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发帖数: 7455 | 1 上午6:29（4 小时前）网上帮着卖车，TrueCar网引发业内争议从 译言-每日精品译文
推荐 作者：yeeyanjason译者 yeeyanjason
A price-comparison website causes ructions in the motor trade
近日，一家提供汽车售价比较服务的网站引发了汽车业内的争议。
AMERICANS looking for a new car nowadays often use online price-comparison
sites such as AutoTrader, Edmunds and eBay to find the best deal. Most such
sites charge dealers a small fee for passing on sales leads from shoppers
who have submitted their details. TrueCar, a relative newcomer, does things
differently. It charges dealers $300, but only when its introduction of a
customer results in a sale, and it makes its dealers guarantee to honour
their quotes, no excuses.
如今，想买新车的美国人通常会去一些提供价格参考以便比较的网站看看，比如
AutoTrader, Edmunds以及eBay，来找到最低的价格。大多数此类网站通过把顾客提供
的细节信息传递给经销商并以此向经销商收取少量费用。而一个新网站TrueCar，采取
了一种不同的商业模式。该网站把顾客介绍给商家，但只有最终交易达成，才会收取
300美金的费用，并且要求经销商无条件满足所给出的报价。
TrueCar taps into data from state vehicle-registration offices, car-loan
providers and other sources to compile what it says are the most accurate
figures available for what motorists pay for the same car locally. This can
be several hundred dollars less than the sticker price, and is often below
“invoice”—the price that, according to the paperwork sent by the carmaker
, represents the wholesale price the dealer paid. In fact dealers receive
various rebates from carmakers, and make money from such things as loans and
service contracts, so a modest profit is still possible.
TrueCar声称提供的是当地购车者能得到的最准确的报价信息，其数据来源于各个州的
车辆注册办公室，购车贷款提供商及其他机构。其报价可能比经销商店内标价签价格低
上几百美元，经常会出现比发票价格低的情况。而发票价格就是经销商向厂家拿货的批
发价。事实上经销商还会从厂家那里得到多种返利，也可以通过购车贷款和服务合同中
取得收益，所以他们还是可以赚到客观的利润。
But such heavy discounting alarms carmakers. Honda’s American arm recently
told dealers it would cut off their marketing allowances—which can be worth
hundreds of dollars for each car sold—if they did not stop offering sub-
invoice prices on TrueCar and other sites. Honda insists dealers can sell at
whatever price they wish, but it will not pay them to market its products
as “cheap” or “low-end” cars. It also suggests that some dealers use
such sites to “bait-and-switch”, offering tantalisingly cheap cars they do
not have, to reel in suckers, a practice many states ban.
不过TrueCar网上的折扣率还是引起了厂家的高度关注。本田公司的美国分公司日前就
警告其经销商，如果他们继续在TrueCar和其他站点提供低于发票价的报价的话，将停
止向其提供高达每车数百美元的营销补贴。本田表示，他们支持经销商自主价格进行销
售，但是如果经销商把本田的车当做“廉价”或“低端”产品来销售，他们是不会付钱
支持的。本田同时表示，一些经销商玩的是很多州都禁止的诱饵调包手法，即用超低价
格把顾客吸引进来，但却没货。
TrueCar insists that the contracts it makes dealers sign commit them to
deliver the cars they promise at the price quoted. David Wilson, who
recently told the 16 dealerships he owns in California to stop using TrueCar
, says he has reason to share Honda’s scepticism: he plays back to The
Economist a voicemail from a rival dealer who had quoted him an attractive
price via TrueCar on a new Lexus, calling to say that they did not have it
in stock but could try to find one for him. TrueCar says there had been no
hiding of the fact that the model concerned might no longer be available,
and thus no question of “bait-and-switch”; that this was a one-off case
and that TrueCar has had few complaints so far. But it is awkward that a
critic had so little trouble catching a dealer quoting for a car it did not
have.
TrueCar坚称，其与经销商签订的协议要求他们必须满足在网站上允诺的售价。大卫·
威尔逊是加州16家营销店的店主，他最近决定让自己的店全部停止使用TrueCar网，他
也认为本田的疑虑很有道理。他向Economist播放了自己收到的一封竞争对手的语音邮
件广告，向其推销一款雷克萨斯车，价格十分诱人，但是又说目前没有库存，不过可以
帮他去调剂。TrueCar表示，市面上基本可以确定该款车不会再有货了。所以，毫无疑
问，这是一次“诱饵调包”。这只是一个案例，目前TrueCar还没有收到多少客诉。但
是一个批评者这么容易就抓到一次这样的案例还是会让人觉得有些难堪。
Another big chain of dealers, Group 1, has also told its members not to use
TrueCar, saying it had privacy worries over the website’s requirement that
it have access to showrooms’ computer systems so as to verify sales. Scott
Painter, TrueCar’s founder, says that so far such publicity has only drawn
dealers’ attention to the attractions of using the website. All the site is
doing, Mr Painter argues, is making more open what is already going on. He
says his data show that 23% of all the Hondas sold via TrueCar are below
invoice price, only a little above the 22% sold below invoice for all Hondas
in America. Mr Painter says his website is proving so successful at
shifting metal that Honda, and the doubting dealers, will eventually relent:
“The power of the market will change their mind.”
