TRUE CAR and ZAG Cyber Bandits, Parasites or Good for the Car Business?
Jim Ziegler asks...
I am hearing a lot of discussion about True Car and ZAG. I continually scratch my head and wonder if desperate dealers are doing the marketing limbo "How Low Can You Go?"
Are we so bad at what we do that we have to line up and pay vendors to lose money? AND, who is giving these people access to your data that is used against you?
Who owns these companies and what might be their ulterior motive? Sometimes I ask questions to which I already know the answer.
Am I wrong?
What do you think... JIM
Jim Ziegler's Guidance and Recommended Action Plan:
Ten Areas We Need to Concentrate on to Bring This Monster to It's Knees...
- Government investigation of ALL Data Aggregators taking consumer information from dealers' DMS. Sadly enough, dealers who do business with TrueCar are exposed to liability charges. Cut off all access to unecessary data, no matter who takes it from the dealers DMS and make it illegal to "resell identifiable consumer data" and "transactional data".
- Educate Your Fellow Dealers; If anyone takes financial transactional data, they expose the dealer that allowed it to violations, especially if it is passed on to other vendors or shared.
- Educate Consumers to what they're doing with their information...
a. You buy a car from a dealer, do you really want your personal information, and maybe even your financial information, passed along and sold and shared by "God knows who?"
b. These People Charge the Dealer $300 which the dealers have to build into the deal
c. Your Privacy and the Security of your Information could theoretically compromise your identity if you do business a company that takes data from the dealership. - Educate Investors and potential investors they could possibly be mislead if anyone is telling them this is a safe investment because of all of the dealers pushing back, associations pushing back, and government regulators in many states coming after TrueCar's business model as NOT compliant, in some cases they're saying it is Not Legal.
- AMEX, USAA and all of their affiliates do not want the bad consumer relations this push back is creating with their members and customers.
- Cancel your dealership's Affilation with TrueCar. Tell people with TrueCar certificates that YOU don't honor TrueCar and you feel the company is NOT reputable. Educate consumers as to perceived data exposure if they buy from a TrueCar dealer. Make sure that each consumer knows that using TrueCar actually increases their vehicle cost by $300 to $400.
- Make the dealers selling at huge losses take all of those deals. Big problem right now is too many Nissan Dealers and others are taking huge losers to get the factory money. The TrueCar reverse-auction business model will continually push those numbers down until the factory money is non-existent. Consumers need to hear from many dealers, "We don't do TrueCar"
- Keep calling your National and State Dealer Associations demanding they get involved and stay involved... No excuses.
- Get the Manufacturers into the game. If GM, Ford, Toyota, and other majors change the rules about how we advertise and do business to protect the dealers, we can cut off their ability to set pricing. So keep it up at every dealer meeting. Call your Dealer Council Members and protest to your factory reps. Tell the manufacturers, if they want showroom and facility improvements, we need the ability to make fair profits.
- Tell everyone you know. Educate other dealers and industry people. Watch the Painter interviews... I believe this is the first time a vendor has publicly announced they intend to bring down the dealers and hijack our business, taking our profits and starving us out with our own data. Painter has said manufacturers and dealers should go bankrupt and he, in his God-like way "will control distribution..."
When the TrueCar-Yahoo Deal kicks in we need to stand firm and "Just Say No" we don't honor TrueCar deals.
Read this article as a reference: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20110831%2FFIN...
AND, if you doubt the mission... read this... http://www.zag.com/websiteASSETS/whitepapers/ZAG-WhitePaper3.pdf
Comment
-
Comment by Joe Clementi on December 6, 2011 at 2:40pm
-
It's taken many meetings, complaints and letters but Honda has apparently taken a stand. Under Honda's DMA guidelines those TC dealers were in clear violation of the rules. This is a step towards shutting this down. But they have to be firm and stand behind this ruling. It makes us proud that Honda has heard our complaints!
-
Comment by Jerry Thibeau on December 6, 2011 at 2:33pm
-
We need to get this video on page one of Google when a customer searches TrueCar. Spread it around folks. I believe people think this is one they have already seen, but it's not. It's a video geared to be viewed by the consumer who is thinking about using TrueCar. Get it on your facebook page and tell your friends not to use TrueCar. Perhaps a 1000 views will get this on page one!
-
-
This is the start! Manufacturers step up and then hopefully dealers will stop using. Way to take a stand Honda!
-
Comment by A. J. Maida on December 6, 2011 at 2:21pm
-
Comment by Jim Kristoff on December 6, 2011 at 2:15pm -
As a former Honda dealer myself......Honda will not allow any pricing below invoice.....dealer cash does NOT count either....it is the factory invoice...period....
-
Comment by Keith Shetterly on December 6, 2011 at 2:14pm
-
If everybody isn't getting the Honda thing like AJ, do what I did when I walked him through it on the phone: Don't look at the screen for a Big Announcement. Look above the pricing area, and you will see an orange "Price Protection Alert" and a clickable link for details. TrueCar isn't blowing this horn, they are still putting up a "Target Price" and hope nobody notices. I'm not really sure how long this Honda thing has been an issue for them. I hope other manufacturers assert issue over price (Toyota would be next likely, I think, considering their online price history). Thanks!
-
-
Yes I see it it is not a guarantee anymore it is just a true car estimate....come to think of it, wasn't it always???? God I'm an asshat!!!!
-
Comment by Brian Willian on December 6, 2011 at 2:12pm
-
@ A.J. - Yes they are still showing discounted prices but they adhere to Honda's advertising requirements. Previously, they were much lower than dealers are allowed to advertise. The prices are now compliant. It's a win.
-
Comment by Keith Shetterly on December 6, 2011 at 1:57pm
-
@ AJ: See the fine print under the Price Protection alert and click there:
Price Protection Alert: TrueCar believes that an upfront price is essential to a great car buying experience. There is NO upfront price for this vehicle. Hide alert description
American Honda Motor Co., Inc. has directed all Honda Certified Dealers to remove upfront price guarantees for consumers from the TrueCar website. As a result, an upfront price guarantee is not available for your requested Honda vehicle. TrueCar strongly believes every consumer has the right to transparent, no-haggle pricing, and we will continue to work with American Honda to resolve this issue for the benefit of both you the consumer and our TrueCar Certified Honda Dealers. In the meantime, you can still enjoy low prices by contacting the Certified Dealers on your Price Protection Certificate.
-
Comment by Keith Shetterly on December 6, 2011 at 1:57pm
-
@ Jim, and good thing we don't have a national dealers' association with lawyers and such,too .... sigh.
© 2024 Created by DealerELITE.
Powered by
You need to be a member of DealerELITE.net to add comments!
Join DealerELITE.net