I'm not partnered with TrueCar, but have looked at using their services in the past. How often does this problem arise where the customer comes in, goes on TrueCar, then comes back in to the dealership? We see a couple of those every month with GM 3rd Party Leads, but not a substantial amount. For TrueCar this can add up to be a good chunk of change, but I don't feel like it will affect the dealership's checkbook that much.
TrueCar's New Write Off Policy
- Thread starter JessicaRuth
- Start date
Sad to report, but it abundantly clear that TrueCar (exactly like last time they were confronted about their perceived unfair business practices) is sticking to their preferred belief system that they are right and dealers are wrong. It appears TrueCar has NO intention of altering this policy change at all (probably not even alerting their dealer clients of this change) and hoping for the best. They are simply looking at this as a calculated risk. If they lose 10% of their business, yet it allows them to wrongly account for 15% more of a dealer sales, it is a profitable win for them.
Their tagline on their homepage is "Never Overpay", yet that is exactly what ALL of their dealer clients will be doing (with no right to question it) if this policy goes into effect as currently written. In the end, the only vote a dealer can make is with their checkbook. When enough clients drop off, and TrueCar once again learns the error of their ways, I hope they put an end to these one-sided strategies, as they are not for the good of the industry.
For a company that prides itself on transparency with the customer, this write-off policy is about the most hypocritical course of action I've ever witnessed.
Their tagline on their homepage is "Never Overpay", yet that is exactly what ALL of their dealer clients will be doing (with no right to question it) if this policy goes into effect as currently written. In the end, the only vote a dealer can make is with their checkbook. When enough clients drop off, and TrueCar once again learns the error of their ways, I hope they put an end to these one-sided strategies, as they are not for the good of the industry.
For a company that prides itself on transparency with the customer, this write-off policy is about the most hypocritical course of action I've ever witnessed.
My Truecar rep finally called me back. I'm guessing he's been bombarded with dealers freaking out. I find it hilarious how they stick to their guns that because they think they are not a lead gen company that they can charge dealers for whatever they want. Its like talking to a person that truly believes that the blue sky is actually red. I requested our dealerships be on a flat fee model (like Costco) and his response was that this model doesn't exist and any dealer on it was grandfathered in. Speaking of Costco, I asked the rep how he thought they were better than Costco since customers go through USAA or Costco for upfront discounted pricing and membership pricing protection. His response was, well USAA closes better than Costco right? I said, NOPE! Costco is double the closing rate of USAA.
The only way dealers can get them to change their policy is to vote with our dollars. Our group will be doing that. Hopefully you will get your dealerships to do the same thing. They lost all the legal battle and made changes across the nation. They can lose this battle too if we stand together.
The only way dealers can get them to change their policy is to vote with our dollars. Our group will be doing that. Hopefully you will get your dealerships to do the same thing. They lost all the legal battle and made changes across the nation. They can lose this battle too if we stand together.
I asked for them to send my a copy, and just got the response "We'll have your rep call you." They must be getting a bunch of feedback.
We had some 7 or 8 leads that we had requested credit for and after they kept telling me that we owed for them, a higher level credit account rep contacted me and he approved all but one for "goodwill" write off. He and the other rep seemed to want to be sure I understood that it was only their goodwill and that this goodwill policy would be ending at the end of August. They informed me of this a couple of weeks ago, but I think they also mentioned it a month or two back that they were going to be changing their policy.
I did let them know that we also have a "goodwill" policy. We send them checks for the valid leads.
So today I pulled the plug. We're out. Will gladly put that money where it is really paying off... Google display, adwords, & remarketing. That's where our Cars.com money went and there's no looking back with them, nor I'm sure will there be with Truecars.
I did let them know that we also have a "goodwill" policy. We send them checks for the valid leads.
So today I pulled the plug. We're out. Will gladly put that money where it is really paying off... Google display, adwords, & remarketing. That's where our Cars.com money went and there's no looking back with them, nor I'm sure will there be with Truecars.
Joe,
TrueCar has never had a formal “write-off” policy so unfortunately this resulted in different outcomes for different dealers who were questioning sale attribution. The clarification of a written policy is not about who is right or wrong, it is a response from our dealers asking for clear guidelines when requesting credit on sales they believe could be attributed to other sources. Our model, in the “Pay Per Sale” states gives our dealer partners the ability to receive deep-in-funnel prospective customers and only pay if they sell a car. Our dealers are on pace to sell over 500,000 vehicles through the TrueCar platform over the next year and it would be extremely challenging for our dealers and our account teams to “negotiate” every individual transaction without clear guidelines. We have and will continue to review TrueCar policies with our dealers and our Dealer Council in an effort to be fair and balanced. I agree with you that dealers should always vote with their checkbook and make sure that their return on the investment makes good financial sense. That is the basis for our model and the reason TrueCar will continue to invest in both technology and marketing to increase sales volume for our dealer partners.
