AutoTrader acquires incentive-tracker Automotive Information Systems
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ORLANDO -- AutoTrader Group Inc.'s stable of online classified properties and software companies just got bigger.
Dale Pollak, founder of vAuto Inc., a unit of AutoTrader, said on Sunday that AutoTrader has acquired Automotive Information Systems, an Ann Arbor, Mich., tracker of new-vehicle incentives, for an undisclosed price.
He said vAuto will combine Automotive Information Systems' new-vehicle incentive expertise with his company's used-vehicle inventory management know-how to create a new-vehicle inventory management tool.
"Incentives are deceptively complicated," Pollak said at a press conference Sunday during the National Automobile Dealers Association convention here. "There's customer money. There's dealer money. There's lease money. There's finance incentive money. And there's a whole variety of other money, such as if you're a military person, if you're a college grad, if you're a farmer.
"And to further complicate matters, all these programs come with very specific rules and stipulations about which ones can and cannot be used in combination with others."
Automotive Information Systems has software technology that asks the dealer about a dozen questions about the customer, the vehicle and the dealership. Based on that information, the software tells the dealer which incentives are allowed.
Pollak said dealers are entitled to more incentives than they apply for and often those incentives are crucial to helping close a deal.
Troy Ontko, founder of Automotive Information Systems, is in charge of the company, which will remain in Ann Arbor.
Since 2010, AutoTrader has acquired vAuto, Kelley Blue Book, HomeNet Automotive, and VinSolutions. AutoTrader is owned by Cox Enterprises Inc.
You can reach Arlena Sawyers at asawyers@crain.com.
