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 James A. Ziegler on January 19, 2012 at 7:47pm
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TrueCar Dealer Alert!
It’s been all over the news! You probably have been hearing the controversy regarding TrueCar and other lead generation programs. We have received numerous calls and emails on this subject. LADA contacted LMVC several weeks ago to determine what was being done to protect dealers.
The TrueCar business model is, in many ways, illegal in Louisiana. The Louisiana Motor Vehicle Commission has already called company management in for a meeting and a fine may be forthcoming. TrueCar has also “voluntarily” suspended operations and advertising in the state.
You may be aware that R.S. 32:1254(A) of the Louisiana Franchise Law requires an LMVC license to become a broker in this state. Brokers are only allowed to represent the buyer, not the seller. Contacts must be signed between the buyer and the broker before any service may be rendered by the broker, and no fee may be paid to the broker by the seller. Only the buyer may pay a fee to the broker. Additionally, no one, seller or broker, may use the term “invoice” or “dealer cost” in advertising.
We will keep you posted on any changes. As always, do not hesitate to call (800-375-5232) if you have any questions.
Thank you for your continuing support!
BobLouisiana Automobile Dealers Association
7526 Picardy Avenue, Baton Rouge, LA 70808
Phone - 225-769-5500 Fax - 225-769-2085
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Comment by Richard Jungkuntz on January 19, 2012 at 5:36pm
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Thanks for your support Doug!! We have an A+ rating for a reason and it all starts with LD.
I couldnt agree anymore. I work at EasyCare SOS and we have had a huge spike in dealers asking for a formal agreement. It is in our original agreement, but we have had to devise a specific agreement just for Data protection to satisfy.
DMS providers have even gone so far as to ask to have EasyCare SOS removed as a "Non certified Vendor" in an attempt to sell their own retention program as "Certified".
Its YOUR Data. No one can tell you anything about who and how.
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Great comments Doug, as a dealer and a respected member of the Kentucky Association, your suggestions are well received. JIM
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Comment by doug wolford on January 19, 2012 at 3:05pm
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Jim good article. I suggest all dealers go into there DMS system and delete all passwords that they dont know who they belong to. Also dont allways trust the factory. Example: I was using easy care SOS program for data mining our service customers. I know and I know you know the CEO Larry Dorfman who I trust completely. Nissan bugged me to change to there program. The DOM said Doug just sign up. You dont have to use Nissan's program but it will help me with my boss and let Nissan know you may try us in the future. What the heck,I said. Ill help her and I'm still using Easy Care SOS. Big mistake. After we let our finance mgr go my office manager and I deleted his user password and cleansed all others we did not recognize. A couple days go by and I get a call asking why we had stopped Nissan from entry to our system in service. I said why would I? Ive never used your program. BINGO the rep used the disguise of just help me. Sign up you dont have to use. But what the rep did was take the agreement to the office manager and got a password and they were in. One last thing I would remind ALL dealers is DO NOT let your IT guy or internet guy or gal give access. ONLY allow 1 person have access to password access. I used my office manager and he and I were on the same page. Allowing any lower personel or those so called IT people could be disaster.
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CarFax is NOT a dealers friend, neither is Edmunds for that matter. TrueCar is the worst and most blatant BUT I can name a dozen other enemies that use our data against us after they charge us to refer customers to us we would sold anyway before they lowered our profits.
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Comment by Linn Boyd on January 19, 2012 at 11:43am -
Eric, those are good ideas, but we also have to make sure other vendors don't have an underlying motive as well. This isn't about just making the dealers compete in the digital world, but dealers need some education on a lot of things digital. I see people that market website hits, but what does that mean to you? I can get 10k hits in a week but the traffic isn't good for the dealer. You need traffic that you can't convert to customers.
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Eric we have a ton of support.... from reputable vendors.
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Comment by Thomas A. Kelly on January 19, 2012 at 9:44am
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Great ideas Eric.
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Kill the Data, kill the Beast(s) Right after NADA we will begin a campaign to make dealers aware and to scrub the DMS of intruders, data pirates and extractors... The Data Wars are about to begin. Right now we need copies of every vendors contract, the part where they disclose what they may do with Data. Send it to me personally.
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Comment by David T. Gould on January 17, 2012 at 11:57am
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I believe you are referring to R&R's live agreement? Could you clarify where I (and others) could do some research on this? (links?) Thanks, dtg
"Also ladies and gents, there are some contracts which the DMS provider can change at will, and you sign the document to that, their service agreement is on the web and they can change it at any time!"
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