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 David Ruggles on December 17, 2011 at 9:39am -
They aren't my favorite company at all. Masquerading as performing a "public service" against those "crooked car dealers" is all I need to know. Everything else is secondary.
Where is it written that everyone should end up with the same price on a negotiated price product? What entitles consumers to know our triple net costs OR actual transaction prices?
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Comment by Stanley Esposito on December 17, 2011 at 9:21am
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The man is arrogant!
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Comment by James A. Ziegler on December 17, 2011 at 8:22am
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Wow great insightful interview with Scott Painter of TrueCar here in Wards Dealer Business Magazine by Editor Steve Finlay. http://wardsdealer.com/latest/1216sf_truecar_scott_painter/
Right at the end, Painter says they are NOT a broker and says they will defend themselves against anyone who claims they are a broker.
Excuse me, I think they are a broker, as I've said many times, it seems to quack like a duck, might be a duck BUT I have always said and will continue to say that is not my call to make. I have always called for a government investigation of TrueCar with deep discovery to determine whether or not they are or are not a broker. My opinion is nothing more than a layman's personal opinion. That would be state-by-state investigation... as well as Federal Trade Commission on other claims. BUT I am not qualified to say one way or another if they are or are not a broker. regardless, I really dislike this company...How about you?
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Ruggles, don't spoil the fun! :) JIM
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Comment by David Ruggles on December 16, 2011 at 8:27pm
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Blassingame has a TV show now?
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Actually, it's a television show Ruggles... who's been feeding you information?
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Comment by David Ruggles on December 16, 2011 at 8:02pm
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Are you doing the radio show in the morning?
You didn't know I've been following you around checking up on you, did you? :)
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You're right David, all we want is "Transparency too" I want government agencies armed with deep discovery diving deep into TrueCars data collection and records. These people won't stand up if we get daylight.
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Comment by David Ruggles on December 16, 2011 at 7:37pm
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@ Michael - YES, his constant use of the word "transparency" is a complete red herring. Transparency is when the consumer knows everything, including "triple net" and what is negotiated is the margin. That's transparency.
What sane Dealer would put himself in that position?
When MIchael Dell made his comments about auto dealers being an unnecessary level and needless expense in the auto distribution chain, he was roundly booed. When JD Power shot his mouth off, same thing. Coincidentally, that's when he deemed it opportune to sell his company.
BUT when Steve Girsky said the same thing no one said a word, and he is now Vice Chairman of GM. AND he was the person MOST responsible for the dealer terminations, blowing in Larry Summers ear about the so called "Toyota High Through Put" model. By the time it got to Steve Rattner, it wasn't a request, it was marching orders. And this asshole is Vice Chairman of GM. Someone needs to keep a close eye on him.
My point is that JD Power, Michael Dell and others have been castigated for saying Dealers and their sales people need to become extinct, while Girsky is VP of GM and the world throws money at Painter and Dealers subscribe to contribute to their own demise. Maybe these guys Painter and Girsky, are just better sales people than others? Otherwise, I don't get it.
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Comment by Mike theCarGuy Correra on December 16, 2011 at 6:52pm
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Scott really thinks that by constantly throwing the word 'transparency' around he can cloud the real issue and create many, many side conversations that pull attention from his real evil. For him to arrogantly state the he wishes for a time when 'the mystery of price has left' is a complete joke. There is NO mystery about the PRICE of a car; it is clearly marked on the window from the folks who built it. When a customer comes in, allows me the time to fully show, explain and demonstrate all there is about a new Honda they usually see that the MSRP is a great value HOWEVER; if they feel that they should pay less I AM OK WITH NEGOTIATING TO A FAIR DEAL! I
We have all heard the phrase, “a good deal is not a number, it’s a feeling you get when you buy a car from someone you feel is trustworthy and works for a company that will be there for you after the sale as well” and it’s the truest statement out there. I train my own sales staff that the best response to the question of price is this; “Mr customer, as you can see the price of the car is clearly marked, I appreciate that you would like to pay less and I will do all I can to earn your business. We will not lose your business over a few dollars…”
What Scott is continues to confuse consumers idea of price with cost and by doing so completely validates the existing negative fears and stereotypes they have about car sales and the professionals that work in this industry. Perhaps he should ask jewelers how they would feel when he starts showing the cost of a watch and then recommending a price less than cost as a ‘good deal’. Maybe Scott could take his expertise into the world of real estate, he could have his expert team find out what a homeowner actually paid for his home and then tell folks to offer less for a ‘good deal’. The only thing that is really transparent about ZAG/TrueCar is that Scott has always wanted to eliminate sales people and have his company act as brokers for all car deals.
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