Want to know which buyers are getting a great deal--and, who's getting stiffed? More than ever, now you can.
Move over Kelly Blue Book: On January 1st, Yahoo Autos will show consumers and retailers exactly how much new and used cars are selling for in your area. Powering the new Yahoo Autos is transparency advocate, TrueCar, which publicizes the price data for over 90% of new and used cars. "We feel that TrueCar has created a compelling service that helps remove much of the guesswork for in-market consumers," Brandon Huff, Vice President of Yahoo! Commerce, tells Fast Company.
The new information allows consumers to know if they're getting a good deal, relative to other buyers in the area. "When customers can be in control of the process and be empowered with up-front, no-haggle, competitive market-based pricing, they have a dramatically better retail experience," says Scott Painter, CEO of TrueCar, in an email to us. His company recently inked a $200 million funding round. Now with Yahoo Autos, TrueCar's transparency database is inching its way into competing with established competitors, such as Kelly Blue Book.
TrueCar prides itself on revealing the previously unknown gap between the highest and lowest car prices. The average variation in car sales price is an astounding 23.2%, according to Painter. On a $20,000 car, that's plus or minus $2,506, which means the most susceptible consumers are paying about $5,000 more than the savviest buyers.
Painter contends that price concealing is actually bad for retailers as well as consumers. Most consumers, he says, are unaware that sellers only make $640 in front-end gross on the average car sale and, therefore, would be willing to negotiate a price 300 to 400 percent higher. According to a commissioned survey by Synovate [PDF], 55% of respondents wrongly believe that most dealers make a 10% profit on a sale. Follow-up questions show that they would be willing to negotiate a price that, on average, give...
[Source: Fast Company]
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