VinSolutions, a leading provider of automotive digital marketing and dealership management software, has agreed to be acquired by AutoTrader.com. The acquisition will allow VinSolutions to expand its product offerings and integrate with AutoTrader.com's existing dealer software solutions. VinSolutions will continue to operate independently under its current leadership while benefiting from AutoTrader.com's resources. The combined company aims to provide dealers with a more powerful suite of online marketing and sales tools through a single platform.

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AutoTrader.com Agrees to Acquire VinSolutions
Posted by Ralph Paglia on May 19, 2011 at 5:34am in SUPPLIERS - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (Change)
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2. AutoTrader.com Agrees to Acquire VinSolutions
- SOURCE AutoTrader.com -
ATLANTA and OVERLAND PARK, Kan., May 18, 2011 – AutoTrader.com has signed a definitive agreement to
purchase VinSolutions, a leading provider of end-to-end solution platforms for dealers including Customer Relationship
Management (CRM), Internet Lead Management (ILM) , inventory management tools, dealer websites, sales management
and desking tools, social media and direct targeted marketing campaign tools. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The
transaction is expected to close by mid-June.
VinSolutions will operate as a subsidiary of AutoTrader.com, and the two companies will collaborate on methods of infusing
value into both companies and all of their customers, which will primarily be in the areas of product development, operations
and sales.
"We are thrilled to acquire VinSolutions and add it to our best-in-class portfolio of dealer software solutions companies," said
AutoTrader.com President and CEO Chip Perry. "Over the last few years, the online marketing and dealer software solutions
space has continued to grow and thrive which has been important to dealers' success, but at the same time it has become
increasingly challenging and cumbersome. VinSolutions will further ramp up our dealer solutions product suite to provide
dealers with a simpler, more functional one-stop-shop solution of Internet marketing software tools accessible by the dealer
through a single sign-on tool."
"VinSolutions is a strong complement to our existing dealer software companies, and a priority for us will be to ensure the
scalability of VinSolutions software & customer support, and to execute on plans for how VinSolutions will integrate with
vAuto, HomeNet and CDMdata to create an even more powerful suite of Internet marketing and sales related software
solutions for dealers," Perry added.
"Our team is very excited to join forces with AutoTrader.com because we are both passionate about helping dealers use the
internet and innovative technology to grow their business," said Mike Dullea, CEO of VinSolutions.com. "Together we will
strive to constantly improve how we serve our dealers and how we help them attract, serve and retain their customers."
Because AutoTrader.com and VinSolutions are both committed to the interests of all auto dealers, its software tools will be
offered on a flexible a-la-carte and no long-term contract basis, and dealers' will have the flexibility to work with their other
software vendors. This is consistent with AutoTrader.com's consultative sales approach to help dealers succeed. A further
priority for AutoTrader.com will be to work to promote open platforms and integration across its software solutions and other
dealer software tools. We also will establish policies that provide dealer-friendly data ownership rights to protect dealers'
confidential customer data.
"I am a big believer in VinSolutions' value proposition for the industry," said Dale Pollak, Founder of vAuto. "VinSolutions is
serious about providing dealers with tools that enable them to manage their business effectively and successfully, and this
acquisition demonstrates that AutoTrader.com is committed to investing in the dealer software solutions business to benefit
customers and the industry as a whole."

3. Consistent with AutoTrader.com's approach to other acquisitions over the past year, VinSolutions will maintain its current
management team led by CEO Mike Dullea and CTO Matt Watson who will continue to help propel the company's growth in
the future. VinSolutions will maintain its headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas.
The Presidio Group, LLC, through its subsidiary Presidio Merchant Partners LLC, acted as exclusive financial advisor to
VinSolutions.
