TrueCar, Inc. Announces ClearBook

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- In a development that will change how everyone answers the fundamental question: "What's my car really worth?" TrueCar, Inc. is announcing ClearBook, a TrueCar.com style, facts-based presentation of what other used car owners are "asking" for their vehicle.  At any given time, there are millions of used vehicles for sale in the U.S. and nearly all of them are disparately posted somewhere on the web along with an asking price.  ClearBook will be the single source for aggregated used car listings and it will present those listings on a curve akin to TrueCar's new car price distribution curve, allowing consumers to transparently and easily understand what a similar used car is selling for based on actual market listing prices.  Knowing the high, the low and the actual distribution for what other sellers, including dealers, are trying to sell their vehicles for provides a precise understanding of the market. ClearBook is expected to launch by the end of the year at www.ClearBook.com.  

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"The problem with used vehicle pricing guides has always been subjectivity around asking price, how it is driven and its relationship to actual market demand.  'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder' doesn't even begin to measure the variances in used car pricing," said Scott Painter, CEO and Founder of TrueCar, Inc. "Aggregating and presenting actual used car listing data is the first step in measuring the market and eliminating this subjectivity and that capability simply hasn't existed until now."

Over the last 18 months TrueCar has been able to successfully and comprehensively collect, analyze and visually present objective transaction data on new cars allowing buyers and sellers to finally know what everyone else actually paid. ClearBook will now utilize this proven process and format to collect, analyze and present used car listing data in the same manner.  By aggregating used car listings in a specific area and providing clear, indisputable pricing analysis based on actual market data, ClearBook will facilitate faster sales for dealers and set more realistic expectations for buyers and sellers. 

Today, the used vehicle market is dominated by Kelley Blue Book (KBB), National Automobile Dealers Association Guide (NADA) and Black Book (Hearst) guidebooks. ClearBook will soon provide the missing piece of the used car pricing puzzle. "Once launched, the next phase on our quest to eliminate bias and subjectivity from used car valuations will be to measure the statistical difference between the asking price and the actual selling price," added Painter.

Scott Painter is also the original Founder and CEO of CarsDirect (Internet Brands: INET) which was recently acquired by an affiliate of Hellman & Friedman for $640M.  While at CarsDirect.com, Painter was widely credited with introducing up-front pricing on new cars.

About TrueCar

TrueCar is the authority in new car prices. We show car buyers and car dealers how much people actually paid for a particular car in a specific local area. With TrueCar pricing reports, both new car buyers and new car dealers can know at any time what is considered a good or great price on a new car. Consumers no longer need to walk into a dealership partially informed and fully suspicious – using TrueCar they walk in knowing the price of a fair deal. Dealers benefit by TrueCar's real-time, unbiased information about marketplace pricing, helping them price cars for increased sales, and ultimately gaining market share over other dealers. Our innovative new car pricing service is offered free of charge on our website at www.truecar.com, on our mobile site at mobile.truecar.com and via syndication of our tools and pricing data to leading automotive research sites throughout the web.

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% 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, as we are able to process many car sales within a week of the actual sales date. TrueCar believes the greater our informational accuracy, the greater benefit we provide to both dealers and consumers.

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Scott Painter

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SOURCE TrueCar, Inc.