U.S. News Automotive Adds Vast.com Vertical Search Experience for Car Shoppers

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Vast.com and U.S. News Automotive today announced an experience that car shoppers have been asking for - a site that connects U.S. News' respected automotive research with vehicles that are currently available for purchase.  The service offers rankings and reviews from thousands of test drives, critical evaluations, safety tests and reliability reports.  With a search platform powered by Vast.com, recommendations are now linked to a complete list of the cars for sale that meet consumer needs – cars that happen to be on the lot down the street at their local dealership.  

With this announcement, U.S. News joins the Vast network of partner websites, including kbb.com®, Vehix.com, yp.com (SM), AOL Autos, Overstock.com® Cars, and many others.  The Vast network websites serve their consumers with a customized experience, delivering to their distinct user base the research, information, and dealer connections needed to make the car shopping process efficient and enjoyable.

"Our mission is to make car buying easier by doing extensive car research on behalf of our users. We started this three years ago by extending the U.S. News rankings franchise to cover cars and trucks, which was a new category for us," explains Chad Smolinski, VP Rankings & Reviews at U.S. News. "Now, we are aiming to help consumers further along in the car purchase process, including people who are ready to buy. With a car shopping service powered by the Vast.com platform, we can present our users with a huge selection of cars for sale and connections to dealers."

U.S. News sorts millions of results ranked by how well they match consumers needs, and within that subset, by promotions placed on the listings by motivated dealers.  Dealers interested in reaching the 80% of consumers that only view listings on page one of the search results promote their listings by bidding for higher placement.  Vast's service only charges for results, so dealers pay for their promotions only when a customer contacts them.

"People visit U.S. News Automotive because it's a respected brand known for top-notch research, information and evaluations," said John Price, CEO of Vast.com. "By adding Vast's search and search advertising platform to their service, we're helping bring interested car shoppers to motivated dealers who will advise and assist consumers during both the research and purchasing phase."

"I want consumers to find the car they are interested in buying," comments Tony Giorgione, Internet manager for United Dealerships in Las Vegas, Nevada.  "All being equal, if I have a car the consumer is interested in, I want to make sure my listings show on top of the search results, right in front of that consumer.  U.S. News and the Vast network allow me to work my way up in the search results in a cost effective way."

Dealers interested in participating in U.S. News Automotive marketplace can contact their marketing partner or Vast.com (http://about.vast.com/autos/dealers).

About the U.S. News Media Group

The U.S. News Media Group is a multi-platform publisher of news analysis, research and rankings which includes the monthly U.S. News & World Report magazine, the digital-only U.S. News Weekly magazine, and the company's websites, www.usnews.com and www.rankingsandreviews.com. Focusing on Health, Money, Education, Politics & Policy, Autos, and Travel, the U.S. News Media Group has earned a reputation as the leading provider of service news and information that improves the quality of life of its readers. The U.S. News Media Group's signature franchises include its News You Can Use® brand of journalism and its "Best" series of consumer guides that include rankings of colleges, graduate schools, hospitals, health plans, and more.

About Vast

Vast.com, Inc. works within the automotive, real estate, and travel industries to create consumer search experiences and online marketplaces for the world's most respected companies. Vast offers the first search and advertising platform optimized to match in-market consumers with ideal, available homes, cars, and leisure travel itineraries while providing advertisers with access to an efficient marketplace for their unique products and services. Partners such as Kelley Blue Book, Orbitz Worldwide, USAA, AOL, U.S. News and World Report, and Yahoo! have integrated Vast's custom platform into their websites to serve over 30 million consumers per month. For more information, visit about.vast.com.

SOURCE Vast.com, Inc.