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
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Comment by Keith Shetterly on December 5, 2011 at 11:31am -
Will do, Kevin. I'll have some time late today and will try you then. Thanks!
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Comment by Kevin Nachbar on December 5, 2011 at 11:20am
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Keith, not much of a blogger but I do read a lot. Call me sometime if you want to talk 8165104333.
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Comment by Keith Shetterly on December 5, 2011 at 11:17am
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Thanks Kevin!!
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Keith, I read your blog previously and believe you are spot on. I am just saying that as a whole dealers do a poor job of supplying information to consumers on-line or through their sales staff. This forces consumers elsewhere to find the information they are looking for. I am not a supporter of Truecar just saying if dealers where more upfront maybe less consumers would go there. They have tried to get rid of dealers before not going to happen someone still needs to handle trade -ins and service issues.
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Comment by Jim Kristoff on December 5, 2011 at 10:55am
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Charles Kim sent me a message in ADM.....
Charles Kim has sent you a message on Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community
Subject: The Truth About TrueCar
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The first of many articles in leading publications (along with interviews conducted by leading industry experts who have reached out to us in support of what we do) laying out the TRUTH and FACTS about what we ACTUALLY do throughout the entire industry (for customers, dealers, OEMs, suppliers, companies, media, etc.) and why...versus factually-untrue hype (e.g. such as TrueCar wanting to eliminate dealers, or using direct-DMS data to power our price curve...both of which are factually untrue). Look out for these articles and interviews in the coming weeks and months.http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111205/RETAIL0...
Having been a successful sales manager/GSM/GM, OEM field rep and multiple-department manager, dealer consultant, experiential marketing exec, and TrueCar director over the past 20 years, I believe I have a somewhat unique perspective on the industry and what TrueCar actually represents to the industry and consumers alike. Several members of our team also have equally diverse backgrounds, expertise, and retail/OEM perspectives too which helps shape our overall strategies to deliver in-demand products/services. During my career, I have never been accused of not being a strong dealer advocate (because of my long track record to the contrary), have never been accused of stirring up the pot for hype's sake just to sell something, and would have zero problem finding another job outside of TrueCar if I didn't fully support what we do for consumers, dealers, OEMs, affinity groups, the media, etc.At the end of the day, I can say without a doubt that 1) TrueCar (and basically hundreds of other similar companies) helps address an increasingly rapid shift in customer demands and growing intolerance to the status quo (as an aside, "leads" is just one part of our entire business...we do many other things throughout the industry), and 2) TrueCar is absolutely not a threat to dealers...we have said time and time again that dealers are very important partners, and with our industry-leading closing rates using prices set entirely by dealers, the fact is that we help dealers be more profitable and successful in both the short and long term; if we didn't help dealers, I would definitely not be here.
Again, those are just some of the facts, and more will be coming soon. If you have any questions, as always, all you have to do is ask! =)
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Comment by Keith Shetterly on December 5, 2011 at 10:51am
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Kevin, please take time to read this blog: http://www.dealerelite.net/profiles/blogs/why-you-must-cancel-truec... and come back here to comment, if you have any. I think, as a dealer, this information will change your mind; if it doesn't, or if I'm wrong, please let me know! Anyway, this is not about a market change or a consumer change or transparency--we've had that since the impact of the Internet and since invoices and incentives were provided by the manufacturers. However, many of us believe that it IS about $200million heading towards a billion dollar IPO. And a TrueCar CEO who has publicly stated that he wants no sales staff (read that mgrs and salespeople). And about shady access to dealers' data helping that along. Thanks!
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Retail side of the Auto Industry has changed. The behavior of customers is different. The consumer wants transparency and relevant information from the dealer. If the Dealer Operator doesn't reevaluate how he goes to market with his inventory they will have a hard time succeeding in any big way. Today's information highway is loaded with information to help customers save money. Dealer's should embrace this information and supply it directly to the customer,because the will find it anyway. I don't think you can fight True-car, Car perks and know Clear Book. Through their buying programs they offer New & Used buying programs to over 1000 highly regarded US businesses that include some major players.It is crucial for dealer's to figure this out.The way people buy cars has changed you must embrace the buying experience, transform the entire system in a way that benefits both the buyer and your sales people. Offer real time relevant information that the customer is looking for and become more transparent in how you go to market.
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Comment by A. J. Maida on December 5, 2011 at 8:36am
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Following @Mike Warricks point what do we think of this right on the home pages???
"If you are looking for a True and Actual price on a car please contact us. If you are looking for a "True Car Certificate" price we are sorry but we do not participate in this scam. First and foremost we do not believe in bait and switch tactics. This is not how we have treated or customers for 65 years and we are not going to start now. Secondly and the part we find most alarming is we do not endorse the sharing of your private information and this company does. Therefore we are not associated with them. If another dealer honors this and you save a few dollars then good for you. We will not because we believe your privacy is worth more then just one more sale. Papa's Dodge Chrysler Jeep."
Think they'll sue me???? I'll be more then happy for the publicity????
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Comment by Jerry Thibeau on December 5, 2011 at 7:41am
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Flickr is mine and it's temporary since I will have all those pictures contained in the new www.truecarscam.com website I plan to build using Wordpress.
I have some more amazing information I have uncovered this weekend. I'll share with you all later today. This new information will really make dealers think twice about using TrueCar.
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Comment by Stan Sher on December 4, 2011 at 10:34pm
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Who owns the flickr account? You realize you can optimize each and every picture and google will have them showing up in the searches?
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