THE DATA POLICE HAVE ARRIVED
Most recently there has been a bold new wave washing over the automotive dealership landscape. Beginning with TrueCar, whose CEO bragged about using data to eliminate dealerships and lower profits below True Cost. He arrogantly taunted us with claims of "Transparency" which has become the "Buzz Word" of every vendor using our own data to virtually put us out of business, to steal our customers information, and sell it, pass it on to their affiliate companies, and otherwise resell it to third and fourth parties.
WELL, the revolution is here... and we, the dealers, managers, and industry loyalists are committed to locking down the DATA. Remember, cockroaches run when you shine a light on them.
We realize that vendors need access to SOME DATA to be able to perform their services BUT, virtually every vendor taking Data from the dealers- Data that ultimately shows up elsewhere being used against us - every vendor is taking far more Data than necessary and making dealers sign agreements that they can resell it, and pass it to affiliates, and that the VENDOR OWNS your customer data.
So many Dealers have signed contracts that THE VENDOR OWNS YOUR DATA.
THAT IS SO WRONG. By what right does any vendor you are paying have to claim to own your customers? That is total backwards crap and you know it. DEALERS-Your data is your BLUE SKY and you are signing contracts that allow vendors to own your customers and steal your legacy.
These vendors include, DMS Providers, CRM Companies, Lead Providers, Third Party Aggregators... and others, there are even OEMs (Manufacturers) stealing data from service and sales and even finance information on your customers and redistributing it.
The purpose of this BLOG is THE FIRST SHOT in the Data Reclamation Revolution.
We intend to educate Dealers as to what vendors are lifting your DATA... what they're doing with Your Data... Who they're selling it to or passing it along to.
Remember, the dealer is legally and liabilally responsible for the privacy and security of your data, not the vendor that contractually stole it and sold it.
AND we urge Dealers to responsibly call all of these vendors to task... either rewrite your contract or Cancel Them.
It is the purpose of this BLOG to expose those vendors and publish the offending parts of their agreements here. Remember, the vendor that screams loudest is probably the most guilty. JIM
Comment
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Comment by Thomas A. Kelly on January 15, 2012 at 1:42pm
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WHERE DID BERNIE COME FROM?... WHO THE HECK IS BERNIE ANYWAYS?
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Comment by James A. Ziegler on January 15, 2012 at 1:41pm
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We are sending out 135,000 emails addressing this question to dealers, managers and interested Industry loyalists...
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@ David
" I have been saying for years that dealership's should not be providing their inventories online for other's to benefit for free. Most of that time I have been ignored or harassed."
Same here...each and every time I was met with accusations of extreme paranoia...
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Comment by David T. Gould on January 15, 2012 at 1:33pm
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There are four sources for the terms of a consumers "deal". (Gross, Trade Value, F&I Profit, ect...) That I can think of quickly; the dealer, the dealer's DMS provider as they store and hold the data, the dealer's software vendors who provide services to the dealership for aggregating and utilizing that data ON THE DEALER's BEHALF and are compensated for doing same and lastly the manufacturer's who I don't see dealing at a per transaction level with the data.
@ Thomas. I agree on the general information. How the "deal" information is escaping in bits and pieces or as a whole has yet to be determined. I think Jim and you guys here are on the right track to find out.
@ Jason. I have been saying for years that dealership's should not be providing their inventories online for other's to benefit for free. Most of that time I have been ignored or harassed. To me, these current data issues are an extension (result) of allowing the business model of the AutoTrader and the like to grow and flourish.
@ Jim. I look forward to your results.
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There is powerful software that has been developed to “assemble” data, connect the dots so to speak. Each dot (bit of personal info) in and of itself is not worth much; it is when the software that organizes all the dots and assembles them in the correct order, it creates the completed picture of our data. It is not illegal to own a barrel, or a grip, or a trigger…..organized and assembled properly you may have an illegal, unregistered hand gun on your kitchen table. All data may start out to be claimed as harmless, anonymous and untrackable, it is when mountains of untrackable , anonymous data is pooled and the correct software is used, that everything comes together and hard , detailed specific data is matched. TrueCar has MOUNTAINS of innocent scattered data from many, many sources...they also have the software to assemble/match it in a way that make the final result not so innocent.
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As a matter of fact David, that inside information is coming very soon.
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Comment by MANNY LUNA on January 15, 2012 at 12:11pm -
" Your Data Center is the lifeblood of your Business"
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DMS access is definable and trackable... Could someone help out with what report / spreadsheet is available via ADP, Reynolds & Reynolds, ect... that identifies approved (not approved) external data accesses? Does that reporting identify actual records, fields, times of data pulls and by who? My guess is that most will be pulling daily. This type of over all data access reporting should be very enlightening.
@Jim, do you or any of your other connections have contacts at ADP / R&R that could get an over all 10,000 ft. view of what type of data a "typical" dealership is allowing?
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@ David...I was with you most of the way until you got to the "I do not see CarFax as dealer problem." part..I am ok with on the fence (remaining neutral and keeping big ass mouth shut) or on the dealers side but when ANY vendor is on the otherside of the fence badmouthing dealers while taking his money....IT IS A DEALERS PROBLEM
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Comment by Jason Buchanan on January 15, 2012 at 12:07pm
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uilding on Carfax comments. It always amazed me how Carfax gets it's service data from dealerships, jiffylube, and other service providers for free then turns around and tells consumers to ask for a free carfax report!
Ask yourself, why would I give away free data for someone to turnaround and charge me up to $1,000 every month to access the same data then tell the general consumer public to ask for a free data report as well on your dime? That's Carfax's business model. Free data for everyone except the dealer or vendor that supplies it.
Logically, dealers and vendors should be charging Carfax for data.
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