There IS a reason I keep pushing for some specificity when it comes to the "future" of auto retail. For those who think the future is "Transparency," we should define it. Consumers have their own ideas but in economics, transparency is when buyer and seller have the same information and equal ability to interpret that information. When that occurs, the product becomes a commodity and an "efficient market" is in place. Efficient markets result in "disintermediation." That's elimination of the middle man. That's you Mr./Ms. Dealer and you Mr./Ms Sales person. It means the competition between dealers, which the FTC likes and consumers hate, disappears. It also means that OEMs are able to fix prices with only their fellow OEMs to have to worry about. Those who believe consumer surveys will believe that consumers would like that because everyone would pay the same for a new vehicle. The FTC understands how such a market would lead to increased vehicle costs for consumers.
Of course, the fact is that trade ins would still have to be negotiated UNLESS trades were excluded from the deal and consumers would just take their trades to an auction. Of course, for that to work the market would have to figure out how to deal with negative equity and the various sales tax laws around the country.
I find it curious that so many would be on auto retail sites touting as the future things that are just not going to happen without immense difficulty. If someone has a plan of how to lobby the FTC, I'd like to hear about it. TrueCar has lost MILLIONS so far. What if those losses had instead been targeted on Congress to change the way the FTC operates? If our objective is to make consumers happy, don't we want to arrange for them to all pay the same? After all, the idea that some pay too much so some can pay too little is repugnant to consumers.
Equally amazing to me is the thought that people seem to be pushing for a system that eliminates dealers and retail sales people. In an "efficient market," some clerks might be needed, but certainly not retail sales people as we know them today.
So here's my prediction for the future - Instead of sending automotive people to Disney to learn how to make people happy, Disney will send their people to car dealerships so the Disney people can learn how to do business with people who have less than stellar credit, trade negative equity, unrealistic expectations, with layers of complexity and detail as mandated by regulatory agencies, and do business at gross profit while still gaining a 90 plus CSI rating.
Another prediction - My grandmother will be found in orbit around Mars.
Go ahead. Prove me wrong.
Of course, the fact is that trade ins would still have to be negotiated UNLESS trades were excluded from the deal and consumers would just take their trades to an auction. Of course, for that to work the market would have to figure out how to deal with negative equity and the various sales tax laws around the country.
I find it curious that so many would be on auto retail sites touting as the future things that are just not going to happen without immense difficulty. If someone has a plan of how to lobby the FTC, I'd like to hear about it. TrueCar has lost MILLIONS so far. What if those losses had instead been targeted on Congress to change the way the FTC operates? If our objective is to make consumers happy, don't we want to arrange for them to all pay the same? After all, the idea that some pay too much so some can pay too little is repugnant to consumers.
Equally amazing to me is the thought that people seem to be pushing for a system that eliminates dealers and retail sales people. In an "efficient market," some clerks might be needed, but certainly not retail sales people as we know them today.
So here's my prediction for the future - Instead of sending automotive people to Disney to learn how to make people happy, Disney will send their people to car dealerships so the Disney people can learn how to do business with people who have less than stellar credit, trade negative equity, unrealistic expectations, with layers of complexity and detail as mandated by regulatory agencies, and do business at gross profit while still gaining a 90 plus CSI rating.
Another prediction - My grandmother will be found in orbit around Mars.
Go ahead. Prove me wrong.
