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 Heather Graham on January 16, 2012 at 10:35am
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into their partners’ performance.
Dealer Management System (DMS) Data Practices
TrueCar is committed to maintaining the highest data standards including limiting the collection of information. TrueCar does not sell dealer DMS data and does not use dealer DMS data for any purpose other than matching vehicle sales to customer leads and monitoring performance to enhance TrueCar’s service to its dealer partners. In addition to only collecting information with dealers’ permission, TrueCar is committed to working with dealers to enhance dealers’ control over access to and use of DMS data, including limiting the fields of data that are received from DMS to those fields necessary to perform the sales matching function.
Changes to Address Advertising Issues
TrueCar will implement important changes to the website to address certain advertising issues. As part of its commitment to its dealer partners, TrueCar will alsodevelop new messages that focus on important dealer attributes, like proximity, selection and service rather than simply price. “Bottom line is we’re out listening and talking to the industry. What we heard is that dealers feel our ads focused on price and did not tell a positive enough story about our dealer partners. We’ve listened to their concerns and are making adjustments. Qualitative considerations that drive purchase other than price will have greater prominence in future ads.” said Stephen Hansen, President of TrueCar.
National Dealer Council/Dealer Initiatives
TrueCar is also announcing several changes to take into account feedback and better serve its dealer partners- Effective immediately TrueCar will be enhancing its TrueCar Price Report to enable dealers to more effectively market themselves, by providing consumers and dealers a much more balanced view of the market.
- TrueCar will introduce its first-ever National Dealer Council in the next few weeks. The Council will serve as an important venue for TrueCar to hear dealer feedback – good and bad – on TrueCar’s products, processes and policies.
- TrueCar will enable statistical and other tools to identify dealers with extreme price outliers. TrueCar recognizes that price outliers may interfere with a sustainable dealer/consumer ecosystem and will work to alleviate these issues and include important qualitative factors in the decision process.
- TrueCar will be making product, policy, and process changes throughout the entire business to enhance dealer confidence in TrueCar.
Consumer Membership Program
TrueCar remains committed to innovating to ensure higher lead quality for dealers and enhanced brand protection for OEMs. Based on OEM feedback, TrueCar will introduce a new consumer membership program, which TrueCar believes will substantially alleviate the concern. With this change, dealer partners can expect even higher quality introductions from TrueCar. In the end, consumers and dealers benefit.
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Comment by James A. Ziegler on January 16, 2012 at 10:34am
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I am relieved to hear that and will remove any references
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Comment by Arnold Tijerina on January 16, 2012 at 10:33am -
I can tell you with confidence, being as I worked for HomeNet during that time, that the partnership DID exist and TrueCar's software was added into HomeNet's software as an additional feature. That being said, since this TC conversation started, I did some checking and I was told that HomeNet and TC terminated that agreement.
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Comment by Randy Fry on January 16, 2012 at 10:32am
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i nominate Jim to be on their National Dealer Council, who wants to second it??
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I'm sure most of you have recevied Truecars lastest email to its dealers (or former dealers):
TRUECAR LAUNCHES NATIONAL COMPLIANCE CAMPAIGN AND PRO-INDUSTRY PRODUCT CHANGES
Sweeping changes include a more balanced advertising approach,revised billing model in some states, consumer membership program, and formation of a Dealer Advisory CouncilSanta Monica, Calif. – January 16, 2012 – TrueCar, Inc., which is devoted to bringing innovation to the car buying process, today announced a nationwide, multi-faceted strategy totackle regulatory compliance issues and demonstrate its commitment to state regulators, state dealer associations and to better serve its dealer partners. Among other changes that are taking place nationally, TrueCar implemented a new flat fee-billing model in the Commonwealth of Virginia, which has been OK with flat fee billing since January 2001. This change marks a significant step in TrueCar’s ongoing compliance strategy. TrueCar’s proactive modifications will include introducing a new billing model in certain states, adjusting advertising presented through the TrueCar website, establishing a TrueCar National Dealer Council, and launching a new consumer membership program.
TrueCar announced this initiative as part of a “listening tour” by senior company executives that included visits with key constituents including dealer groups, dealer associations and manufacturers across the nation. “These meetings have been incredibly constructive. We are in the business of innovation. As such we have to embrace change as part of what we do,” said Scott Painter, Founder and CEO of TrueCar, Inc. “The feedback we have received, both good and bad, will enable us to better serve our dealer partners, and the industry overall. The changes announced in Virginia are a great signal that collaboration with state regulators can result in a constructive outcome for consumers and dealers.”
Compliance is an essential element of TrueCar’s mission. TrueCar has been engaged in discussions with regulators in several states regarding its fee structure and/or advertising issues. TrueCar is responding immediately to any state concerns as part of a comprehensive national strategy, with a goal of achieving 100 percent national compliance. In the meantime, TrueCar has voluntarily suspended service in Louisiana, Colorado, Nebraska and Oklahoma in order to make certain changes to improve TrueCar’s service and to protect its dealer partners. The company expects to have certain changes implemented in January. “TrueCar’s dealer partners are central to our success and ensuring compliance is the foundation of TrueCar’s strategic commitment to dealers. We will not put our dealer partners in jeopardy,” said Stewart Easterby, Executive Vice President of TrueCar, Inc.
Subscription Billing Model To Be Rolled Out Nationally
Most states have some version of either bird-dogging or brokering laws on the books. TrueCar is taking a proactive national approach to this business model issue, shifting to a subscription-based billing model in those states where there is potentially an issue. For example, in California the company will be voluntarily and immediately commencing work on implementing its subscription-based model.
Over the long term, TrueCar will continue to work with state regulators in an attempt to identify ways to update existing laws and regulations to take into account innovation made possible by the digital age. These innovations include the ability to help dealers achieve accurate performance metrics for their marketing spend and 100 percent visibility into the
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Cut Off The Data to all Hostile Intruders.... http://www.dealerelite.net/profiles/blogs/the-data-police-have-arrived
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Comment by David Ruggles on January 16, 2012 at 9:51am
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TrueCar wants to take credit for 235,000 vehicle sales? Common sense would indicate that those vehicles would have been sold anyway and that all TrueCar succeeded in doing was to make sure the grosses were sub par.
BTW, the recent issue of WARD's could very well be termed "The TrueCar Issue." Painter's picture is on the cover and much of the content has to do with TrueCar, starting with "Dealer Defender."
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Comment by Thomas A. Kelly on January 16, 2012 at 9:48am
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80 million bucks that would have gone to local communities....
The combined commissions paid to salespersons for those 235k vehicle did not equal 80 mil I am willing to bet...But those same salespersons will live with those customers forever and take care of their every need....TrueCar on the otherhand will do nothing but try to cross sell other goods and services to those customers....because after all........THEY ARE TRUECARS CUSTOMERS according to their dealer agreements.
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TrueCar shoppers bought 235,000 vehicles last year you say... well, I say TrueCar stole 235,000 vehicle sales the dealers would have sold without them...and we paid a $300 a unit premium to have them serve up losers.
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Edmunds.com is also demanding access to Dealer data.... does anyone honestly believe these people are our friends and they will use your data for friendly purposes?
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