TrueCar Unhappy With On-line Matchmaker

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Car-shopping service TrueCar allegedly is getting disenchanted with its partner Yahoo. In January, TrueCar became Yahoo’s exclusive auto-shopping partner, for a fee. Automotive News [sub] says the price was $50 million per year over three years. AN also says that TrueCar ended that deal.

Although nobody is talking, it sounds like the leads sent from Yahoo to TrueCar were not worth the hefty sum. Under a new deal, TrueCar will only pay after it has received a minimum number of high-quality leads from Yahoo, AN says. According to the report, Yahoo wants to spread out to other car-shopping services.

Says Automotive News:

“The original deal, signed late last year, said Yahoo would deliver 10 million auto shoppers to TrueCar each month. It’s not clear if Yahoo delivered that total, and statements from both companies did not address the issue.”

With some 14 million cars sold each year in the U.S., 10 million auto shoppers per month sounds a bit high. If you aim for the stars, you shoot in the air.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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