Who do those on-line comparison shoppers like the best?

The Honda Accord took first place for cars and the Ford F-Series took first for trucks in the latest survey of on-line comp-arison shoppers' favorite vehicles.

InvoiceDealers, a Palo Alto, CA Internet referral service, came up with the Comparison Shopping Popularity Index, which calculates each vehicle's popularity using a proprietary weighted formula.

The study results are derived from on-line selections made by car shoppers who view, compare, and select from instant competing price quotes on the InvoiceDealers system.

In March, the Accord led the list of favorite cars, surging three ranks since the February Index.

Domestic cars were absent from the list, losing three positions in the top ten to imports. Newcomers to the Index included the Audi A4, Audi A6, BMW 3 Series, BMW 5 Series and Mitsubishi Eclipse.

The Ford F-Series, as first in the truck category, surpassed previous favorite Chevrolet Silverado, which fell to fourth. The Dodge Ram and Dodge Dakota also gained popularity, taking the second and third place positions.

Comparison shoppers selected the Ford Explorer and Ford Expedition as the two favorite SUVs. Previously ranked seventh and sixth respectively, the two beat out the Jeep Grand Cherokee, which fell from first to sixth place.

The most popular minivan was the Honda Odyssey, which paced this category, followed by the Dodge Caravan. There was a significant gap between the top two minivans and the eight others that rounded out the list.

InvoiceDealers' flagship site, Invoice Dealers.com, provides instant bids from multiple dealers. The InvoiceDealers open-bidding process presents car shoppers with multiple retail offers on-line in real time, allowing them to select a retailer's price and location before making contact.

Here's the March 2000 Index: