If you’re on the market for a new car and know exactly what you want, you’ll inevitably have to shop around for the best deal. Due to the manual effort required, it takes time and persistence. I hate buying cars and I generally despise dealerships. TrueCar gave me a means to significantly cut down on the amount of time and stress required to trudge through this process. I picked out my parameters, entered my location, and let the request fly. Dealers had to reach out to me for my business. I curbed messages that lacked transparency in pricing or ignored my request. I also skipped any dealership with markups. However, I did find a few diamonds in the rough, thanks to TrueCar, which put me in a significantly stronger negotiating position when I had two clear OTD offers to work with at competing dealers. Thanks to them, this car buying experience turned out be the LOWEST STRESS one in my life. And hey, a dealer still got to make some money. So dealerships, what are you waiting for? Get on board with this. For anyone on the market for a new car, make TrueCar your first stop.
Ugh, I hate it when the app comes up with a pop up message asking me whether or not I like the app, and then taking me to the review page if I say yes. I wish it wouldn’t do that. But since I’ve already formed my opinion, I’ll go ahead and leave a review. So the app is very informative. It’s been my favorite car-buying app. But when you’re in the research mode, and you’re just flipping through the different trims of the car you’re researching, the tables of information are just so big (especially when there’s a lot of trims to compare) that the information doesn’t stay lined up. You think you’re looking at the LE for instance but you’re actually looking at the SE. I don’t think this is the app’s fault, knowing how tables work you just really need a screen large enough to be able to still show the header once you get really far down on the table. I found a way around this. I go to the TrueCar website and I view it in landscape mode, problem fixed. So even though I don’t like that, I don’t think it can be helped and I found a way around it so overall I like the app and I’m keeping it and am going to continue to use it to read up and to find cars.
After getting $7000 off the sticker price of a new car 6 years ago, I have been a truecar believer and I’ve never looked back. I have questioned my faith at times, double-checking Costco auto buying program pricing and other no hassle internet car sales systems, and truecar remains the best. We had to upgrade our car size 2 years ago and got a new Subaru for $5000 below MSRP through truecar with zero hassle, dealers fighting with each other over email for my business. Now that the chip shortage happened, we got offered MORE THAN WE PAID FOR OUR CAR for a trade in. So we had no choice but to upgrade our car to a nicer one for a lower payment and 0% financing. So essentially because of truecar, we were PAID to drive our last car around for 2 years. My car salesman ended up saying only two people this month got more than they paid for their car, and both were truecar customers.
I was looking for a 2019 VW Beetle SEL Final Edition for my wife who had a Beetle as her first car. I searched nationwide and found 3 that were available through TrueCar. Complicating the process was the fact that we were closing on a house and needed to slow the process until the closing so as not to jeopardize the closing by having credit pulls or spending a large amount of money. The City Volkswagen of Evanston in Chicago was the only dealership that would work with us by holding the car with a small deposit a week until closing and another 3 days to arrange an Amtrak trip to pick up the car. We were blessed by the patience and cooperation shown by City VW managers, salespeople and financial staff. The car was very rare and in demand. Thanks wholeheartedly to Marcus, Eric, Ian and Alex. It was a most happy experience for us that had never happened in the course of many many cars bought before.
We’d been searching high and low for an older model Suburu Impreza for our 15 year old daughter to drive when she gets her license. We didn’t think we’d find anything with less than 150k miles, or in anything other than good condition. Imagine our surprise when the first time we used TrueCar, her dream car popped up! We somehow stumbled onto a gorgeous 2009 Impreza with 80k miles, in phenomenal condition. Clean title, no issues, well taken care of... everything a parent could hope for when we’re talking the BabyGirl of the family lol. This car was not listed on ANY of the other search engines we used! We found it around 7pm on Thursday; went straight to the dealership Friday afternoon, and were driving her new car home in about an hour. We will definitely be using this service again for my older son who’s vehicle was just totaled. In fact, we have already used it to go look at one vehicle already.
