Vast.com is making a strong play in the automotive classified space (yes, AutoRevo integrates our dealer inventory there for FREE), and I spent some time this morning playing with their search tools and vast graphs. The search functionality is pretty much industry standard, but the graphs are rich with great data and they just look cool!
Here is my graph after searching 2005 Toyota 4Runner Limited Edition:
What I like about the shopping tool:
- Let me get this one out of the way....it looks cool
- Once I get my search down to a trim level and price range it is very useful when shopping.
- I can see a pricing trend based on mileage
- Mousing over a dot gives me light detail on the car
- Clicking a dot gives me a bit more car detail (but not enough)
What I DON'T like about the shopping tool:
- The mouse over information should have more details for quick comparison. Examples: Carfax One Owner, color, important options, engine, transmission
- After clicking on the dots it gives you a car preview on the right, but it really isn't any more information than the mouse-over. I have to click the preview to drill into the vehicle details.
- The car preview should have more instant information on the unit and a contact dealer button.
Vast.com has a unique slant on classified sites: they tracking millions of classified listings across the internet and aggregate the data for comparison shopping. This gives them the comparison shopping engine based on your search criteria on their site.
They are also the inventory provider for AOL Autos and Overstock.com.
Anyway, enough for one morning. Check out the site when you can. If your inventory is not on Vast, call us at AutoRevo.com