True Car CEO to speak at JD Power Automotive Roundtable

[GrantG]

Did you guys (and gals) see that Scott Painter is one of the Keynote Speakers at the 2013 JD Power's Automotive Marketing Roundtable?

Given all that has gone down in the last 45 days this is big deal.

I, for one, am curious how this will go down with thousands of dealerships in Vegas!

If you ask me, this is the perfect opportunity for Scott to make nice nice with dealers. I see no better time for him to address the flock and answer all of our questions. I am sure that many will question his ultimate motives and ask him if he is aligned with dealers or the public.

Unfortunately, I cannot attend this year but would love to be a fly on the wall.

I'd like to see what the esteemed DR crew thinks.

Whether you agree with True Car or not (or don't care) - This is the perfect time to flex your keyboard muscles and get on your soapbox.....

If you were able to ask Scott Painter, True Car CEO a question, what would it be?

Better yet, What would you like to hear from him????

I can't wait to read the responses!

 

[Alex Snyder]

Surprised nobody is piping up on this killer question from Grant. Yeah, Scott is going on stage. Hopefully someone gets him to say some things for the public record.

I would love to hear how he would advise dealers to handle things with the FTC... sounds like Jim Ziegler wants some of Scott Painter's advice

 

[GrantG]

Interesting article from Ward's, Alex. I do not profess to know the facts involved with the FTC & TrueCar but I do agree that it sounds a bit fishy.

Consumer advocacy groups have collusion at the top of the forever and will keep it there in the future. I do not suggest that boycotting TrueCar and getting your "friends" to do the same amounts to price-fixing or trying to collude. I am, however, saying that TrueCar's former business model resulted in decreased profits for subscribing dealers based on the much talked about "race to the bottom". You'd all agree, none of that is breaking news.

I am no expert on the FTC investigation and have no first hand knowledge of it but I do want to play devil's advocate.

Here's the question....Why is the FTC involved? Are they afraid that TrueCar could tip back and become a dealer advocate service and *ahem* raise the prices that customers are directed to pay? Services like TrueCar will continue to gain legitimacy in the future as long as the public is focused on price as the #1 driving factor. No crystal ball here, but image the power of being known as the #1 source to help you buy a car.

In a back office somewhere....."Mr. Painter, why can't the pendulum swing the other way? How much would it cost me to have your desires align with mine?"