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Business Selling cars online The TrueCar challenge
商業 網上賣車 TrueCar來勢洶洶
A price-comparison website causes ructions in the motor trade
比價網站在汽車銷售行業掀起爭議
AMERICANS looking for a new car nowadays often use online price-comparison sites such as AutoTrader, Edmunds and eBay to find the best deal.
如今的美國人若要買輛新車，通常會上一些比價網站來淘最好的價格，諸如AutoTrader, Edmunds和eBay等。
Most such sites charge dealers a small fee for passing on sales leads from shoppers who have submitted their details.
這些網站多數將注冊的經銷商提供的銷售線索展示在網頁上，從中賺取小額報酬。
TrueCar, a relative newcomer, does things differently.
而TureCar，作為行業相對年輕的成員，卻有著不同的經營方法。
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.
它只在推薦的客戶完成買賣后收取經銷商300美元費用，前提是經銷商無條件保證履行其價格承諾。
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.
TureCar從車輛登記所、車貸機構和其他渠道得到的數據中總結出其所謂的最精準的當地最低車價，這個價格通常便宜幾百美元，甚至經常低于"發票價"，即汽車廠商給予汽車經銷商的紙面批發價。
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.
實際上經銷商從廠商獲取各種回扣，并通過像車貸及售后等服務賺取利潤，所以最低利潤還是有的。
But such heavy discounting alarms carmakers.
但如此大幅度的折扣引起了廠商的警覺。
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.
本田的美國車廠近日告知其經銷商，如果不停止向諸如TrueCar等比價網站提供"低票價"，車廠將削減其營銷費用，每車大約幾百美元。
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.
本田表示經銷商可以自己定價銷售，但廠商不會為了將其產品宣傳成"便宜貨"或是"低檔貨"而支付費用。
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.
本田更暗示說一些經銷商利用網站進行詐騙，利用一些根本沒有的超便宜車型吊顧客上鉤再掉包銷售，這在許多州都是被嚴令禁止的。
TrueCar insists that the contracts it makes dealers sign commit them to deliver the cars they promise at the price quoted.
TrueCar堅稱其要求經銷商簽訂協議來保證經銷商按照約定的價格賣車。
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.
大衛。威爾森最近要求其在加利福尼亞州的16家經銷商停止使用TrueCar，原因是他有理由相信本田對網站的質疑。他向《經濟學人》雜志播放了一段音頻，內容是對手經銷商在TrueCar網站上給一款新雷克薩斯車型報了一個非常誘人的價格，但打電話過去后對方說沒有該車庫存并表示會盡力找一輛給他。
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.
TrueCar表示就此事而言，如果經銷商沒有隱瞞網上展示的車型沒有存貨，也就不構成"掉包誘售"的罪名。上述的事情只是個案，TrueCar表示至今收到投訴寥寥。
But it is awkward that a critic had so little trouble catching a dealer quoting for a car it did not have.
而且那么容易就能抓到經銷商"詐騙"有些不太正常。
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.
另一個大經銷商Group 1也已經通知其成員不要使用TrueCar，原因是該網站要求通過展廳電腦系統確認其銷售情況的舉動可能存在侵犯隱私的風險。
Scott Painter, TrueCar's founder, says that so far such publicity has only drawn dealers' attention to the attractions of using the website.
TrueCar的創始人Scott Painter解釋到，至今這種公開化的做法只會增加經銷商使用這個網站的興趣，而網站所要做的就是把正在做的事情更加公開透明。
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.
數據顯示通過TrueCar售出的本田汽車中有23%是低于發票價的，只比本田在全美的比例22%高一點。
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."
Painter先生認為這個網站的成功，最終會使本田和一些質疑的經銷商改變態度，他說"市場的力量會改變他們的想法"。
However, several states' regulators are looking into whether the website breaches their laws.
然而已經有好幾個州的監管官員在調查該網站是否有違法嫌疑，一些州嚴禁"指向性營銷"（獲取代銷返傭）。
Some states specifically ban "bird-dogging"-taking commission for introducing a sale.
然而已經有好幾個州的監管官員在調查該網站是否有違法嫌疑，一些州嚴禁"指向性營銷"（獲取代銷返傭）。
Some also ban using the word "invoice" in car ads, regarding it as potentially misleading.
一些州則認為在車輛廣告中使用"發票"的字樣有潛在誤導性而禁止此行為。
Colorado's regulator has warned dealers there that they will be held responsible for any rule-breaking in their TrueCar quotes.
科羅拉多州的監管官員警告當地經銷商，將為在TrueCar上銷售過程中可能產生的違規負責。
TrueCar says it will shortly make changes to its website to satisfy the regulators' concerns.
TrueCar表示很快會調整網站內容以符合監管規定。
In September TrueCar raised $245m for expansion. On January 1st it began an exclusive tie-up with Yahoo! to provide car-buying services.
11年9月TrueCar籌措2.45億美元用于網站擴張，12年1月1日它開始為雅虎提供獨家汽車銷售服務。
It also provides such services for consumer groups such as the American Automobile Association and the United Services Automobile Association.
另外還為一些消費群提供該項服務，如美國汽車行業協會，聯合服務汽車行業協會。
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.
TrueCar預計，如果能讓監管部門和經銷商相信其經營合法，那么它就有望從美國汽車經銷商每年支付的60億美元廣告費用中分一杯羹。
