Steve,
A place to see a number of Automotive Dealers at one site is
www.Dealerlocator.com. It is the site of the Chicago Automobile Dealers
Association. Most of these sites were created by a company called World Wide Wheels (
www.wwwheels.com). I may be a little prejudiced because I am a principle at wwwheels. The dealers who are the most successful keep thier inventory up-to-date, have a searchable listing of their used vehicles with prices and pictures, and email contacts promptly. I agree with Kevin that you have to have your own URL (
www.yourdealership.com) and have to advertise it everywhere (Print ads, business cards, Radio,Billboards, in store signage and on-hold messages). Be sure that the provider you choose has the ability to download your inventory to the major car buying and search engines (so you only have to check and input data once). Do not over pay for a website. We charge a minimal fee (a one-time fee of $200) to build a custom site that handles everything you need to do business on the internet. We charge $300/MO
to host your site, make any changes you need,put you inventory on Yahoo,Excite HotBot,Trader online, and provide you with statistics on your websites' use. I don't want this to become a commercial so email me and I'll be happy to tell you more.