Buying Cars Through Kiosks

Concentra Corp. [NASDAQ:CTRA] and its LoanData subsidiary have unveiled Spot Finance, a kiosk-based system designed to let consumers browse car lots and obtain financing online, currently entering beta testing with a New England-based chain of nine auto dealerships.

Concentra Chief Technical Officer Bob Phillips said that Spot Finance represents the first automotive application for Concentra’s Selling Chain, a sales configurator now serving as the engine for growing numbers of vertical market implementations.

Spot Finance, he said, consists of three main components — a server; a consumer kiosk; and a PC for salespeople — all designed for use directly within the car dealership. From the kiosk, consumers can browse the auto lot, in addition to finding out whether they can qualify to get financing on desired car models.

Consumers with less than "A" credit may find it easier to obtain financing through SpotFind than through World Wide Web-based equivalents, he predicted. Moreover, many consumers do not feel comfortable divulging their financial histories to a salesperson, Bob Staretz, VP of information systems and marketing said. "All the salesperson sees is the results of the credit rating system," he added.

Customers can also hone in on the models of greatest interest without walking around the entire lot. Meanwhile, the auto dealership can capture demographic information on sales prospects for promotional purposes.

"Our long-term objective is to build a Web site that is identical to the kiosk," Staretz said. But he acknowledged that Ira might not meet that goal immediately, in that not all consumers are sophisticated enough yet to use an online application like this without being able to ask a salesperson for help.

Concentra is located at http://www.concentra.com on the Web.

(Contact: David Seuss or Caitlin Hunt, Schwartz Communications for Concentra, 781-684-0770)