agreed to follow strict guidelines of conduct in order to help provide an easier, more transparent and consumer friendly car-buying experience. The program is available to?www.ConsumerReports.org subscribers and to purchasers of?Consumer Reports New Car Price Reports.
?We have always provided our subscribers unbiased vehicle ratings, reviews, recommendations and in-depth car-buying advice, but they have been on their own in finding a dealership that they want to work with and doing their own price negotiations,? said Jerry Steinbrink,?Consumer Reports vice president of publishing. ?This program will add the final component and help make car buying easier, with less hassle and anxiety.?
With the?free Consumer Reports Build & Buy program, consumers receive multiple upfront, guaranteed price quotes on their chosen vehicles from dealers in their local area before their contact information is ever revealed to a dealer. The consumer chooses which dealers, if any, he wishes to have contact him and only then is his contact information revealed to the dealer. The no-haggle price the consumer receives at the start of the process helps create an easier, more predictable car-buying experience.
Consumer Reports? car research and buying program differentiates itself from sites that simply?gather contact information from online car-shoppers with the promise of price quotes. The Build & Buy program also guarantees that consumers? contact information is never sold through the program; all dealer and customer cash incentives are included in dealer price quotes to shoppers; and participating dealers are required to provide high-quality customer service as defined by numerous dealer guidelines. Consumers also receive extensive, unique?Consumer Reports car-buying advice with their Build & Buy price quotes.
Dealers participating in the Build and Buy program pay Zag a fee. Separately, Zag pays Consumers Union a flat fee for each car sold. All payments are made independent of what makes or models were bought, which participating dealer those vehicles were bought from, or who bought those vehicles.
?Consumers Union does not have any financial relationship with dealers, and the fee that Consumers Union receives from Zag is unrelated to?Consumer Reports? rating of a specific model or its price,? Steinbrink said. ?Revenues generated by the program will be used to fund CU?s ongoing work and mission.?
For more information and get answers to frequently asked questions about the?Consumer Reports Build & Buy program visit?www.ConsumerReports.org. Annual subscriptions to www.ConsumerReports.org are $26.00.
