Continuum Bytes 
WEB Exercises
Continuum Bytes
Selecting a Car On-line
For Chapter 8
Many of you may have seen the television commercial that depicts several college roommates living in a small dorm or apartment. In the commercial, the students order pizza and have it delivered. Simultaneously, one of the students is surfing the Web and looking at Saturn's site. The commercial ends with a Saturn employee at the door dropping off the keys to the new car. While you can't actually order a Saturn car directly from the web and have it delivered to your home, you can come pretty close. Saturn's site, at http://www.saturncars.com, allows you to browse through the options, select the options you want, and figure out financing options based on the final price of your selected car. You can then send this information to the nearest dealer who will process the information, contact you, and finalize the order. Saturn's site does mention that there are a few things that still cannot be done over the Web: trade-in evaluations, test drives, and final signatures on the paperwork. These must still be done at the dealership. Even though the entire Saturn car order cannot be completed over the Internet -- like books, CD's, and software -- you can do a lot through Saturn's Website. Maybe some day the entire process will be available online. With the growth in electronic signature technologies, this might not be that far off. Granted, a small mistake on a $15 CD order will not make a big difference in the overall scheme of things, but a small mistake on a $15,000 or $25,000 car, could be very costly! Points to Ponder:
Thursday,
May 24, 2012