About AutoTrader.com
Atlanta-based AutoTrader.com, created in 1997, is the Internet's ultimate automotive marketplace and consumer information
website. AutoTrader.com aggregates in a single location millions of new cars, used carsand certified pre-owned cars from
thousands of auto dealers and private sellers and is a leading online resource for auto dealers, individuals and manufacturers to
advertise and market their vehicles to in-market shoppers. The company also provides a robust suite of software tools for
dealers and manufacturers to help them manage and market their vehicle inventory and display advertising on the Internet.
AutoTrader.com continues to grow key business metrics, including revenue, profitability and site traffic. Today,
AutoTrader.com attracts more than 15 million unique monthly visitors who utilize the site to review descriptions, photos and
videos of vehicles for sale; research and compare vehicles; review pricing and specials; and read auto-related content like
buying and selling tips and editorial coverage of major auto shows and automotive trends. AutoTrader.com operates two
other auto marketing brands, AutoTraderClassics.com and AutoTraderLatino.com. AutoTrader.com also owns used vehicle
management software company vAuto, Kelley Blue Book (Kbb.com) and HomeNet Automotive, a leading provider of online
inventory management and merchandising solutions for the automotive retail industry. AutoTrader.com is a majority-owned
subsidiary of Cox Enterprises. Providence Equity Partners is a 25 percent owner of the company and Kleiner Perkins
Caufield & Byers is also an investor. For more information, please visitwww.autotrader.com.
About VinSolutions (www.vinsolutions.com)
VinSolutions has the leading "Dealership Marketing System" that helps retailers attract, sell and retain more customers
profitably. VinSolutions.com was recognized as the 33rd fastest growing software company on the Inc 500 and the company
has received multiple accolades in the industry including the Automotive Website Award for best digital marketing platform
and the Driving Sales Innovation Cup. VinSolutions "all-in-one" sales and service marketing system includes digital marketing,
search marketing, online advertising, social media marketing tools, mobile marketing, websites, internet lead management,
CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Sales force automation, Sales Management and Desking, Appraisal, Finance,
Used Vehicle Marketing and Market Pricing, Inventory Management and Distribution, Hand held inventory marketing tools,
window stickers, automated video tours, Loyalty Management and Targeted marketing with email, text, direct mail and
telemarketing services. The "Dealership Marketing System" has complete mobile integration and is accessible from any mobile
phone that has access to the internet including blackberry, Google DROID and iPhone. VinSolutions Dealership Marketing
System is installed by their strategic consulting team who specializes in retail strategy and process training for large dealer
groups and individual dealerships. VinSolutions is certified by Honda, Acura, GM, Ford, Chrysler, Subaru, Nissan, Infiniti,
Mazda, Saab, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen, Volvo, Hyundai and Audi and integrates with most DMS companies including ADP,
R&R, AutoSoft and Arkona. VinSolutions also has alliances and integrations with Kelley Blue Book, CarFax, Autodata,
RouteOne and DealerTrack. For more information visit www.VinSolutions.com.
A Behind the Scenes Look at how VinSolutions may be Impacted as a Result of their Acquisition by AutoTrader

4. By now you have heard about and read about the AutoTrader.com announcement that they intend to acquire VinSolutions,
and that the deal should close before the end of June, 2011... But, how will thiis impact VinSolutions as a company? A lot
has been written about the acquisition since the announcement from the perspective of how it will impact dealers and
AutoTrader. Let's take a look at what AutoTrader intends for VinSolutions after the close date from the perspective
provided by Dealer Magazine's "Vendor Profile" page.
Since the announcement of the AutoTrader acquisition, both management teams have confirmed that VinSolutions’ software
tools will be offered on a flexible a-la-carte basis with no long-term contracts, and dealers will have the flexibility to work with
their other software vendors since AutoTrader.com promotes open platforms and integration across its software solutions and
other dealer software tools.
Chip Perry, CEO of AutoTrader states “VinSolutions is a strong complement to our existing dealer software companies, and
a priority for us will be to ensure the scalability of VinSolutions’ software and customer support and to execute on plans for
how VinSolutions will integrate with vAuto, HomeNet and CDMdata to create an even more powerful suite of Internet
marketing and sales related software solutions for dealers.”