TrueCar has never had a formal “write-off” policy so unfortunately this resulted in different outcomes for different dealers who were questioning sale attribution. The clarification of a written policy is not about who is right or wrong, it is a response from our dealers asking for clear guidelines when requesting credit on sales they believe could be attributed to other sources. Our model, in the “Pay Per Sale” states gives our dealer partners the ability to receive deep-in-funnel prospective customers and only pay if they sell a car. Our dealers are on pace to sell over 500,000 vehicles through the TrueCar platform over the next year and it would be extremely challenging for our dealers and our account teams to “negotiate” every individual transaction without clear guidelines. We have and will continue to review TrueCar policies with our dealers and our Dealer Council in an effort to be fair and balanced. I agree with you that dealers should always vote with their checkbook and make sure that their return on the investment makes good financial sense. That is the basis for our model and the reason TrueCar will continue to invest in both technology and marketing to increase sales volume for our dealer partners.
Here is a copy of their policy as currently written, to be effective as of September 1st.
https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=...ite-Off-Policy-Effective-September-1-2013.pdf
https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=...ite-Off-Policy-Effective-September-1-2013.pdf
Michael Timmons,
The fact that you didn't contact me back after our talk as you had promised to discuss this policy change simply shows TrueCar's unwillingness to negotiate with dealers. However, TrueCar certainly expects their customers (the dealers) to negotiate with the car shopper.
I am NOT challenging the fact that you need a Write-Off Policy. I am challenging the one as it is currently written. It is one-sided against the dealers, allows TrueCar to claim responsibility or influence on sales far longer than any traditional automotive sales cycle, and simply ignores the entire history of lead-to-dealer ROI reporting where a customer's first contact point with the dealership receives credit. The truth is, if a customer goes onto your (or one of your affiliate sites) no matter how much TrueCar would like to think of itself, that shopper is NOT "buying into" some "TrueCar way of life". We live in a world where consumers do their DUE DILIGENCE and your site is just one of many consumers visit to extract information. You are a research site and a lead generation site. Google is also a research site. You don't see Google sending invoices to dealers for thousands of dollars simply because the customer used Google during their search, do you?
TrueCar has one way out of this or, I fear, you'll lose countless more dealers than you already have this past few days. Completely revise this arrogant policy (and I even offered to help you make it more "fair", despite that executive management at TrueCar believe it to be) or convert all of your customers to a subscription-based package.
Simply put, Michael, if 98% of customers research online before buying a car, and TrueCar (and your many affiliate sites) are visited by 40% of them, as your impending policy is written, you'd be able to charge a dealer for close to 40% of their total sales (with ZERO ability for the dealer to question it.) Doesn't really sound as if you're a fair dealer partner operating in good faith.
For your own salvation, please consider revising the policy or changing your pay-per-sale model. And actually check with your Dealer Council to run this current one past them. I've spoken to one who had never seen it in its current iteration so I don't believe they "approved" anything. Moreover, as a dealer that is being flown around by a company and treated to surf-and-turf, it may be hard for them to be objective with their hosts. For that reason, open up the discussion of a policy revision to a greater number of dealers.
So put a policy into place, by all means, but make it less suffocating to dealers and more in line with normal write-off expectations. OR, go to a subscription-based package nationwide. OR keep losing countless dealer clients as you already have. The choice is TrueCar's. After our brief talk, it sounded as if you recognized the fly in the ointment of your policy change. However, based on TrueCar's actions since that conversation, it seems abundantly clear you're back to your customary ways of disregarding your dealer clients' best interests and only serving your own. I hope that ends now.
The fact that you didn't contact me back after our talk as you had promised to discuss this policy change simply shows TrueCar's unwillingness to negotiate with dealers. However, TrueCar certainly expects their customers (the dealers) to negotiate with the car shopper.
I am NOT challenging the fact that you need a Write-Off Policy. I am challenging the one as it is currently written. It is one-sided against the dealers, allows TrueCar to claim responsibility or influence on sales far longer than any traditional automotive sales cycle, and simply ignores the entire history of lead-to-dealer ROI reporting where a customer's first contact point with the dealership receives credit. The truth is, if a customer goes onto your (or one of your affiliate sites) no matter how much TrueCar would like to think of itself, that shopper is NOT "buying into" some "TrueCar way of life". We live in a world where consumers do their DUE DILIGENCE and your site is just one of many consumers visit to extract information. You are a research site and a lead generation site. Google is also a research site. You don't see Google sending invoices to dealers for thousands of dollars simply because the customer used Google during their search, do you?
