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Nationwide Bank partners with TrueCar for "Single Stop"

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#22
Jerry Thibeau said:
WOW! We actually agree on something Ruggles, imagine that!
Click to expand...

Yes, fancy that. You might be surprised.

RE: "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."

OEMs have tried lamely to adopt a One Price strategy, but the FTC stands in the way... a small detail. One Price "works" for awhile until competitors learn how to sell against it. As a dealer I would be thrilled to have my competitors go One Price. In fact, I might even offer to pay their Mark Rykess fee for them.

Do you think consumers would be happy if every car had to be sold at MSRP? We already sell new vehicles for "break even" and consumers aren't happy with that. Some have to pay too much so some can pay too little. That's what the FTC wants. It seems the FTC and the CFPB have a sticking point they haven't worked out.
 
#24
JoePistell said:
IMO, TrueCar's biz model has a loud bark, but a weak bite. it's built on one 'user story': "I know the exact yr/make/model/trim and a price comparison service will help me decide which dealership to visit". Price comparison services have been around for years and haven't made a dent in our space.
Click to expand...

And on that note... TrueCar missed it's financial goals this Q:
http://www.autonews.com/article/201...2/truecar-calls-second-quarter-a-wake-up-call

There is a MOUNTAIN of insights from the TrueCar experiment.

Problem:
"Revenues and profits will fall short essentially because fewer consumers bought cars through TrueCar in the second quarter."​

Why?:
“We had a lot of prospects this quarter... We had enough to hit our numbers, we believe; we just didn’t close enough."​

What's wrong?
"we have to invest more in the [TrueCar] experience to turn those prospects into unit sales.”​

Ouch. The TrueCar model is weaker than expected. No PR can fix this. This maybe Scott Painter's greatest test ever.
 
#25
Been watching TrueCar's stock price (TRUE) since it's train wreck this year. It's at $5.84, I had expected it to fall further.

Is this a buying opportunity (like when Martha Stewart went to jail ;-)? Or is this a "calm before the storm" (like buying Kodak because it had a zillion patents on digital photography)?

On the up side, TRUE's concept is a winner with car shoppers.
On the down side, TRUE's biz model has failed.


My $0.02
Uncle Joe Rule #88: "Just because it's a good idea doesn't mean it'll work"

TRUE's concept (a mobile shopping tool used at the dealership) is perfectly aligned with the shoppers workflow. TRUE's JD Power shopper score is best of breed. Google loves the brand (it scores well for seo). Everything is right, except, shoppers only want to use it anonymously as a shopping tool. The TRUE biz model assumed the shopper would gladly participate with revenue generating activity... they were wrong.

What's coming?
Will TRUE's remaining leadership find some brave soul to become the new CEO? This person has to be smart enough to keep TRUE's place in the shopper's workflow, but, find some new way to make money from it.

TRUE reports Nov 5th. This will be very interesting. I'd bet investors will be hot as hell and pushing for a buyout or anyway to stop the bleeding.
 
#26
Expect TRUE to get a bounce in the next few days. They will report better than expected results, probably through accounting manipulation, and perhaps announce a new CEO to replace Scott Painter. I wouldn't hold the stock long. I'm putting my money where my mouth is. I don't have a long term positive view. If you spend time on social media tracking consumer sentiment on TrueCar, it is not trending well for them. Word is out that buying a TC vehicle adds to $300. to the dealer's cost. For some reason, many consumers think TC should have divulged that prominently since they claim transparency. In conference calls with dealers we hear conflicting stories. Some dealers swear by TC but most are ambivalent.
 
#27
JoePistell said:
Been watching TrueCar's stock price (TRUE) since it's train wreck this year. It's at $5.84, I had expected it to fall further.

Is this a buying opportunity (like when Martha Stewart went to jail ;-)? Or is this a "calm before the storm" (like buying Kodak because it had a zillion patents on digital photography)?

On the up side, TRUE's concept is a winner with car shoppers.
On the down side, TRUE's biz model has failed.


My $0.02
Uncle Joe Rule #88: "Just because it's a good idea doesn't mean it'll work"

TRUE's concept (a mobile shopping tool used at the dealership) is perfectly aligned with the shoppers workflow. TRUE's JD Power shopper score is best of breed. Google loves the brand (it scores well for seo). Everything is right, except, shoppers only want to use it anonymously as a shopping tool. The TRUE biz model assumed the shopper would gladly participate with revenue generating activity... they were wrong.

What's coming?
Will TRUE's remaining leadership find some brave soul to become the new CEO? This person has to be smart enough to keep TRUE's place in the shopper's workflow, but, find some new way to make money from it.

TRUE reports Nov 5th. This will be very interesting. I'd bet investors will be hot as hell and pushing for a buyout or anyway to stop the bleeding.
Click to expand...

Chip Kelly looks to be moving $TRUE past Scott Painter's pot holes. I noticed no negative feedback from NADA.

TrueCar's investors have been thru hell, yet, the stock hasn't cratered. I'm not giving investment advice, but, the worst may have past:
upload_2016-4-11_11-24-48.png

TrueCar reports financials on May 5th.

ref: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...tattered-links-to-dealers?cmpid=yhoo.headline
 
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#28
I've been happy to see that they've been working to repair their image and relationship with dealers. https://dealerportal.truecar.com/pledge

They've moved away from their focus on price. When I customer goes through the process they're told the 3 closest dealers to them then shown about 8-10 vehicles that match what they're looking for. A price is listed, but the focus is on the vehicle and how closely they match what the user built.

In addition, they've relaxed their return policy. If a customer pulls up TrueCar in our showroom and we had them logged in our CRM, we can get credit again.

You'll also see that they've stopped disclosing dealer cash to the customer. It's up to the dealer to put that in their pricing.

Also they've stopped masking the customer's email address. For our group, that's 427 people last month I can market to until they click that unsubscribe button.

I haven't been the biggest TrueCar fan, in fact at a previous dealer I built content on our site to discourage customers' use of it. At this group however, we see a significant positive ROI and all the changes are a step in the right direction. I'm not going to dare give investment advice either, but I can say that we're happier with them for what that's worth.
 
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#29
News ICYMI: "AutoNation to Give TrueCar Services Another Chance.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/autonat...rvices-another-chance-1461951114?mod=yahoo_hs


+27% in 2 weeks ;-)

today:
upload_2016-4-29_14-3-21.png

Before:
JoePistell said:
upload_2016-4-11_11-24-48-png.2848
Click to expand...
 
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