由于担心隐私方面的问题，另一家大型经销连锁Group 1也让其成员不要使用TrueCar，
因为该网站为了能够验证销售情况，要求接入店面展厅的电脑数据。TrueCar的创始人
Scott Painter认为，最近的这些关注仅仅是让经销商更加留意其网站的吸引力。他认
为，自己的网站在做的只不过是让本来的事实更加公开罢了。他的网站数据显示，通过
TrueCar购买的本田车中23%是低于发票价格的。而市面上所有本田车中，也有22%的车
是低于发票价出售的，也就是说并没有高出多少。Painter还说，他的网站在汽车交易
中取得的成功将让本田以及持怀疑态度的经销商最终妥协：“市场的力量将改变他们的
观念。”
However, several states’ regulators are looking into whether the website
breaches their laws. Some states specifically ban “bird-dogging”—taking
commission for introducing a sale. Some also ban using the word “invoice”
in car ads, regarding it as potentially misleading. Colorado’s regulator
has warned dealers there that they will be held responsible for any rule-
breaking in their TrueCar quotes. TrueCar says it will shortly make changes
to its website to satisfy the regulators’ concerns.
然而，许多州的监管部门都在审查这家网站是否有违法的地方。一些州明令禁止“揽客
行为”——介绍成交后收取佣金。一些州还会禁止在汽车销售广告中使用“发票”字样
，以防误导顾客。科罗拉多州的监管部门警告当地的经销商称，他们将要对TrueCar网
站引用上的任何违规行为负责。TrueCar方表示，他们将立即对网站上的相关内容作出
调整，以消除监管部门的担忧。
In September TrueCar raised $245m for expansion. On January 1st it began an
exclusive tie-up with Yahoo! to provide car-buying services. It also
provides such services for consumer groups such as the American Automobile
Association and the United Services Automobile Association. It could look
forward to a large slice of the $6 billion a year American car dealers spend
on advertising—if it can convince both regulators and dealers that it is
operating within the law.
去年九月份，TrueCar募集了2.45亿美元以图扩张。今年元旦，又与雅虎达成独家协议
，提供汽车购买服务。同时，TrueCar还为消费者组织提供这样的服务，如美国汽车联
合会以及联合服务汽车协会。该网站期待着从每年60亿美元的经销商汽车广告业务中分
一杯羹，如果他们能使监管部门和经销商确信网站运作模式完全合法的话。 | l*********0
发帖数: 2508 | 2 It charges dealers $300, but only when its introduction of a
customer results in a sale
这个怎么实现？很多人只是用turecar的价格作为目标或者参考，即使把那个
certificate打出来去了dealer并按照约定的价格买了车，truecar又是怎么知道的呢？ | s*******r
发帖数: 2697 | 3 Another big chain of dealers, Group 1, has also told its members not to use
TrueCar, saying it had privacy worries over the website’s requirement that
it have access to showrooms’ computer systems so as to verify sales.
直接连入dealer数据库验证？
【在 l*********0 的大作中提到】
: It charges dealers $300, but only when its introduction of a
: customer results in a sale
: 这个怎么实现？很多人只是用turecar的价格作为目标或者参考，即使把那个
: certificate打出来去了dealer并按照约定的价格买了车，truecar又是怎么知道的呢？
| n***p
发帖数: 7668 | 4 怎么验证？
use
that
【在 s*******r 的大作中提到】
: Another big chain of dealers, Group 1, has also told its members not to use
: TrueCar, saying it had privacy worries over the website’s requirement that
: it have access to showrooms’ computer systems so as to verify sales.
: 直接连入dealer数据库验证？
| t******6
发帖数: 9093 | | s*****e
发帖数: 128 | 6 我就是用的truecar，它的价格比其他网站准/低。 | n******r
发帖数: 13312 | 7 ....切， 他们不爱便宜卖，自然有其他人卖。。。。谁愿意让人轻易赚几千？都是血
汗钱.... | k***n
发帖数: 1682 | 8 turecar 上面提供的是OTD PRICE吗？ | o******n
发帖数: 94 | 9 骗人的挺多的，昨天刚试过，答应的好好的价格，后来我联系他们又告诉我们搞不到这
么便宜的。。。。自相矛盾 |
|