TrueCar has one way out of this or, I fear, you'll lose countless more dealers than you already have this past few days. Completely revise this arrogant policy (and I even offered to help you make it more "fair", despite that executive management at TrueCar believe it to be) or convert all of your customers to a subscription-based package.
Simply put, Michael, if 98% of customers research online before buying a car, and TrueCar (and your many affiliate sites) are visited by 40% of them, as your impending policy is written, you'd be able to charge a dealer for close to 40% of their total sales (with ZERO ability for the dealer to question it.) Doesn't really sound as if you're a fair dealer partner operating in good faith.
For your own salvation, please consider revising the policy or changing your pay-per-sale model. And actually check with your Dealer Council to run this current one past them. I've spoken to one who had never seen it in its current iteration so I don't believe they "approved" anything. Moreover, as a dealer that is being flown around by a company and treated to surf-and-turf, it may be hard for them to be objective with their hosts. For that reason, open up the discussion of a policy revision to a greater number of dealers.
So put a policy into place, by all means, but make it less suffocating to dealers and more in line with normal write-off expectations. OR, go to a subscription-based package nationwide. OR keep losing countless dealer clients as you already have. The choice is TrueCar's. After our brief talk, it sounded as if you recognized the fly in the ointment of your policy change. However, based on TrueCar's actions since that conversation, it seems abundantly clear you're back to your customary ways of disregarding your dealer clients' best interests and only serving your own. I hope that ends now.
I am in a subscription based state. So "technically" speaking, this does not affect me. It "just" raises my bill. But, it is so much more than that. It is about the principle behind it. TrueCar has become a great tool because of it's partners. However, the notion that every customer that comes to the site (with no time limit) is coming because of TrueCar's philosophy is reaching (in my opinion).
Do you know what would happen if an Internet Manager/Director told his DP that because of all their efforts in reputation management, marketing, pricing, value/content building... every lead that ever came in should be consituted an internet sale? They would get laughed at!!!
"Never overpay"? That has got to be a joke! I am consistently disappointed by vendors who choose not to be true partners. Will we butt heads because of disagreements... sure... but shouldn't we be on the same team?
Your business model is yours alone and no one can stand in the way of what you choose that to be. But if "Never Overpay" is your motto... Then shouldn't the customers you charge fall under that same policy? I understand you've never had a policy. But when you've heard from dealers of their dismay or even their cancellations... it is time to take a look at that incredibly unfair policy?
I signed up earlier this year after quite a bit of research and feeling like the page has been turned and that TrueCar was starting to "get it". This new side was so thought out and refreshing, I thought we were heading to a great change in the way we buy/sell cars. I am so incredibly disappointed. WE are your customers. If you are only calling the people who purchase the cars your customers... bill THEM the 399... everytime... and see what happens.
Every customer I spoke to about this was disappointed that they claim to save them money... but make 400 that could have been saved on the vehicle.
Seems like a lot of disappointed people and a company too stubborn to put their dealers first. Just plain disappointing.
Do you know what would happen if an Internet Manager/Director told his DP that because of all their efforts in reputation management, marketing, pricing, value/content building... every lead that ever came in should be consituted an internet sale? They would get laughed at!!!
"Never overpay"? That has got to be a joke! I am consistently disappointed by vendors who choose not to be true partners. Will we butt heads because of disagreements... sure... but shouldn't we be on the same team?
Your business model is yours alone and no one can stand in the way of what you choose that to be. But if "Never Overpay" is your motto... Then shouldn't the customers you charge fall under that same policy? I understand you've never had a policy. But when you've heard from dealers of their dismay or even their cancellations... it is time to take a look at that incredibly unfair policy?
I signed up earlier this year after quite a bit of research and feeling like the page has been turned and that TrueCar was starting to "get it". This new side was so thought out and refreshing, I thought we were heading to a great change in the way we buy/sell cars. I am so incredibly disappointed. WE are your customers. If you are only calling the people who purchase the cars your customers... bill THEM the 399... everytime... and see what happens.
Every customer I spoke to about this was disappointed that they claim to save them money... but make 400 that could have been saved on the vehicle.
Seems like a lot of disappointed people and a company too stubborn to put their dealers first. Just plain disappointing.
