Garff Enterprises Inc., a Salt Lake-based group of auto dealerships, is expanding its partnership with cable television giant Tele-Communications Inc. to offer its AutoMallUSA.com Internet site to car dealerships in all TCI markets and make it available to other cable operators and media companies.
AutoMallUSA.com and TCI Media Services are demonstrating the Web site this week at the National Automobile Dealers Association in San Francisco.Founded 68 years ago, Garff now operate 18 car dealerships in Utah.
The Web site affords users the ability to search inventories of new and used vehicles, apply for loans, sell their own car and conduct other transactions. Some 150,000 new and used vehicles are offered for sale on the site.
TCI Media Services, a subsidiary of TCI Communications Inc., the cable TV systems arm of TCI that is based in Englewood, Colo., offered the site last year under a partnership deal with Garff, a privately held company that created the site.
TCI, the parent company of The Salt Lake Tribune, joined AutoMallUSA.com as a minority owner through a "cash contribution," the amount of which was not disclosed.
TCI will now take on responsibility for advertising sales on the site.
Jerry Machovina, executive vice president of advertising sales for TCIC, said in a release that bringing spot cable advertising to AutoMallUSA.com has worked well so far.
John Garff, chairman of AutoMall.USA.com, said the new deal will expand the reach of the site.
In December, 1997, the site had 485 individual user sessions representing 490,000 "hits" and 1,500 sales leads. Six months later, after TCI became involved, the site had 122,000 individual user sessions, representing 3.6 million hits and 26,000 sales leads. That growth continues, the company said.