SHERMAN OAKS, Calif. -- Nearly a year since it was acquired by Santa Monica, Calif.-based technology company Zag, Autoland has made its own acquisition.

The car buying service, which has worked exclusively with credit unions since 1971 and is one of the largest credit union auto buying services, has acquired CU Auto Sales, a multiple-owned auto buying and leasing service credit union service organization.

Founded in 1985 by 11 credit unions based in metropolitan Sacramento, Calif., the CUSO has been serving members in the Roseville, Stockton, Modesto and Fresno, Calif. markets.

"CU Auto Sales was a great fit with Autoland because their business model was very similar to ours," explained Autoland President/CEO Ron Frey.

"Autoland is member-centric, and the fact that CU Auto Sales was member-owned made it a hand-in-glove fit," he added noting that Autoland says no CU Auto Sales employees will be laid off as a result of the acquisition.

Frey said CU Auto Sales recognized the investment Autoland has been making in technology and its call center, "and the acquisition was a way to inject a lot of steroids into their operation."

According to Frey, Autoland's acquisition of CU Auto Sales is part of the company's strategy to expand to be able to better serve credit unions in a wider area. The company currently has relationships with credit unions in three states--California, Oregon and Washington--and Frey said Autoland is looking to expand into new geographic areas although he wouldn't give any specifics.

"It's important that Autoland stay ahead of the curve to support our credit union partners," he said, explaining that the company will rely heavily on partnering with dealer networks credit unions already work with in support of their indirect programs as well as depend heavily on its call center services and Zag's state-of-the-art automotive technology. "Autoland is committed to exclusively serving credit unions," said Frey. "Zag is very much interested in keeping Autoland focused exclusively on credit unions, and our task is to continue to grow the company so we're better able to do that. Autoland's acquisition of CU Auto Sales is a great way to do that, and Zag endorses our acquisition of the company." He continued to explain that, "Autoland is not interested in aggressive growth for growth sake. Our strategy isn't to see how fast or big we can grow. We're focused on being credit unions' best business partner, and then our growth to be able to better support our business partners comes fairly easily as a result of that."

Frey said one of Autoland's unique differentiators is that the company does not sell cars. Instead, he said, "We're a personal consultant to provide members and provide them with every bit of information so they'll be in a better position to buy a car.

"Regardless of where they are in the car buying process, the member wants someone they can talk to about any make or model of car, new, used, leased--whatever puts them in a better position to decide whether to purchase or lease a vehicle. We're here to provide members with the necessary information so they'll be better informed buyers. That's what most people are looking for and they can't find. When it comes to finding and securing a car, that's just logistics. The magic is in the service, and that's our difference, that's our hallmark," said Frey.

Of course there's still a percentage of members who want Autoland to locate a specific vehicle for them and take care of the entire transaction. For that, Autoland depends on its large dealer network to be able to put its hands on just the vehicle the member is looking for. According to Frey, Autoland is tracking the delivery of over 12,000 vehicles to credit union members this year. The company represents more than eight million credit unions and partners with hundreds of credit unions. He estimated about 10% of Autoland's business is for hybrid vehicles.

With auto lending forecasted to slow down the rest of 2006 and into 2007, Frey said the types of services Autoland offers are even more important to members. When things get tighter economically, he said consumers tend to do more research and look for more pricing options. When they want to purchase a vehicle, they want to be a lot smarter, "so they seek out organizations like ours that can help them make the best purchase decision. We become part of their shopping research process."

Competition in the auto financing market will continue to increase, and Frey opined for credit unions to be able to grow their market share that the direct and indirect side of the business "should be married and work together using similar dealer networks. The two channels should be talking to each other for credit unions' benefit. They may be different businesses, but they should have several touch points to create continuity for the credit union industry. It makes sense, and I see that as part of the future," said Frey. [email protected]