Valuable/Useful Websites

[XDCX]

I'd like this thread to list the websites that the DealershipForum members use to increase their effectiveness.

In my experience, most of the websites that I use on a daily basis are the ones that I heard about through "word of mouth." It's not like I found them because of an e-mail or an advertisement, I found them because someone told me about the site.

What are some of your favorite/most useful websites?

[XDCX]

When I was working in the Internet Sales Department, one of my major frustrations was the quality of the sales leads that we were purchasing from our vendors.

When I shared this frustration with the local AutoTrader rep that stopped by the dealership he suggested that I use ZabaSearch.

Here's the link: www.zabasearch.com (http://www.zabasearch.com)

The site proved to be very useful when I had a sales lead that had the wrong address or wrong phone number.

It's amazing how much information is out there - it you get a chance, pull-up the website and enter your own name. Most likely the site will be able to list all of your addresses over the past 10 years.

[bluechevrolet]

When I'm having a stressful day, I find this site VERY useful!

http://www.therightfoot.net/mystuff/whatever/swf/bubblewrap.swf

:D

[bluechevrolet]

But seriously -

The one you posted on here about Canada:

http://www.riv.ca/english/html/us_vehicle_admissibility.html

I reference a lot. :o

[XDCX]

But seriously -

The one you posted on here about Canada:

http://www.riv.ca/english/html/us_vehicle_admissibility.html

I reference a lot. :o

Hey, I was going to use that one....:rolleyes:

The above listed website is great if you plan to sell a vehicle to a Canadian customer. It has all of the information you'll need regarding the import process, fees, required vehicle changes, etc.

[XDCX]

If you have kids, young employees or spend a lot of time surfing the Internet, you'll definitely appreciate the following website:

www.urbandictionary.com (http://www.urbandictionary.com)

Be forewarned, the content on this site is PG-13 and not something you'd likely want to share with your grandmother. That said, if you've ever wanted to know what a slang term means or where it came from, it's a great site.

For the longest time I kept seeing the expressions "FTW" and "Owned" used on the Internet and didn't know exactly what they meant. The subject website cleared up my confusion.

(For the curious, FTW = "For the Win" and has its origins dating back to the Hollywood Squares and Owned is an expression that a victor uses after he/she crushes their opponent. It dates back to the earliest computer games and computer coding.)

[XDCX]

I tend to use this site when I miss a call from a phone number that I don't recognize. (My cell phone lists the phone number of calls that I don't answer - even if they don't leave a voicemail message.)

Here's the link: http://msn.intelius.com/

You just input the phone number in the "Reverse Phone Lookup" field and press enter.

It doesn't work for all phone numbers, but it is helpful if you want to know who it was that was trying to get in contact with you. :)

[XDCX]

If you have kids, young employees or spend a lot of time surfing the Internet, you'll definitely appreciate the following website:

www.urbandictionary.com (http://www.urbandictionary.com)

Be forewarned, the content on this site is PG-13 and not something you'd likely want to share with your grandmother. That said, if you've ever wanted to know what a slang term means or where it came from, it's a great site.

For the longest time I kept seeing the expressions "FTW" and "Owned" used on the Internet and didn't know exactly what they meant. The subject website cleared up my confusion.

(For the curious, FTW = "For the Win" and has its origins dating back to the Hollywood Squares and Owned is an expression that a victor uses after he/she crushes their opponent. It dates back to the earliest computer games and computer coding.)

I had to use this website just the other day. :)

I was reading a post on another forum where someone was planning a trip over the border to Canada.

Someone asked "Are you going to pick-up some 222's while you're there?"

I was clueless - I'd never heard that term before. :confused:

After a quick search on Urbandictionary.com I learned that 222's are a legal over-the-counter drug available in Canada but banned in the U.S. The drug is a combination of aspirin, caffeine and codeine. That's quite a combination!

If you have teenage kids, I'd imagine that this site would come in handy. :)

[XDCX]

If you work the Sales Desk or F&I then you may want to take some time and check-out the following website: www.myFICO.com (http://www.myFICO.com)

The website has some great information about how credit scores are calculated and what should be done to help increase an individual's credit score. There's also a listing of what information is NOT used to calculate a credit score - I think many of the items on the list would surprise most retail customers.

There's also a Forums Section where questions are asked and answered. One post I found to be interesting was the discussion about the difference between a standard credit score and an "Auto-Enhanced" credit score.

[XDCX]

OK, this thread is over a year old but I had to add Hulu.com (http://www.hulu.com) to the list of Valuable/Useful Websites. :)

Granted, this is not a website you want your employees to be using at work, but it's great if you're at home and there's nothing to watch on TV.

Hulu has thousands of movies and TV shows that you can watch on your computer for free. All you need is a high-speed Internet connection.

My father and I recently started watching old episodes of The Practice on TV. Since neither of us watched the programs when they first aired it's like watching something new on TV. I was happy to see that the first three seasons of The Practice are on Hulu. :thumbsup_old:

If you get a chance, it's worth checking out. In my opinion, it's just one more piece of evidence that shows how the Internet will wipe-out broadcast TV as we know it in the next 10 years.

[XDCX]

If your Internet Service Provider is cable-based you've probably noticed that your connection is slower at certain times of the day. With cable, the more users that are on the system the slower the access. By contrast, DSL's speed stays the same regardless of the number of users.

If you want to check your Internet Speed, here's a site I like to use: www.Speedtest.net (http://www.Speedtest.net)

Here are my results from this morning:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/521406471.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

[crowe]

http://www.recovery.gov/Pages/home.aspx

[XDCX]

I've used the the Justin.tv (http://www.justin.tv/) site two weeks in a row to watch the UW Huskies play football while I've been away from home.

The site is like YouTube, but instead of end users uploading videos the end users upload live media streams. In my case, someone is Seattle (I don't know who) has been watching the Husky game on local TV and uploading the live video stream to Justin.tv. I search the site for "Washington" while the game's being played, find the link and then watch the game. :)

The quality of the video stream varies and even the best-case scenario is lower quality than you would see on TV. That said, when your only other option is to follow the game on ESPN Game-Track the Justin.tv solution is awesome.

So, if your favorite college team is playing but you can't watch the game because it's not carried in your market (or by your cable provider) you might want to check out Justin.tv and see if they have a video feed.