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 Jerry Thibeau on December 16, 2011 at 4:47pm
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WardsAuto: What is your vision of the dealership of the future?
Painter: One in which the mystery of price has left. Once you publish true data, you can’t go back. I don’t see zero salespeople. The salesperson’s role would be to provide a great and pleasant transaction, rather than spend an hour optimizing the price of a car.
If this is the case, then the industry should adopt one price selling now and cut Scott Painter out of the equation today!
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Comment by James A. Ziegler on December 16, 2011 at 4:38pm
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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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Painter's changing his story everybody he speaks to... He told Automotive News...
Painter's vision: Sales with no sales staff
TrueCar's CEO plans more deals to boost online transactions
Read more: http://www.autonews.com/article/20110829/RETAIL07/308299963#ixzz1gj...
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Comment by Craig Lockerd on December 16, 2011 at 3:52pm -
"Todd brings a rare blend of brand building expertise and online marketing experience across multiple channels. He will be vital in delivering awareness of our brand to consumers," said Scott Painter, founder and chief executive officer of TrueCar. "As we continue to develop great products and strong technology platforms, we look to Todd to help us increase conversion — and make us a household name."
Daum chimed in, noting: "I am excited about the opportunity to be a part of an effort that is literally changing the face of the auto industry. The ideas being put into practice daily at TrueCar are nothing short of revolutionary — and I welcome the challenge of building effective marketing strategies to help bring them to the public."
Read more: Auto Remarketing | TrueCar Appoints Former Yahoo, AmEx Exec as Chie... http://www.autoremarketing.com/technology/truecar-appoints-former-y...
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Comment by James Easter on December 16, 2011 at 3:28pm
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Awesome news about Honda! One thing that VW did do several months back was to not allow any VW dealers to price anything below invoice in the Zag portal, but let's hope for a complete ban of TrueCar!!! Thanks for the post Dawg!
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Comment by Craig Lockerd on December 16, 2011 at 3:28pm
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Very ,Very few of our Dealer Clients are using them...as you said Nissan is, due to the $$$$$ from Nissan,one long time Penske store of ours said NO WAY.
So many levels of concern here potentially,the so called 'race to the bottom",pricing...used is next ,then F&I...why not customer pay R.O's in service?
There is little doubt that IF,they got as big as they want it to become,a sales staff as we know it would be a thing of the past....Best Buy Clerks.
The collection of the data seems to me should be a huge concern for all dealers
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Okay Honda has taken a courageous stand and banned TrueCar pricing with it's dealers. I know for a fact VW is strongly considering doing the same. I hope VW realizes that they've just began to get some incredible momentum in the market AND now is NOT the time to allow an invader like truecar to devalue the brand in the public's eyes. No matter what you sell, TrueCar cheapens your brand.
Group 1 made sure their dealers cancelled after looking at the exposure of having these people rooting around in their DMS, especially with AutoNation's CEO on the board of Truecar...
Group 1 was smart enough to see the writing on the wall and run as from away from these people as possible. When is Asbury, Penske, Sonic and others going to awaken and realize they people appear to be a huge threat? Even large private groups like Rick Hendrick should be looking at the evident danger we're all perceiving here.
Where are Ford, General Motors and especially...where is Toyota in this escalating skirmish? I am embarrassed that mark Reuss, president of general motors would actually go to TrueCar Headquarters and play with Painter showing him a 750HP Camaro.
I did not mention Nissan because their dealers are using Truecar to sell way below invoice so they can collect stair step money. You guys are smiling now BUT if Nissan takes away the program, you're screwed royally because of the benchmarks you set with TrueCar making your brand image "Ultra Cheap Nissan"
Does Mark Reuss NOT understand that his dealers are being raided by these people cheapening the product down to unprofitable and below? I find it hard to believe that Reuss would publicly suck up to these people if he truly understood.
There are a few investigations of TrueCar popping up here and there AND we're still urging dealers to put more emphasis with your dealer associations to get off of the sidelines and represent us... I know a couple of associations are doing their best while others limped off of the battlefield without firing a shot... weak.
I am especially disturbed about Toyota staying quiet while Honda takes a stand. It's like sending a message that Toyota has less value.
This thing will gather increasing momentum and I predict TrueCar will find some high-profile weak suck who will sellout their integrity for the publicity or hard cash and take a stand publicly backing them and betraying dealers.
Of course, this is all a lot of conjecture, speculation, supposition and opinion...I might be wrong. :)
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Comment by Stan Sher on December 16, 2011 at 11:44am
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Big things in the works. I agree with Jim.
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Don't worry Stanley, we're doing other things, some things are better done privately so as not to spoil the surprises that are coming soon.
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Comment by Stanley Esposito on December 16, 2011 at 11:23am
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It is quiet today. Any updates from anybody?
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