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 James A. Ziegler on December 11, 2011 at 6:51pm
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You got that right Michael...
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Comment by Keith Shetterly on December 11, 2011 at 12:31pm -
You better click here and go see Stan Sher's Copy of an eMail from a TrueCar Employee!
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Comment by James Carroll on December 10, 2011 at 5:11pm
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We need to do a price chart like this for Truecar lead prices.
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Comment by Keith Shetterly on December 10, 2011 at 1:14pm
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Check out Mr. Painter, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!
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In answer to Charles Kim at TrueCar...
Charles, let me simplify this.... We don't believe you.
We don't like your company or your company's agenda....
Nothing you say is going to persuade us otherwise since there is a mountain of solid evidence that says otherwise.
Your company is evil (my opinion of course)
Your agenda is to destroy us...Scott painter said so... watch the video Charles, maybe you'll get it.
You got a couple of "Bell-Cow Sell-outs to support you"
You're still evil as a company.
We're NOT a minority, it's a growing movement and you're nervous.
Sorry about your stock options.
Get out of our Data-bases leave our customer information alone.
What you're doing might be illegal...I don't know but sure appears to be.
Scott Painter might be a genius...most geniuses are nutcases... watch and be sure he doesn't cut off his own ear or something.
Be on the lookout for subpoenas from States Attorneys General about your business practices in conflict.
Watch for major manufacturers to boycott you ala Honda.
Dealer Associations don't like you BUT their hands are tied... still they talk.
Federal privacy Laws are a slippery slope... somebody must be watching.
Several people have said you guys are selling and buying customer data... I never said that because that would be a criminal, prosecutable offense if anyone ever got into "Discovery"
Charles, it appears to me that YOUR COMPANY IS IN DEEP DOO-DOO.... Warmly- JIM
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I've listened to all of the Charles Kim and Devin (what's his name?) posts about how we're persecuting poor TrueCar and Zag... Charles here's the bottom line....
Cracking up reading this...tears streaming down my face laughing... "Minority?" No Charles we are the swelling majority coming at your dishonorable shady cause from all sides. TrueCar is on the run and we are going to turn up the heat even more.
Personally, I like you a lot... you and I, we had some fun in Kansas City last spring. BUT, you and I both know what you and your company are doing is Wrong... Sorry about your stock options.
I've talked to a number of people you've lobbied to support you and we both know, you're feeling like a leper... nobody wants to back TrueCar. You're posts reek of desperation because you know the tide is turning as the spotlight brightens. You got a couple of "Sellouts" to back you but the majority is growing and your company is losing. Scott Painter is a liability, can't keep his mouth shut.
Let's Face it, TrueCar - Zag would not need to be on these posts defending if we weren't gathering support for truth and what's right. 30,000 page views of people and 99% don't like your company! OR what you're trying to do to us! We're pulling the plug on TrueCar and dealers everywhere are forwarding these posts to others.
My goal is to make Wall Street so nervous nobody would throw a nickle at investing in TrueCar - Zag because of your dishonorable intentions and thinly hidden, possibly illegal agenda. I smell your fear AND it is justified...Brace yourself...we're coming.
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Comment by Stan Sher on December 9, 2011 at 9:16pm
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Charles,
Interesting stuff coming from a man who works for and represents a horrible company. First of all, this community is completely fair. This community is where people like myself create a name for themselves in the industry and build long lasting relationships that help enhance our careers. This community has content that can literally build a dealership from the ground up. This community has served the industry well and it is a shame that there are people that still have not joined (my opinion). Ralph and his editors are full of integrity and are some of the top automotive people in the industry. You see, unlike your employer (who is trying to destroy the automotive industry), this community is trying to help the industry and make our industry better. If this includes fighting off nasty and unethical companies such as TrueCar/Zag (your employer) then so be it.
