IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 3, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Autobytel Inc. (Nasdaq:ABTL) is the recipient of a "Highest Rated" New Car Leads award in the fifth annual DrivingSales Dealer Satisfaction Awards, presented at a special event recently, in conjunction with the 2014 National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Convention & Expo in San Francisco.
Autobytel's Scott Pechstein, Vice President of National Sales, and Tara Wagoner, Vice President of Dealer and Consumer Services, were on hand to accept the top honor, and to meet with DrivingSales representatives and other industry professionals to discuss digital automotive, lead generation, and emerging trends and technologies shaping the automotive industry.
"We're extremely proud to accept this award based on the opinions of our valued dealer partners," said Wagoner. "Being named number one in new car leads truly validates how committed we are to providing our industry partners with the highest quality products and services to help them sell more cars, more efficiently. This was our commitment 20 years ago when Autobytel pioneered the automotive Internet, and it continues to be our most important goal today. I speak for the entire Autobytel team when I say thank you to our dealers for weighing in and casting their votes. It's an absolute honor."
Autobytel consistently ranks as a top quality digital lead provider and digital automotive leader. In addition to its most recent award of "Highest Rated" New Car Leads by DrivingSales, it was named "Top Rated" New Car Leads in 2013 by DrivingSales; a finalist of the 2013 DrivingSales Most Valuable Insight Award; both a Power 250 Company and a Major Player in the Used Car Industry by Auto Remarketing Magazine; and # 1 Dealers' Choice Awards by Auto Dealer Monthly.
"We congratulate Autobytel on winning a 'Highest Rated' New Car Leads Award and for being recognized by its dealer customers for high levels of excellence and customer satisfaction," said DrivingSales CEO and Founder Jared Hamilton. "In our fifth year of presenting these awards, we feel especially proud that DrivingSales Vendor Ratings continues to help dealers make smart and informed decisions through thousands of peer reviews that lead them to service providers such as Autobytel. We congratulate Autobytel on being recognized for top notch performance by the people to whom their services count the most: the dealer community."
Autobytel's expertise in the new car leads business validates the work it does with IHS Automotive, driven by Polk. Autobytel sends 100% of its leads to IHS for actual vehicle registration match and then shares this invaluable sales conversion data with its dealer partners. In 2014, the company delivered more than 6.4 million leads to its industry partners, and in the first six months of 2014 alone, it represented 600,000 new and used car sales in the U.S.
Autobytel has expanded its dealer offerings to include a full suite of products to help them drive leads, grow sales, and improve their overall business, including mobile products TextLeads™ and TextShield™, as well as text-any-number capabilities, and its exciting virtual showroom technology, SaleMove.
The DrivingSales Dealer Satisfaction Awards measure dealer satisfaction with vendor products and services, and are based on cumulative ratings tallied and verified over the calendar year (January – December) at DrivingSales.com Vendor Ratings. DrivingSales.com Vendor Ratings is the industry's only neutral, comprehensive vendor rating forum featuring real-time peer reviews and honest competitor comparisons, and provides dealerships with important information from actual customers who have hands-on experience using vendor products / solutions in their stores. Each rating is verified as coming from an actual dealership employee.
Full award results are available online at http://dealersatisfactionawards.com/. Award winners are showcased in the Q1 2014 issue of the DrivingSales Dealership Innovation Guide which, in addition to being distributed at the 2014 NADA Convention and Expo, is delivered to every new car dealership nationwide, as well as to the top 100 used car dealerships. For more information on the Dealership Innovation Guide, please visit: http://drivingsalesinnovationguide.com/.
About Autobytel Inc.
Autobytel Inc. provides high quality consumer leads and associated marketing services to automotive dealers and manufacturers throughout the United States and offers consumers robust and original online automotive content to help them make informed car-buying decisions. The company pioneered the automotive internet in 1995 with its flagship website www.autobytel.com and has since helped tens of millions of automotive consumers research vehicles; connected thousands of dealers nationwide with motivated car buyers; and helped every major automaker market its brand online.
Visit http://dealer.autobytel.com/auto-dealer-lead-products/ and http://mobile.autobytel.com to learn about the company's leading automotive information and products and services. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube to stay connected to our latest news. Investors and other interested parties can receive Autobytel news releases and invitations to special events by accessing the online registration form at http://investor.autobytel.com/alerts.cfm.
About DrivingSales
DrivingSales enables retail automotive dealers to learn, connect, innovate, and prosper in a rapidly changing retail environment. DrivingSales operates three business units geared at delivering actionable insight to dealers: DrivingSales Media, which comprises the DrivingSales.com dealer community, DrivingSales News, Dealer Executive Magazine, and multiple industry conferences. DrivingSales University, the leading provider of automotive retail education content and certification programs, and DrivingSales Data, the industry's largest cross-channel data analytics platform.
Founded by a third-generation car dealer in 2008, today DrivingSales is utilized by over 60% of franchised dealerships in North America as a resource to improve their business performance. To learn more about the DrivingSales community, news, training, or performance analytics visit DrivingSales.com, DrivingSalesNews.com, DrivingSalesUniversity.com and DrivingSalesData.com.