Time to move on and do something about it.
This True car deal is no different than the guy down the street advertising at cost or below. It's no different than when the internet came out and people were worried everyone will come in with the cost of a car. This simply is not the case. One thing will remain the same. The best trained sales force can overcome anything. What's your thoughts?
Comment
-
Comment by Mike Warwick on December 16, 2011 at 1:50pm
-
I would also caution people who lump Truecar into the category of another Internet company looking to squeeze us. I've never seen an Internet company launch a media blitz like this which pitches their product as a way to even the playing field for the consumer. If the field gets any more even, it's going to force dealers to take a hard look at their expense structures and the big expense is all of you "high pressure, commissioned sales people." Mr. Painter has said repeatedly that the problem isn't with margin compression, it's with their expense structures and if dealers reduced / eliminated some of their "expenses" i.e. salespeople, selling cars would be much more profitable for the dealers and manufacturers.
-
-
All of the Truecar supporters seem to be missing this point so I will limit these remarks to my own personal experience - we were pitched Zag/Truecar as a way to offer a new low volume / high closing rate lead stream that would provide us with a few incremental sales a month. Sounds great so far. Then, Truecar comes out with their media blitz after raising their $200m and we are flooded with almost 700 leads in one month. Now I don't know how much over-capacity you have but my BDC is working flat out and dumping 700 leads on them is not what I signed up for. Here's the problem with these leads, the vast majority of them are from customers completely out of our area who have no intention of doing business with us. They were interested in getting a price quote that they could take into their local dealer to see if they would match or come close to the number. We are forced to work these leads which caused our closing percentage to drop dramatically. In one month, Truecar cost us a huge amount of business because we wasted time focusing on these dead end leads. What is the lead volume going to be like after their Yahoo move and the IPO?
For all of those who say, "I'll just hold back on the trade or get them in F&I," please take some time to listen to Mr. Painter's interviews. According to him, dealers who do that will be terminated from the Truecar program. Wake up folks, this is a CONSUMER sight and we are paying for them to make it stronger at our expense. For those who say, "Just be a better salesman," if Mr. Painter brings Truecar's vision into reality, please remember that you had this opportunity to do something about it and you sat on the sidelines. You are not part of his plan and if you are eliminated, you have no one to blame but yourselves.
-
Comment by Jim Kristoff on December 16, 2011 at 1:23pm -
TrueCar only wants to drive a wedge between the consumers and the dealers!
Painter has the dealer give away the car.....THEN....he is lining up banks and insurance companies to finance the customers and sell them insurance products, thus eliminating dealer profit....while Painter and his venture capitalist line their pockets with profit kickbacks from the banks and insurance companies!
This is happening RIGHT NOW as we speak.........
Wake up people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To Fran's point.......you DO have to have a plan on how you are going to address these consumers.....otherwise....we ALL lose!!
-
Comment by Fran Taylor on December 16, 2011 at 1:17pm
-
Mr Hills I do understand. I'am just sharing some ways to make money when confronted with this. This is not going to go away soon so we must prepare for it. I personally think the way True Car is going on about this is wrong. It's ok to have a problem but not ok if we won't fix it. Hopefully True Car is looking for ways to make changes to improve and think of what they are doing to sales people and dealers. I'am just talking on how to sell cars when people come in. Thank you Sir.
-
Comment by Jim Kristoff on December 16, 2011 at 1:14pm
-
Comment by Keith Shetterly on December 16, 2011 at 1:12pm
-
If you watch Scott painter "paint" the trucar future without salespeople and dealers... 200million dollars headed towards a billion dollar IPO of stock...these aren't leads they are bullets and I don't mean great credit...I can t post the link from my phone u can someone else do it pls thank you!
-
Comment by Michael Hills on December 16, 2011 at 1:07pm
-
Think you are missing the point.
1st, reverse auction format promotes a race to bottom which seriously erodes dealer grosses and profitability
2nd, TrueCar is using data taken from our DMS to use against us
3rd, TrueCar is increasing cost to us and ultimately to consumer by adding an unnecessary middleman in the sales transaction
4th, TrueCar is intending to expand to discounted financing, after sell, and extended warranties all at traditional deAlers loss.
-
-
To me it is how you look at it. I would rather have a customer on the lot to work than no one if I'am new. Most of my customers never had the info to begin with They bought me and knew I came with the deal as far as problems. Believe me I feel for you guys but you can control a lot of this by selling you. Michael I didn't come to work to sell 50 a month by giving them away. I came to make money. Here is what I did to sell the same car and make more money. At closing I would ask the customer these questions to help them buy me. Mr. customer did the other salesmen tell you right up front they would take care of you if you had a problem or concern? NO Did the other salesman bother to take you on a long demo to make sure this is the vehicle you want? NO Did the other salesmen bother to show you the service department what they are going to do for you after the sale? NO. This car is a few dollars more and is about $10 a month. That's.33a day . I'am worth 33 cents a day. Most of them bought because I sold me. Hope this helps you guys. Thanks, much appreciated.
-
Comment by Keith Shetterly on December 16, 2011 at 12:56pm
-
Sigh
-
Comment by Phillip L. Turner on December 16, 2011 at 12:40pm
-
You can either complain about it, or find a way around it. Its really no different than when people used to come in with the Edmonds print outs. Find out if they are trading. Find out if they are financing. Do what the guy down the street is not doing. Consumers purchase cars every 3 to 4 years. We sell them everyday. We are supposed to be better than the customer. Thats why we are professionals. Nobody becomes great without training. train to overcome it because you know they arent training to overcome you.
© 2024 Created by DealerELITE.
Powered by
You need to be a member of DealerELITE.net to add comments!
Join DealerELITE.net