IRVINE, CA – More car shoppers choose Kelley Blue Book's www.kbb.com/ than any other automotive Web site when researching and purchasing a vehicle, according to Keynote Systems' recent Customer Experience (CE) Rankings for the Third Party Automotive Industry study. Keynote's findings indicate that consumers have used kbb.com more in the past than other third-party automotive Web sites – 66 percent of those surveyed had used kbb.com prior to the study – and car shoppers named kbb.com as the resource they are most likely to use in the future when researching and purchasing their next vehicle.

"Kelley Blue Book's 79-year history and brand recognition is what initially gets people to visit kbb.com," said Stephen Henson, executive vice president of sales, marketing and products at Kelley Blue Book.

In addition, kbb.com ranked No. 1 in overall customer experience and satisfaction among third-party automotive Web sites. Vehicle shoppers rated kbb.com best for providing helpful reviews and ratings, detailed vehicle and pricing information, and tools allowing consumers to find desired vehicles. Study participants also said that kbb.com is the most helpful automotive site for obtaining dealer quotes and buying a car. The amount of information combined with an organized, easy-to-use Web site gave kbb.com the highest consumer retention rate in the study.

Kbb.com garnered top rankings on most metrics throughout the keynote study due to the Kelley Blue Book's longstanding brand impact on car buyers for nearly 80 years. Among the sites reviewed in the keynote study, no other Internet destination was considered to be more of an industry leader, more trusted, more reliable, or higher quality than kbb.com. With more than 7 million visitors and upwards of 35 million pricing reports generated per month, kbb.com remains a favorite site among consumers seeking unbiased automotive information.

Keynote Systems' national study, conducted in December 2004, interviewed 2,000 qualified panelists (planning to purchase a new or used vehicle within the next 12 months) and evaluated 10 third-party automotive Web sites: www.Autobytel.com/, www.Automotive.com/, www.AutoTrader.com/, www.cars.com/, www.CarsDirect.com/, www.Edmunds.com/, www.kbb.com/, autos.msn.com/, www.Vehix.com/, and autos.yahoo.com/.