Hope for dot-com car dealers.

Byline: Jeff Bennett

Just when many experts thought dot-com car-buying sites were dead and buried, some unlikely business partners are scraping off the dirt and giving them another try.

Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. have each teamed with a dot-com survivor to sell their cars on the Internet.

Ford announced Tuesday that it will use AutoTrader.com to maintain its Internet database of used cars offered by dealers participating in Internet purchasing portal FordDirect.com.

Dealers will submit the used-car inventories they want displayed on FordDirect.com in addition to the new cars and trucks already offered through the portal. …