Autobytel Launches ‘My Ride’
My Ride is purposed to act as the everything to automotive online location, taking in the UGC elements of Car Space, but adding just a dash of the automotive classified site basics.
Although I cannot say much for the busy navigation panels, (it reminds me of a poorly thought out newspaper site) I will commend My Ride on its use of engaging photos and OEM videos to entertain readers. It must also be mentioned though that in navigating through the site, I could not help but get a sense of apprehension from the site owners, concerning the UGC elements. The fact that users could engage with the site was not clearly defined on the landing page and you had to click on ‘Community’ to get to the area of the site where you could play – and once there, where to go to ‘play’ was confusing. I would argue that on a site such as My Ride, a young brand, letting readers know they too can contribute should have some real estate on the sites home page. On the flip’ side (yes a positive note), My Ride is ladened with useful industry information from experts and OEM’s themselves and that information is designed to make buying a vehicle that much easier for the end user.
So, with Autobytel’s intention of creating a one-stop shop buying and accessorizing site, I think they were successful in achieving that, but that is where the success ends. There are still two gnawing areas of the site that seem to have been overlooked. My Ride does not allow private advertisers to place their car for sale and as mentioned earlier, the UGC elements appear hidden. If you want users to feel that the site is there’s, hence the name My Ride, to encourage numerous visits and site registrations, then let them play with it in their own way. My Ride is still the quintessential representation of the walled garden, and even though they provide some buying (classifieds) elements that Car Space does not, I believe Car Space focuses more on the user, with their contributory functionality. My overall impression is that My Ride is built on a pure play revenue model (OEM and franchise dealer placement), with the end user as a secondary thought.
What does all of this mean?
Automotive publications and magazines, you still have time to create an extension of our online automotive brand that encourages users to contribute. Then you would truly have the one stop shop and the everything to automotive site (dealer and private auto classifieds, recreational vehicles, parts and accessories, coupled with consumer insight)!
You still have time because it appears that the others have not gotten it right – yet.
