With an increasing number of Internet connections comes increasing use of online auction services. Just last year, NAAA member companies used the Internet to sell more than 45,000 cars. Still a small slice of the more than 16 million vehicles that will be sold through NAAA-member auctions this year, it's a sign that dealers are beginning to navigate the various online channels. Like blind dates, you don't pick a bride or a husband off the Internet. You still have to meet them.
Car dealers are the same way.
You can't park cars in cyberspace. But you can browse and buy them there. With that in mind, here's a sampling of some of the virtual services offered by the auction industry. Operating as a seamless Web platform, AASC connects the wholesale used-car market through Internet technology. Through AASC, consignors and buyers have access to the online inventory of all auction companies with which they're registered.