if you go to www.autospies.com and read their Nov 4th press release it tells of how it will cost $20 or $100 for an autospies subscription. Is this true? What the hell!? I like that website but I cannot afford that!!!!
Hahahaha are they kidding!! $20 a month and $99 for whatever... count me out. Dude... this place is like around the corner form me in San Diego thats pretty funny on Eastgate Mall...
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2008 ///M5 SMG | Alpine White | Black Full Merino Leather w/Aluminum Trim | Logic 7 | iPod Adapter | HUD | Heated / Ventilated & Adaptive Comfort Seats | Comfort Access | Rear Side Airbags | Rear Side Sunshades | Folding Rear Seats | 35% Sides 15% Rear Windshield Tint
darn that pisses me off! why is everything on the internet like this haha why can't it be free? i see a lot of the info well bmw info on this board like 2 weeks before it hits autospies so basically all they do is patrol certain message boards like this and have a few people email in info and then they charge 100 bucks for it!
Consumer Reports meets 60 Minutes in an unconventional and edgy automotive news service
San Diego, California, November 4, 2002 – Former MP3.com Senior Vice President, Donald Buffamanti and MP3.com Co-founder, Greg Flores formally announced today, the release of the Auto Spies premium newsletter. The pair that helped MP3.com turn the music industry on its ear, has taken aim at the automotive industry with a news service that blends the inside information and investigation prowess of 60 Minutes with the editorial integrity of Consumer Reports.
Auto Spies mission is to provide car buyers access to the best inside information anywhere. This insight can save car buyers money and help them make the most informed buying decision possible.
During its beta test period over the last ten months, Autospies.com has given thousands of reader’s money saving insider information on cars, which cannot be found anywhere else in print or on the internet. “Car buyers have been yearning for an automotive publication that tells it like it is, without the fear of losing ad dollars from auto manufacturers and dealers”, says CEO and Founder Donald Buffamanti.”
Autospies.com is the only automotive publication in print or on the internet that does not accept advertising from automotive manufacturers or dealers.
Says President Flores, “Unlike some other publications, our opinions will never be influenced by the reliance on ad dollars. The goal of Auto spies is to always keep our subscribers best interests at the forefront of what we do.”
The Auto Spies sift through an Internet rumor mill of thousands of tips and insider news from a global network of 'spies', many of whom work directly in the auto industry. Getting this type of information directly from sources while using the power of the internet gives Autospies.com the ability to scoop traditional print and internet magazines by weeks and months. The inside information flow coming from these sources also gives Auto Spies the ability to spot trends or potential problems in the automotive world. According to Auto Spies CEO and Founder Donald Buffamanti, "The insight and information can help clarify things coming from an industry whose selling tactics, release schedules, quality issues and general practices are not always apparent and sometimes confusing to the automotive consumer." Where ‘knowledge is power’ and ‘timing is everything’, one good tip from the Auto Spies, can save you thousands of dollars.
For instance, if you had been a subscriber to the Auto Spies premium newsletter in January 2002, you would have been alerted to the mounting problems on the new BMW 7-series automobile and seen our prediction of possible recalls four months before the ‘official' recall was announced from BMW.
If you are an SUV fan and were hoping to buy the Cayenne from Porsche last fall, you would have known that even though the dealers were telling you that you could have one in the fall of 2002, Auto Spies was reporting that the new SUV was delayed and would not be available in the US until at least February of 2003.
Quotes from some of our current subscribers:
"You guys have handily pinned down the monster of fears, car dealings. First, I knew I did not know what I really needed to know, and second, because it is just plain tough to haggle with professional car salespeople. I start feeling too confrontational to "do business" without wanting to reach across their desks and challenge their windpipe's resistance to negative airflow. Keep charging into it! You're offering what I've found nowhere else after lengthy research!"
"Your article regarding the BMW 745i service loaners was timely; I almost got burned for $7,000 plus $2,000 in finance income!"
"I thoroughly enjoy your newsletter each week. It‘s nice to get some OPINION and SPECULATION into this kind of publication. Most of the time, competitive newsletters simply report what someone heard on a bus in Stuttgart from a guy who cleans floors at the door supplier to the factory.... I like that you get a lot of your information from dealers and from other contacts in the North American industry.
“As a long-time car guy and subscriber to Autoweek, Automobile and Car and Driver, and former subscriber to most of the other car magazines, I appreciate the absence of industry *** kissing and sales-brochure driven pandering in your newsletter."
The Auto Spies Premium Subscriber service has several levels to meet the needs of the casual car buyer as well as the avid car enthusiast. All levels give full access to the archive of inside information, photos, news and rumors for a specific period. Users will be able to choose a 30 day subscription for $20.00, geared toward the casual buyer who needs to know the latest money saving tips during the month they will be making their car purchase or for the enthusiast, a full year of the Auto Spies premium newsletter, for $99.00.
Instead of spending hundreds of dollars subscribing to numerous print magazines and wasting hours trying to search multiple sites for the latest information, Auto Spies does the work for you and packages it in a very easy to read and efficient 'executive summary'.
For a limited time only, the Auto Spies premium newsletter is being offered at no cost. Signup is quick and easy, just go to www.autospies.com.
It is a must read for car buyers who want one easy to read source for information on all their favorite car brands. According to President Flores "The information found on Auto Spies, is typically geared for high end car buyers, who are thinking of purchasing vehicles that cost over $25,000.
Contact Information:
Donald Buffamanti – CEO and Founder
E-mail: Donald@autospies.com
Phone: (858) 720-1887
The problem with something like that is that what they offer might be worth something, but (to me at least) it's not worth anything like what they're asking.
I pay for Autospeed (Australian) and a couple others, but we're not talking $20/month.
Bottom line is that there are many other options out there that are better and cheaper. I enjoy Autospies - check in each week to see what's there, and sometimes learn something especially good that I didn't see elsewhere on the Web or on the news stand.
Among Autospies' challenges if going to subscription-based format:
1. People have been getting it for free for almost a year. Getting readers to now ante-up is going to be a real consumer behavior challenge, especially at $100/yr (basically, equivalent to the annual subscription cost of Car and Driver, Road and Track, Motor Trend, and Automobile -- combined.) At $20/year, it's still a challenge. And the "it'll pay for itself x-times over if it helps you with a purchase" positioning will not resonate with enough people.
2. A lot of the info is merely somewhat interesting but not knock-your-socks-off; examples include mentions of manufacturer to dealer incentives on an ML, or lease rates on a 745i.
3. The writing is by and large mediocre, at best.
4. There's often little, if any, analysis or first-hand experiential info. Lots of "our spies tell us..." and sometimes what are more or less just copy/pasted press releases.
5. Barriers to non-subscription entry for competitors are low. Any guy with basic site-building knowledge can do the same thing, with a few reliable contacts and/or simply the effort to hunt other sites and aggregate the info. Jeesh, this M5 site more or less does that already.
6. Occasionally, a "story" is just a link to another web site's chat room, over which autospies has no control. So they rely on another source for info, quality, language, credibility, etc. Hmm...
7. AutoSpies' value is in the 1-2 tidbits that truly interest a reader each issue. Not enough meat to keep paying people satiated.
When free, pretty much all of the above is much more acceptable. Hard to beat the price of something free...
Autospies charging money now?????
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