From what I hear, you can buy almost anything over the Internet. Kayaks. Knockwurst. Miniature kayaks formed from knockwurst.

Cars and trucks are obviously part of the Internet shopping experience, especially the research phase. But certain nuances and circumstances of the vehicle purchase process hold it back from being a typical “buy now” Internet transaction.

For one thing, vehicles are big — there isn’t a standard FedEx package for a Cadillac Escalade. You may also want to trade in your current vehicle , but how do you do that over the Wi-Fi? Same with test-drives.

A typical vehicle purchase seems to generate so much back and forth, so much paperwork, so many choices, that the only way to get that all done, seems to be with a lot of face-to-face time with an automotive professional or two.

Well, there is at least one person in Canada who would beg to differ. Barry Shafran is president and CEO of Chesswood Group Limited, a publicly traded company that operates cars4U.com.

According to Shafran, cars4U.com is “Canada’s only eDealer.” Shafran notes that unlike other dealerships or entities professing to provide on-line vehicle shopping, only cars4U.com gives customers the actual “buy now” button, and with a price that is “actually the selling price, not the list price.”

While Shafran notes that a typical cars4U.com transaction “does come off line for a big part of it,” he also notes that at least several times a year, a customer will, “hit buy now and put a deposit online.”

Cars4U.com partners with dealers of various makes, to offer a wide range of vehicles, available to customers across Canada. Once purchased, the vehicles can be delivered, or picked up at the dealership who sourced it or at cars4U.com’s HQ in Toronto. Trade-in values are assessed as best as one can over the phone, and then fine-tuned when the vehicle is dropped off.

The company has been doing its e-thing for 10 years now, with “steady growth” according to Shafran.
Why haven’t others joined the bandwagon? “Good question,” says Shafran. He is certain the business requires auto experience, not just Internet experience.

It’s easier to answer the question, why can’t you buy Internet direct from the automakers? That’s because in the U.S. and Canada, dealers have ironclad franchise agreements with their automakers. Dealers are the only ones that can sell you a car. (Note, however, that automakers can also own dealerships and do.)

But in Europe things are more loosely goosey, and that’s why we’re seeing some “direct to customers via the internet” initiatives developing there. Last summer Ford of Britain bundled a bunch of its company-owned dealerships together and created FordRetailOnline.co.uk, complete with “12 regional delivery centres.”

And just last week at the Geneva Motor Show, Renault said that its cheaper and Romanian-built Dacia line will be sold through an additional “internet channel.” This is to compete with Peugeot-Citroen, which already said its new line of China-sourced low-cost vehicles would be sold exclusively online.

Makes sense that the “bottom” of the market will be where internet-direct makes inroads. You got a centralized, urbanized clientele, a cost-sensitive vehicle (an internet channel is less costly to operate), and these vehicles tend to be viewed more like commodities. And if they are not in the showroom, they’re not dragging down the profile of the automaker’s higher-priced brands.