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CarWoo is shutting down

carwoo.com

41–50 of 120 posts

Re: CarWoo is shutting down

#41
post #24

The TrueCar homepage ( http://www.truecar.com/ ) looks like one of those generic 404/squatter page.

Oh wow, I wonder when and why they started using this design? If I saw this without already knowing about TrueCar I would have immediately closed the tab.

Re: CarWoo is shutting down

#43
post #23

How is TrueCar's model different from what CarWoo was doing?

TrueCar has a price that they evaluate the car at, and they give you a slip of paper that you can go into any TrueCar dealership and buy that car from them at.

With this method, sometimes the car dealership sells a car for lower than they were hoping with the local market, and sometimes they make a killing off the customer.

CarWoo, on the other hand, asks each dealer individually what they want to sell the car at, and then forwards that price to the user.

Re: CarWoo is shutting down

#45
post #24

The TrueCar homepage ( http://www.truecar.com/ ) looks like one of those generic 404/squatter page.

I had assumed they typo'd their link and I had clicked through to a squatter, and closed the tab. Only after seeing your comment did I realise it was correct and go back and look.

Re: CarWoo is shutting down

#47

Cars are commodities, and should not be sold by salesman on commission. I'm not buying another car until mine falls apart.

One of the world's most complex engineering challenges, filled with tens of thousands of highly engineered parts and tens of millions of lines of code, with per unit pricing ranging from $10k to $100k+, is a "commodity"? The term "commodity" typically refers to products that feature little to no differentiation between each other. It means you could largely "throw a dart" to pick one, and you'd be no better or worse…

the same model car across different dealerships is a commodity. that's why carwoo was great, it helps you run a commodity auction to get the best price.

Re: CarWoo is shutting down

#48
post #2

I was totally going to use them to buy a car next month! Are there any good alternatives? I can't handle anymore haggling and tricks.

I've used carbargains in the past and it worked very well. The service is almost identical to CarWoo's but they have been around longer. http://www.checkbook.org/auto/carbarg.cfm

Re: CarWoo is shutting down

#50
post #10

Am I the only one that doesn't mind the car-buying process? All it takes is the fortitude to sit through a litany of maneuvers trying to convince you to agree on a price - when you've got zero obligation to consent. Sure - it takes time, which is a scare commodity for many - but for the amount of money generally being spent, I've got no problem pushing a salesperson to get the price to where I want it.

I personally love the car-buying process. I've bought all my cars (both new and used) the exact same way:

* pre-select make, model, color, options, etc (this way I'm comparing apples to apples)

* find various examples meeting my criteria on the market from different dealers/private sellers

* get initial offers from all the dealers

* get financing in-place - either cash or an approved car loan from your bank

* Whichever dealer has the lowest price, call the rest and say "dealer X has beaten your price by $Y. I have cash in-hand and I'm ready to buy today. Can you go lower?"

* Depending on the answer, either cross that dealer off your list or update all the other dealers with the 'new' lowest price.

* Rinse and repeat until nobody goes any lower, then go buy your car.

Dealers hate that method, but it's saved me thousands of dollars with each car purchase regardless of new or used. Ignore all pleas for 'financing', 'what do you want your monthly payment to be', etc. You're going for the absolute lowest price you can wrangle. As far as time investment, outside of figuring out what make/model/options I want and securing financing from my bank (or getting cash), the 'rinse and repeat with the lowest offer' method has never taken me more than a weekend to implement.

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