The ITM Award for the Institute of Transport Management's 'Automotive Online Innovation Award 2006' has recognised VCars’ success in establishing itself as a serious player in the Internet purchasing sector. The decision to present this award to VCars was based on the wide choice and excellence of the available marque’s within their line up. The awards committee was particularly impressed by the high level of customer satisfaction expressed by VCars customers as surveyed by the ITM.

Commenting on the award, Mr Patrick Sheedy, Media & PR Director of the Institute, said: "What impressed the awards committee the most about VCars was its Customer Service policies and outstanding Internet range and it is for these reasons that VCars receives the ‘Automotive Online Innovation’ award for 2006."

The Internet has become a vitally important market to dealerships, with huge amounts of customers now sourcing their vehicles online. In the UK, approximately 83% of the population benefits from Internet coverage. This is a huge percentage and dealerships must take advantage of the opportunity offered by a strong online presence in order to continue to remain competitive and also to expand their business.

VCars provides its clients with such resources, allowing dealers to maximize their web presence in the form of a network of 500 plus websites. These sites are easily accessible through search engines and are model or manufacturer specific. More than 1,600 clients are currently benefiting from the services provided by VCars. The company caters to both franchised and non-franchised dealers.

At the moment VCars is looking at a huge number of visitors to their site, in the region of 600,000 and this figure is set to continue rising.

VCars range of websites includes www.vcars,co.uk, www.vcars-usedcars.co.uk, www.used-peugeot-cars.co.uk, and so on. Through these websites dealerships can present their offerings to a huge range of prospective customers. These sites allow browsers to go directly to a specific dealer website, providing an immediate and easy to navigate connection. More sites are currently under construction, as the company plans to expand its network even further.

Providing a system whereby potential buyers can view any given dealer’s stock range in a straightforward and timely fashion is the VCars aim. To accomplish this, the company has integrated the websites of their dealer clients into the extensive search engine market. With search engines, the more incoming links your site possesses the higher up you will rank. VCars provides a great many of these links, allowing their clients’ websites to reach a greater number of potential customers.

VCars impressive work has not gone unnoticed, with the company recently being short-listed for a 2005 Motortrader Award in the E-Marketing category.

Mr Sheedy concludes: “In honouring VCars with this award, the ITM is paying tribute to a company which has raised the overall technological and professional standards of customer relations systems and will be of great advantage to those retailers who avail of it. It only remains for me to congratulate all at VCars on this great achievement and wish them continued success in the future."