Greenlight.Com - How Greenlight.com Worked

HOW GREENLIGHT.COM WORKED

Like CarsDirect.com, which launched in May 1999, Greenlight.com bought cars from dealers for re-sale to online customers at a fixed price, but Green-light.com claimed that it would be more dealer-friendly than other online buying services. Greenlight.com gave dealers direct contact with customers, and customers took delivery of their vehicle from a dealer that would handle most of the post-sale customer service.

The first step in buying a car through Green-light.com was for a customer to describe the vehicle they wanted and the state in which they wanted to take delivery. Greenlight.com then provided a guaranteed, no-haggle price. If the price was right, the customer would then fill out an online order form. Green-light.com promised that a dealer would reply to the customer within 24 hours with a confirmed delivery time. The customer then took delivery of the car from the dealer.

Dealers were granted exclusive territories from Greenlight.com, but they had to respond within 24 hours or Greenlight.com would send the customer to another dealer. If the selected dealer did not have the car in stock, Greenlight.com would help arrange a dealer trade. Greenlight.com did not charge fees to the dealers; rather, it made money on each vehicle's markup. Dealers who were part of Greenlight.com 's network were free to continue their relationships with other online buying services and to receive leads from their own stand-alone Web sites.