I have not seen where Tom Stuker made an opinion about it. Be that as it may, I still respect the man for being a pioneer in the field that I work in. Tom Stuker (right or wrong opinion) still works to help our industry. If he is in support of your lousy program it is because he probably has not had a full understanding of it or experience of working with on the showroom floor. The same thing goes for Grant Cardone (who I a lot of respect and appreciation for). Grant does a service to help us sales professionals be motivated and be professional. However, Grant has not worked a Zag lead. Grant has not dealt with the troubles that retail automotive professionals are dealing with when working Zag and TrueCar leads. What kind of close can you use when your $1000 behind triple net and you would rather not sell the car? You know you are not going to get a customer to pay $2000 more just for you to break even. Why? Because your company (TrueCar) is making it that way. Sometimes consultants who have not worked in a dealership for many years lose fate of the reality of the situation and we will spin propaganda just to motivate you and get you to stop thinking about reality. No offense to Grant Cardone and Tom Stuker (I admire and respect the both of you).
Back to this community. When I need to find out about how good a vendor is I use ADM. When I needed help creating email templates I used ADM. When I needed to find a job and connect with people I used ADM. Ralph Paglia is the reason why Stan Sher is known by people. Ralph Paglia and ADM helped create an idea that eventually moved onto various other social networks where Stan Sher has made a nationwide presence. I learned to leverage it to become a speaker at dealer associations, to write for multiple publications, and to start my own company. Thank you Ralph and ADM for what you do for the industry and for my career.
Let me tell you why your debate seems to be unfair and why it is impossible to show your point of view. YOUR COMPANY IS HURTING THE INDUSTRY IN MANY WAYS!!! We have all seen the damage that TrueCar does. You will never know what nightmares your employer has caused me in past in the retail world. Read my blog (http://www.automotivedigitalmarketing.com/profiles/blogs/the-realit...). When you represent the a bad company you will be treated like it (notice I had to carefully choose my words to biased just for you).
Oh and if you don't have time to debate all of us. Well then sit back and let us true automotive professionals do our thing and destroy your lousy company. After all that is what it deserves.
I think the dealers that were foolish enough to sign up tells me that there are not enough dealers reading our blogs and your sales staff is once again pitching them a produ
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Comment by Stanley Esposito on December 9, 2011 at 8:39pm
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Guess what a bully does when you fight back or resist? They move on to someone else who is weak. Painter can move on and stop boasting about taking my job. What kind of arrogance does this guy display when he brags about taking info from the very stores he is trying to take down?
I just want all of you guys on this site to know as a sales pro I appreciate all you are doing to put this nonsense to an end! Thank you.
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I've listened to all of the Charles Kim and Devin (what's his name?) posts about how we're persecuting poor TrueCar and Zag... Charles here's the bottom line....
Cracking up reading this...tears streaming down my face laughing... "Minority?" No Charles we are the swelling majority coming at your dishonorable shady cause from all sides. TrueCar is on the run and we are going to turn up the heat even more.
Personally, I like you a lot... you and I, we had some fun in Kansas City last spring. BUT, you and I both know what you and your company are doing is Wrong... Sorry about your stock options.
I've talked to a number of people you've lobbied to support you and we both know, you're feeling like a leper... nobody wants to back TrueCar. You're posts reek of desperation because you know the tide is turning as the spotlight brightens. You got a couple of "Sellouts" to back you but the majority is growing and your company is losing. Scott Painter is a liability, can't keep his mouth shut.
Let's Face it, TrueCar - Zag would not need to be on these posts defending if we weren't gathering support for truth and what's right. 30,000 page views of people and 99% don't like your company! OR what you're trying to do to us! We're pulling the plug on TrueCar and dealers everywhere are forwarding these posts to others.
My goal is to make Wall Street so nervous nobody would throw a nickle at investing in TrueCar - Zag because of your dishonorable intentions and thinly hidden, possibly illegal agenda. I smell your fear AND it is justified...Brace yourself...we're coming.
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Comment by Jim Kristoff on December 9, 2011 at 5:08pm
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<br /><small><a href="http://www.automotivedigitalmarketing.com/video/video">Find more videos like this on <em>Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community</em></a></small><br />
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