Jim Ziegler Wants to know "Is it Time For the Retail Automotive Community to Rise Up and Give CarFax a TrueQuality Thumping?"

Enough is Enough!

Haven't you had it with all of these Data Pirates using our own customer information to defame us, lower our profits, alienate our customers... while at the same time they charge us through the nose to do us harm? 

Among the worst of them in my opinion is CarFax. They even believe they have the right to price our cars and trades.... too low of course. While at the same time CarFax exploits negative stereotypes that we are crooks in every commercial the Little Car Fox Rats out the dishonest bumbling and inept idiot car sales person. They charge us to defame us. 

read this article we just published in Wards Auto Magazine... "My latest article is out and it's hot.  

Here are more than 250 Consumer Complaints and reviews about CarFax... look... http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/carfax_inacc.html 

We have manufacturers supporting these people and requiring we do business with them. Let's get mobilized and scream at our factory representatives, reprint this article for your dealers, do press releases, and generally alert your State Dealer Associations and 20-groups. 

If a consumer asks for the CarFax, tell them it's $39.00. Whoever told you it was free was lying.

I am available to perform 20-group and Dealer Association Keynote Speeches on this subject. As of right now, I am calling out the Tribe to get on this subject. JIM

 

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Comment by James A. Ziegler on November 2, 2012 at 1:06pm

Randy, I am so pleased you've showed us the Ford program for CPO with CarFax. AND David Ruggles, I have already communicated to the senior Vice Presidents at Ford  why we feel this is totally wrong.

Comment by Randy Fry on November 2, 2012 at 12:24pm
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NOVEMBER 1 ----- KEY CHANGES ----- CARFAX
Requesting a Report
Starting on November 1st, dealers may request a CARFAX report for CPO eligible vehicles via a link on the homepage of the CPO Dealer Admin site (https://cpo.dealerconnection.com). These reports will be available to dealers at no additional charge:
• CARFAX Advantage dealers can run CARFAX reports for Ford and Lincoln CPO vehicles at no additional cost.
• Dealers on a CARFAX pay-per-VIN pricing plan can request reports at no additional charge – although you may see a charge for the VIN and then a corresponding credit on your bill from CARFAX
• CPO enrolled Dealers without a CARFAX package can run a report free of charge on CPO vehicles
Dealers choosing to utilize CARFAX vehicle history reports beginning November 1st will still need to run an AutoCheck history report and ensure that both reports have no adverse information that would disqualify a vehicle from being certified under the CPO Program guidelines.
Note that the existing functionality to run an AutoCheck history report within the CPO Dealer Admin web site will remain unchanged until January 2013. At that time however, the Dealer Admin web site will be changed so that only CARFAX reports can be generated. Providing customers with a CARFAX vehicle history report will become a requirement starting in January 2013.
In addition to this program change, the vehicle certification process will also be modified in January such that vehicle eligibility will be confirmed in the CARFAX database. Vehicles with an event in the CARFAX database which would disqualify the vehicle from the CPO programs will not be able to be entered into the Dealer Admin web site.
Comment by David Ruggles on November 2, 2012 at 12:15pm

The CPO conference kicks off in a week in Phoenix as a part of Used Car Week.  It might be a good idea for a few of us to voice concerns to Ford about the mandatory CarFax part of their CPO program. 

Is their s similar service available that doesn't bring along with it the onerous elements associated with CarFax? 

Comment by Randy Fry on November 2, 2012 at 12:11pm

Ford is making a Car Fax a mandatory requirement for doing CPO vehicles after the 1st of the year, I GUESS I WILL NEVER DO  Ford  CPO at my store... i like CPO but i will never use Car Fax to make it happen, i might look at a aftermarket Cpo option instead..

Comment by James A. Ziegler on November 2, 2012 at 12:06pm

Thanks for that insight Randy... I've known you for a long time and I know you to be a good dealer who cares about your customers. My opinion is that CarFax destroys relationships with the dealer when the consumers get stung by faulty flawed or incomplete reports

Comment by Randy Fry on November 2, 2012 at 11:33am

Car Fax has been on my Sh*t list for over a decade, and i tell my customers that you can only trust about a third of whats there, and what's not there is more important than whats there...at one time before i took over this store , we were a Car Fax dealer, and were into our DMS system,  that was one of the 1st things i got rid of... NEVER AGAIN will i spend a dime with them...

And Car Fax pricing my vehicles  UHH NO...

Comment by James A. Ziegler on November 2, 2012 at 10:07am

Great Idea David! I work with 98 corporations that own dealerships. Some of them have one dealership others have as many as thirty. I am going to suggest that when a consumer asks for the CarFax that we give them a written statement and ask that they sign it that we DO NOT endorse Carfax and we know they have vast inconsistency  Furthermore we accept no liability for the information OR Lack Of Information contained in that report.

DO NOT RELY ON CARFAX as part of your buying decision.

Or something like that. Dealers need a disclaimer with legal wording that basically says if you rely on Carfax, it's at your own risk!

Comment by James A. Ziegler on November 2, 2012 at 5:29am

 Let's say it... The vendor we blogged about last year was TrueCar. AND as a result of these blogs we mobilized State organizations and thousands of dealers revolted and we totally changed their business model to extremely dealer-friendly. Scott painter, CEO of TrueCar flew to Atlanta a few weeks ago with his vice president, Mike Timmons, just to have dinner with me and my wife. He showed me all of the very positive changes his company has made to be more dealer-friendly without retreating from consumer-friendly. They then flew back to California. We were the only reason he came east.

We don't want to 'Crush' CarFax unless they make us do it. BUT if they think they are too well entrenched and deeply branded, we have some surprises in store for them. In spite of a $200 million war chest, TrueCar nearly bankrupted under the pressure. 

If CarFax wants to play the same arrogance we've seen previously, watch what happens next. This is NOT going away this time.

Comment by Keith Shetterly on November 1, 2012 at 7:41pm
Comment by Keith Shetterly on November 1, 2012 at 7:38pm

It would be nice to see a great experience in the ads with an "Advantage" dealer.  No intro with the sleazy car guy, just a good commercial about the service.  Are there any ads like that?

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