Online auto transactions could ease car-buying pain

Jared Mazzaschi went car shopping well prepared. He was a cash buyer who knew what he wanted, and he had agreed on the price of the car with the dealer in Glendale, Calif.

Seven or eight hours later, after an "endurance test" in which he was shuttled from salesman to salesman, baited with multiple ways to finance the transaction and offered costly upgrades he did not want, Mazzaschi left the dealership driving a new car. But he worried that he'd been ripped off, and was disgusted with the process.

Stories like that, common enough among recent car buyers, provide fresh ammunition for auto manufacturers who believe the traditional car dealership model is outdated, ineffective and perhaps even