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Nationwide Bank partners with TrueCar for "Single Stop"

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#11
JoePistell said:
My instincts tell me that the moment TrueCar pulls it's TV ad spending, it's traffic falls dramatically.
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I agree. Going on what you've said before about their financials and after looking into it, I really don't think they have much room to grow profit from where they are right now. If they don't get over that hump with TV, they won't be around in 5-10 years.
 
#12
@JoePistell

Probably true. I read an article a while ago about LifeLock (credit monitoring service) where their biggest problem was to balance TV expenditures VS sign ups.

Is almost like a service that is not really need it but that people use if you constantly put it in front of them so they use it because it is perceived by them as a free help.
 
#13
I'm seeing this from both ends. I work part time F&I and manage our internet department. We do alot of business with USAA because our store is located next to the Naval War College . And we're losing some finance opportunities because customers are following the process from getting a price to securing financing. Maybe USAA is bad example because they have a loyal customer base. But they are very competitive with rates just like Navy Fed is. Although Navy Fed isn't connected with TrueCar.....yet.

Those of you using TrueCar at your stores, how are you overcoming this obstacle with the financing side?

My fear is banks like Wells and some of the other big boys will partner up as well. Thoughts anyone?
 
#14
My fear is banks like Wells and some of the other big boys will partner up as well. Thoughts anyone?
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I would expect to see this trend to continue. I think there's a lot of leverage that can be lost by having Cars.com, AutoTrader, etc. bringing a full service buying process to the market as I think it is a real possibility.

My thoughts are that dealers need to offer more paths to the sale (retail, online, wholesale, corporate, etc). I would expect to do more business online rather than lead-gen like it is now. This includes integrating my lenders, insurance products, warranties and other financial products, etc into my web property. This doesn't mean retail is dead. My parents won't ever buy a car online. But a lot of people including myself would prefer to use this channel. Then there's corporate and "wholesale" type programs that can be offered that I think will increase sales volume as well. The goal of this is to do this before somebody else does. There's a lot of leverage that I think can be lost here so I do think this is pretty important and I would be absolutely shocked if a vendor like Dealer.com was not already working on this. If I'm a dealer this is the solution I'd be shopping for.
 
#16
Chris can you elaborate on this? Do you mean having Cars, AT, etc. while also having TC will lose leverage?
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No, I think having TrueCar (in it's current form) as a sales partner is a good thing. They are servicing a particular buyer and they don't make up a large percentage of a dealer's sales so it's a trade off to move vehicles but you sacrifice gross. My concern is as this form of car buying increases, third party services like TrueCar, Cars.com, AutoTrader, etc. will start doing the sales floor's job and dealers will lose a lot of leverage in the process. It might be a long-shot but I think it's possible in the next 5-10 years.
 
#17
Dealers are their own worst enemy. If they don't stop feeding this monster, it will end up consuming them. And they will only have themselves to blame. Its one thing for a dealer to spend money to tell consumers, "Don't overpay." But for dealers to spend money to support a 3rd party to say that, with the result being a general demonization of their own kind, it a special kind of stupid.
 
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#18
I've said it hundreds of times, the day will come when dealers will regret ever letting TC exist. They continue to grow and have made some really smart moves that will only help expand their footprint at the expense of dealers. Only way to stop them at this point is for manufacturers to adopt a one price selling strategy. TC's growth supports a one price strategy, so why not give the GP what they want. Otherwise the next economic downturn is going to be brutal for some.

http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-truecar-qa-20150702-story.html
 
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#19
ruggles said:
Dealers are their own worst enemy. If they don't stop feeding this monster, it will end up consuming them. And they will only have themselves to blame. Its one thing for a dealer to spend money to tell consumers, "Don't overpay." But for dealers to spend money to support a 3rd party to say that, with the result being a general demonization of their own kind, it a special kind of stupid.
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WOW! We actually agree on something Ruggles, imagine that!
 
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