CarWoo Anyone?

[Alex Magnan]

Has anyone had any experience with CarWoo.com?

 

[mcampo2501]

CarWoo is like getting on a conference call with every other like franchise in your market and undercutting each other while the customer listens. If you listen close enough, you'll actually hear your brand devaluing. I've made it a point to stay far away from CarWoo. I'm sure there are dealers that like that kind of thing, but I don't choose to take part. My hope is that enough dealers feel the same way and the consumer stops seeing any benefit in using such platforms to watch car dealer death matches.

 

[ddavis]

Mike, sounds like dealers are paying to be involved in a bidding war.

 

[emilymoore]

CarWoo is like getting on a conference call with every other like franchise in your market and undercutting each other while the customer listens.

Agreed. What I did with with Carwoo is submit the price they would get from us online or if they came in and leave it at that. I would include the stock# so the customer knew we had the right one in stock. I did have a couple people buy from me just for having the exact vehicle they were looking for. But, they were mostly a waste of time since I wasnt joining in on the pants-dropping party.

 

[mcampo2501]

Doug, Have you seen this program? It's unbelievable. I can't grasp why any dealer would actually want to be a part of this. Has anyone else on here used CarWoo successfully? Maybe I'm crazy, but it seems like the old bridge to nowhere...

 

[Alex Magnan]

Mike, I appreciate the feedback. Sounds like something I shouldn't look any further into.

 

[ddavis]

A few years back, I would get emails where the customer stated that they were going to get bids from 5 or 6 dealerships and then send the lowest bid back to the same group of dealerships. The dealership that beat that one would get the business. It was a form letter. I got some interesting emails back when I wouldn't play. I stopped getting them. I guess I'm not the only one that felt that way.

Mike, that is the first time I have heard of carwoo. I don't understand why dealeships are so weak and desperate to sell a car. Actually, that isn't selling anything.

 

[Scott Salzman]

Alex,

Here's my experience with Carwoo. I work for a high volume Toyota Dealer in the NYC Metro Area (300+ units). I have 5 other Toyota Dealerships within 15 miles from me. Carwoo's site is so accurate, unlike a lot of other sites out there and Carwoo interviews every customer and scrubs the leads before you can even see the lead. Is it a "bidding war"? Kind of, but aren't most internet customers shopping other dealers in your area for prices. At least this way I can see what my competition is offering and try to be as competitive as possible. I earn an average of 5-10 sales a month here in my area from Carwoo customers. The customer feedback of the site is great and I usually will get at least one referral per customer sold. At the end of the day, I put a few extra cars over the curb and will gain market share from within and outside my PMA. I read the comments and I have one thing to say. To be a high volume dealer, it’s all about numbers. The more people you see the more cars you sell. If I have to undercut a dealer by a few hundred to make a sale, I do it and I try to make that transaction as smooth and fast flowing as possible. The average Carwoo customer is in and out within an hour (because everything is pre-arranged), and my time is spent on ups walking through my door. The price paid for Carwoo is worth it. This is coming for a a dealer which Carwoo really hasn't placed itself in my market yet fully, but I take full advantage of it every chance I can.

 

[TuneyFish]

"Tommy co-founded CarWoo! so he wouldn't have to haggle with dealerships when it came time to buy his 7th car in as many years."

From the FAQ...
Why would dealers work with you? Doesn’t this hurt them?

The internet has completely changed the way dealers have to operate. Internet buyers are savvy. They do their research. They shop multiple dealerships but they don’t go into the stores. Dealers are handicapped because they don’t know what the buyer knows.

The current third party lead system just exacerbates the issues facing dealers. Dealers pay for these leads knowing that they are being multi-sold and also knowing that, for the most part, the leads do not convert to buyers. It is extremely frustrating for dealers and makes it hard for them to do their best by the buyer, even though they do want to.

CarWoo! provides highly qualified buyers who buy cars 80% of the time, as opposed to 3rd party leads that close 2% - 5% of the time

CarWoo! makes entire process completely transparent, so dealers know what buyers know and want. The service is very easy and intuitive to use.

On top of all that, the basic service is free to dealers.


It sounds like they are capitalizing on the dealers for not building relationships with customers, investing in their brand and delivering great customer service.

 

[nevarlawae]

Is the only difference between this and truecar is that the customer pays? Lol.

I would love to see the dealer interface of this -- if somebody has one. Please PM it to me. I'm curious if this actually pulls from you live inventory or if it will just quote a price based off a "less than invoice" price based off all new model like true car does.

with that said. Seems like it could have an equal amour of negatives and positives. Negative being the fact you can easily become a citizen of lowball city. Positive is the fact that this has gotta be the easiest sell in the world. I mean, Christ, he customer paid to get information.