10% profit... Wouldn't that be nice

[crowe]

State DMVs collect data from car sales & sell the data to 3rd parties. Selling prices are reported for sale tax collection.

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by crowe

State DMVs collect data from car sales & sell the data to 3rd parties. Selling prices are reported for sale tax collection.

That's an interesting thought but I wonder it the State DMVs provide enough information to account for a customer's trade vehicle and whether they purchased accessories, service contracts, etc.

Speaking of trade vehicles, how would TrueCar be able to know if a dealer over-allowed (or under-allowed) on a trade to make a deal?

Call me a skeptic, but I have a hard time believing that TrueCar has detailed knowledge of the transaction price for 43% of the vehicles sold in the country. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd sure be interested to know where they get their data. (It couldn't be the DMS providers, could it...?)

[FixedOpsGuy]

Originally Posted by XDCX

Call me a skeptic, but I have a hard time believing that TrueCar has detailed knowledge of the transaction price for 43% of the vehicles sold in the country. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd sure be interested to know where they get their data. (It couldn't be the DMS providers, could it...?)

If I had to guess, check the fine print from the 3rd party agents submitting the apps to the banks for us...like Dealertrack...etc..etc. They may not be able to disclose the applicant's private info, but all general info on sales volume is most likely reported.

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by FixedOpsGuy

If I had to guess, check the fine print from the 3rd party agents submitting the apps to the banks for us...like Dealertrack...etc..etc. They may not be able to disclose the applicant's private info, but all general info on sales volume is most likely reported.

Wow, that explanation would make a lot of sense.

Granted, it's just speculation but it would fit with the 43% statistic and it's the only solution we've discussed so far that would provide TrueCar with access to data for all 50 states.

[XDCX]

I did some digging and found a press release where TrueCar identifies their data sources. Here's an excerpt from their press release:

About TrueCar Data

TrueCar obtains data directly from numerous sources including automotive dealers, technology companies, data aggregators, and analytics companies within the automotive space. We also acquire vehicle configuration data, customer and dealer incentives data, financing and loan data, vehicle registration and insurance data, and much, much more. TrueCar is insatiable about data with our goal to find 100 percent of all purchase transactions, even if that means finding the same transaction multiple times from multiple sources within the car-buying ecosystem. Our data is among the most timely and comprehensive in the industry. TrueCar believes the greater our informational accuracy, the greater benefit we provide to both dealers and consumers.

Here's a link to the press release - click here

I still think there's more to the story - who are these "technology companies, data aggregators and analytics companies" that have access to 43% of the retail automotive transactions conducted in the U.S.?

I also think it's interesting that TrueCar's goal is to gain access to 100% of the retail purchase transactions in the U.S. How is TrueCar going to make money? Is their business model solely based on dealer fees or do they have other plans to generate revenue?