There are countless ways that these companies can share their resources and data to better serve their dealers and we will
keep dealers up to date on what AutoTrader.com is doing to leverage these synergies to help dealers. While most people in
the industry have heard of VinSolutions not everyone knows about everything they do so this article will give you an overview
of what the company does and how it got to where it is today.
VinSolutions - The evolution of an Automotive Digital Marketing Powerhouse
VinSolutions has evolved from a small inventory management company to the creators of the leading enterprise dealership
marketing system in the automotive industry and the 33rd fastest growing software company in the United States according to
the Inc 500. It was only 3 years ago when VinSolutions released its all-in-one dealership marketing system and today it is a
market leader working with many of the best dealers in the industry and we wanted to share how they did it.
Like many technology companies, VinSolutions was founded by entrepreneurs who knew there had to be a better way. Led
by Mike Dullea, CEO, the company experienced explosive growth over the last 3 years, growing more than 100% a year and
signing up over 75 new full solution dealerships in the month of April alone. But things were not always this easy, according to
Dullea. “In the early days we had too many months that we struggled to make payroll, but those are the times that challenged
us and defined the character of our team,” said Dullea. “I knew we could make it as long as we stayed focused and payed
attention to our dealers by constantly improving our technology to keep up with their needs.”
“Dealers were complaining about working with too many tools that didn’t talk to each other,” said Dullea. The average dealer
works with 10-15 different companies who help them with their technology and Internet marketing and it can be challenging to
manage so many systems. “I was spending too much money with 15 different companies that did not integrate,” said Todd
Crossley from Gary Crossley Ford, the #1 Ford retailer in the Kansas City Market. “Now I have one system that does

5. everything from managing my Internet marketing to desking to service in one tool that is easy for my team to use. We are
spending less for one system that does more than the 15 it replaced.”
VinSolutions’ “all-in-one” digital marketing system offers: search marketing, online advertising, social media marketing tools,
websites, Internet lead management, CRM (Customer Relationship Management), sales force automation, sales management
and desking, appraisal, finance, used vehicle market pricing, inventory management and distribution, hand-held inventory
marketing tools, window stickers, automated video tours, targeted marketing with email, text, direct mail and telemarketing
services. VinSolutions’ Dealership Marketing System has complete mobile integration so dealers can access reports from any
mobile phone that has access to the Internet including Blackberrys, Androids and iPhones. Currently VinSolutions is certified
by all major OEMs and integrates with most DMS companies including certified integrations with ADP, R&R, AutoSoft and
Arkona. VinSolutions also has alliances and integrations with CARFAX, Autodata, RouteOne, DealerTrack, plus vAuto and
Kelley Blue Book, both of which are also owned by AutoTrader.com.
Dullea had a lot of help keeping VinSolutions technology ahead of the curve because he has one of the most talented
development teams in the automotive industry, led by Matt Watson, VinSolutions’ co-founder and chief technology officer. “If
you can think it, Matt and his team can build it,” said Dullea. “With Matt and his team, we decided we wanted to build the
most complete technology platform for dealers and dealership groups that has ever existed and we worked with our
customers to make it happen.”
VinSolutions pioneered an unconventional product development process called UGPD, which stands for “User Generated
Product Development.” This process connects users directly with the programmers who review, prioritize and develop new
features in response to users’ requests. Every other Tuesday is Christmas morning for VinSolutions’ customers because that is
when the new updates and features are released along with acknowledgements that recognize both the user who requested the
enhancements and the developer who made them happen.
“This process incentivizes customers to give input and our developers to respond quickly with innovative solutions,” said
Watson. “Everyone likes to see their work recognized so our developers love to constantly improve the system because their
efforts are publicly acknowledged by thousands of users who often praise programmers on industry blogs when they create
something very cool.”
