Today, DriveUSA.net-the enterprise ... is home to the Web sites of many regional and state tire dealer associations. Through them, it also serves as a consumer Directory to thousands of tire dealerships in over 19 states whose owners or managers belong to one of those groups and vendors for the industry (updated).

Among the sites hosted by Drive USA are dealer associations in Washington state, Vermont, Rhode Island, Oregon, Oklahoma, Northern California, New York, New Hampshire, Nebraska, Massachusetts, Maine, Kansas, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Idaho, Connecticut, Arkansas, and Alaska. (states updated).

Besides the industry sites it actually hosts, Mr. Holser's Drive USA Network also provides links to the Internet sites of more than 33 other automotive-oriented groups. They include the American Trucking Associations; Car Care Council; National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE); Rubber Manufacturers Association; Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA); Tire Industry Association (TIA, formerly TANA); and the Tire Retread Information Bureau (TRIB) (updated).

Collectively, these sites have been drawing over 100,000 hits each month, Mr. Holser said (updated).

Anyone calling up one of these state or regional dealer association Web sites or the company's own DriveUSA.net site, also will find convenient links to non-industry sites offering help in such diverse subject areas as planning and mapping motor trips, making airline, rental car and other reservations, checking weather forecasts and gaining online access to as many as 50 national publications, as well as many local newspapers.

The purpose of offering such wide-ranging features, Mr. Holser said, is to encourage visitors to return to the tire dealer's site again and again-hopefully establishing a pattern visitors will follow when looking for tires and automotive services.

Despite the seemingly elaborate features of the Web sites the company helped create and now hosts, Mr. Holser sees one of the company's missions as providing tire associations and dealers with an affordable means of entering into the world of Internet-based commerce. Later, if these site owners desire, they can add more advanced features, such as online appointment scheduling, at additional cost.

``I really believe strongly in the value of associations, particularly for smaller tire dealerships,'' Mr. Holser told Tire Business. It's a statement he backs up by offering smaller, less-affluent tire and automotive service organizations a bare-bones site free of charge. Then, for a modest fee of $25 per month, such associations can purchase a more elaborate site on which all their members' dealerships are listed on a city-by-city basis. This makes it possible for consumers to locate such dealerships on the list simply by using the site's ``Find Car Care'' button.

Mr. Holser offered this advice to tire dealers: ``If you have a Web site, advertise it everywhere. Include it in your Yellow Pages, print and other types of advertising, on your business cards, invoices-everything.''