true car rocks.......just picked up a silverado at 1k under dealer cost. didn't even invlve true car and made some calls myself seeing who wouldk match the price....you internet fellt guys hate me....LOL
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Edmunds TMV vs TrueCar - Dealers, wake up!
- Thread starter Jeff Kershner
- Start date
This question has caused us to review all of our existing agreements with vendors, and it's frightening what we're finding.
I'll never just glaze over the boilerplate again. It's amazing what these guys slide under our noses, fully expecting us to do exactly what we've done...ignore it!!!!
Do I really need a 3 page contract to buy a vendors service? I do if they're asking for the keys to the palace.
Another question to ask is on KBB's "Fair Purchase Price". I've gone over our CDM agreement and they state quite clearly, "CDM agrees to use the Sales Transaction Data only to match Sales Leads with transaction/purchase activity." That's not to say somewhere else in the 4 pages of Ts and Cs that they don't have another use layed out.
So this begs the question, where is KBB getting they're numbers from? BTW, they have a Prius II listed in the middle of True Car and TMV at $24,766.00.
I'll never just glaze over the boilerplate again. It's amazing what these guys slide under our noses, fully expecting us to do exactly what we've done...ignore it!!!!
Do I really need a 3 page contract to buy a vendors service? I do if they're asking for the keys to the palace.
Another question to ask is on KBB's "Fair Purchase Price". I've gone over our CDM agreement and they state quite clearly, "CDM agrees to use the Sales Transaction Data only to match Sales Leads with transaction/purchase activity." That's not to say somewhere else in the 4 pages of Ts and Cs that they don't have another use layed out.
So this begs the question, where is KBB getting they're numbers from? BTW, they have a Prius II listed in the middle of True Car and TMV at $24,766.00.
Found this on KBB after digging further, "The Fair Purchase Price is not a number influenced by dealers or manufacturers -- it is actual transaction data representing a range of what people actually paid for specific vehicles."
They don't, however, state where they harvest this data from, but I think we know.
They don't, however, state where they harvest this data from, but I think we know.
- May 1, 2005
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- Jeff
Good for you Chris. That's the exact purpose of this article.
Dealers, double check your agreements. Audit your DMS polls bi-yearly.
If your going to allow your transactional data to be scrapped, know who's doing it and have an understanding on why and how's it's being used.
I just wish there was a way of making sure every dealer in the US was able to read this article.
So I ask everyone to please share, email and tweet it out.
Dealers, double check your agreements. Audit your DMS polls bi-yearly.
If your going to allow your transactional data to be scrapped, know who's doing it and have an understanding on why and how's it's being used.
I just wish there was a way of making sure every dealer in the US was able to read this article.
So I ask everyone to please share, email and tweet it out.
I am sitting here reading all of these responses and I can't for the life of me figure out why you would let a third party, much less a third party like Edmunds have access to your DMS. For a few internet leads. Really? How about this do marketing, prospecting, SEO, PPC if you need to and leave these parasites like edmunds, autotrader alone.
If you are a dealer go into your DMS and pull every deal from the internet and then compare that to deals from Radio, Direct Mail, referral, walk in and prospecting to see what your true ROI is.
Nice article Jeff.
If you are a dealer go into your DMS and pull every deal from the internet and then compare that to deals from Radio, Direct Mail, referral, walk in and prospecting to see what your true ROI is.
Nice article Jeff.
- May 1, 2005
- 6,005
- 1,916
- Awards
- 12
- First Name
- Jeff
- May 1, 2005
- 6,005
- 1,916
- Awards
- 12
- First Name
- Jeff
We have 7 dealerships all on Zag and we do not let them have access to our database we do have to give them a custom report of sold units so they can match up customer info but that is all they get. It is possible not to give them your transactional information and still get the leads.
As a standard practice we give NOBODY full access to our DMS it is way to risky and nobody should be allowing that to happen.
If dealers are doing that currently I urge you to STOP change the password and access to your DMS and tell Zag ( or any other provider) that your will give them a a custom report of only the sold info no transactional information and start protecting yourselves!!!
Jon Sherrell
As a standard practice we give NOBODY full access to our DMS it is way to risky and nobody should be allowing that to happen.
If dealers are doing that currently I urge you to STOP change the password and access to your DMS and tell Zag ( or any other provider) that your will give them a a custom report of only the sold info no transactional information and start protecting yourselves!!!
Jon Sherrell
The best part of this program is what's coming down the pike. Remember folks, you are only paying for the New Car part of the program at this point. Used cars and CPO's are coming so get ready to dig into your pocketbooks because Edmunds wants it all. For those of you paying $3-4k a month for multiple stores, I have a suggestion - put one store on Edmunds and with the other, spend the $3-4k running a Pay Per Click campaign and compare them side by side. Get ready to send Edmunds your cancellation. Edmunds spends $1.5million a month on PPC to steal your customers from you and sell them back to you. Wake up! Edmunds gets a lot of traffic, there's no disputing that. They also have a bounce rate that hovers around 50%, please remind them of that once in a while.
Great insight Jeff. I've been approached several times by ZAG and still try to figure out how I will be coming out ahead with their leads. Chances are, I will have a lead from that customer anyway and they would want to double dip me and increase my cost per vehicle sold. I'm with you in saying I would give my money to cars and AT before them and they won't be digging into my DMS. Why should us dealers give Edmunds and truecar any more transparancy in this business.
When you look for a boat or an RV/camper, you won't find truecost, invoice pricing, or any rebates anywhere. Guess the car business is just different.
When you look for a boat or an RV/camper, you won't find truecost, invoice pricing, or any rebates anywhere. Guess the car business is just different.
✨ AI Highlights
Jeff Kershner warns dealers that Edmunds is cutting out third-party lead resellers and going direct to dealers, arguing this is a trojan horse to capture dealership DMS transactional data through perpetual data contracts rather than a legitimate lead generation play. Dealers in the thread report poor closing ratios (under 5%) from Edmunds leads, while Kershner contends the real threat is how both Edmunds and TrueCar are acquiring and leveraging dealer data. The core takeaway is that dealers should read their contracts carefully and treat DMS data access as a critical negotiating point, not an afterthought.
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