As a result, VinSolutions’ customers and its team of developers have built the most comprehensive dealership marketing
platform that integrates all the technology a dealer needs in one platform rather than attempting to tie together a group of
different applications acquired from different companies who built on different technology platforms. As VinSolutions built its
all-in-one system, dealers have signed up for one or all of its tools on a month-by-month basis with no contracts, so they
could leave whenever they wanted. From day one, VinSolutions did not feel they needed long term contracts to keep dealers
retained as long as they did what they said they were going to do when they said they would do it. VinSolutions dealers get to
vote on the performance of both the software and the company every month by simply paying their invoice. Currently, this no-
contract solution touts over 90% retention among VinSolutions’ clients.
As the company prepared to release its new all-in-one dealership marketing system, Dullea recruited the help of some
automotive veterans who have helped other companies grow. Dullea recruited Sean Stapleton as their Chief Sales Officer and

6. Kendall Billman to lead their web marketing initiatives. Stapleton is an industry veteran and was the EVP of sales at Who’s
Calling where he helped create a new category of call monitoring and measurement.
Billman helped develop Web platforms for both Third Coast Media (acquired by Reynolds and Reynolds) and AutoONE
Media, joined the team in 2009 and had complete control of developing a new Website Platform that offered dealers the
benefits of a combined solution. Billman’s efforts were recognized industry-wide as the new platform won several awards in
2010 and the company is currently releasing a new version that promises to set a new standard for what dealers must have in
the future.
Dullea also recruited Sean Wolfington to join VinSolutions as a mentor and advisor. “We brought Wolfington on board
because he helped lead some of the biggest digital marketing companies in the industry, (CyberCar & Automark, which R&R
bought in 2001 and BZResults, which ADP bought in 2006) and his experience and advice has been invaluable,” said Dullea.
“Mike and Matt built a great team with talented guys like Kendall Billman and Sean Stapleton, the best salesperson in the
industry,” said Wolfington. “Dullea is a relentless leader who has built a fantastic team and Watson built an extraordinary
technology platform.”
VinSolutions recently won the DrivingSales award for their Website, Internet Lead Management Tool and their new VinLens
product, a customer information application that lets dealers see who is on their site and what they are looking at so they can
deliver custom messages and promotions based on what’s important to the customer.
VinLens also lets the dealer see where the customer has been before visiting the website so they can track their advertising
better and tailor their approach to each customer based on the information they have seen. VinSolutions also took the top
prize at the Automotive Website Awards when they were recognized for building the most complete digital marketing system
in the industry. Technology is moving fast, but it looks like VinSolutions has the right strategy to work with their dealers to run
the never-ending race to stay ahead of the curve. Now with AutoTrader.com’s resources, the company is poised to make
even larger strides in the future.
COMPANY SNAP SHOT
VinSolutions’ all-in-one Dealership Marketing System helps dealers find, sell and keep more customers profitably by
integrating 14 components in one platform:
1. Dealer Websites
2. CRM & ILM
3. Digital Marketing
4. Direct Mail
5. Search Marketing
6. Social Media
7. Mobile Marketing
8. Salesforce Automation
9. Desking
10. Inventory
11. Used Vehicle Marketing & Pricing

7. 12. Service CRM
13. Online Service Scheduling
14. BDC
VIN’s Dealership Marketing System is integrated with all Major DMS Providers, major Auctions, Used Vehicles Guides and
Manufacturer Incentive Programs
VIN’s easy-to-use web-based system automates customer contact throughout the entire ownership cycle via email, text,
voice and mail, and enterprise reports are sent directly to mobile phones so dealers can run their business from the palm of
their hand.
One of the reasons many of the largest dealers in the country have replaced multiple disjointed tools with VinSolutions’
Like
Dealership Marketing System is because it offers an all-in-one system that has all the technology dealers need for less money
than buying different tools from different companies.
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