I had great success with this app. I saw my truck on a Saturday, and locked in my price, which was a great deal. The dealer said someone was coming in the next day to see buy it. I said if anything happens, let me know. The deal fell through, and it was back on for $900 more. I told them I had my TrueCar price, and they honored it. I went up the next day, and picked up my truck. I am extremely happy with it, and how much I paid for it. Another thing I like about this app over most others is that they tell you exactly what packages are in the vehicle, so you know exactly what options are included. I found this very helpful in weeding out the trucks that didn’t fit my criteria. I plan on keeping this truck for a while, but would always use this if I’m in the market for a new or used car.
Just awful and I don’t even understand how this level of harassment is even legal in 2018. Basically what happens is that after you just view a car and I mean it (just viewing), they will send your phone number to numerous dealerships and trust me that they wont stop calling and emailing you, even after you remove the car from the apps menu they even tell you that you will continue to receive calls and emails, there is no way out out of this that I could find and ( I’m even in the do not call registry ).... apparently they don't even share the databases with the dealerships. There was a time at the very beginning when they truly care about the customer, now they just blatantly and with no apparent way out just give out your personal info, how is that for a balanced scale between the dealerships and the car seeker, this is even horrible for the dealerships imo as i pretty much blacklisted them all from my current and future car purchasing experience and now they wont be getting my business....
This has helped me greatly in pricing research for my car buying search as well as seeing what amenities are available for the cars I’m looking into. Pictures and stats. And when I have time to answer 4-8 emails I can check pricing in my area and see who’s offering decent prices and who’s marking the car up exponentially. It’s very helpful for someone who is actually trying to buy a car. It can also be a great tool for finding out what is in stock near you. And what is impossible to find. Also when certain cars will become available. But be warned if you ask for the specific pricing near you the dealers are notified of your interest and you will receive a few emails. How ever many dealers there are near you that you received pricing for.
True Car is nothing but a scam to sell your private information to other companies. When you search a cars price they give you a value that is way below MSRP and make you sign up with your email to look at prices in the area. However, they do not give you price lists afterward, they just sell your phone number (which you don’t give them, they just raid your phone for it) and your email that you used to sign up to all of the dealerships in your area. These dealership prices are no where near what True Car tells you they are before you sign up, and the dealerships send you info for all cars, not just the one you were looking at. Amongst 8 dealerships, 19 emails, and 7 phone calls, all within the first hour, there was only 2 cars that matched what I had searched, leading me to believe that True Car doesn’t even tell the dealerships what you searched for. It is just as easy and quick to avoid True Car and you won’t have to be spammed by the dealerships.
I was looking for a 2023 VW GLI 6- speed but was having no luck. After reaching out to dealerships across multiple states and scouring the internet I had all but given up in finding my GLI. I was told by several dealerships that what I was looking for was simply unavailable for the for the foreseeable future. TrueCar said “hold my beer” and found two 2023 GLIs one of them w/ a manual transmission. I reached out to the dealership with the manual and was told I was lucky as it is the last one on the East Coast. I was even offer a deal below the TrueCar offer. A week later I was on my way home from NJ in my brand new car of my dreams. I am so glad I tried this app out. Dream delivered!!
Like others have said, this app is advertised as a new way to buy a car with less hassle. It should make it clearer to users that dealers will call them despite asking for email contact only. The idea behind this app is great, and I like the ability to see inventory on dealer lots. But the phone calls kill the purpose. I downloaded the app about a month ago and clicked through to see the price on a car, suddenly my phone blows up with calls and texts and voicemails. These eventually slowed as the date on the offer passed. Yesterday I completed a survey in my email from truecar asking how my experience was. I filled that out and boom the phone calls start again. This app needs to be clear that dealers will get all your contact info, despite your preferences. If I could leave a zero star rating I would, and if I could redo the survey I would give a terrible rating. Better yet, don’t fill out the survey because they turn around and tell the dealers to contact you again!
This app will allow you to search for cars BUT lacks in many other places. 1-ability to save searches- every single time you open the app you must plug in all of my filters over and over again....it’s annoying. 2-to open the list of cars you have “liked” you much enter a search. You can’t just go directly to your list. 3-there’s a bug. If you “like” a car and want to later review the details, when you select the car from your “liked” list it takes you to a blank page. 4-your list of “liked” cars doesn’t transfer from one device to another even if you have to create an account and are signed in on both devices. Or example, if I like a car on my cell phone I can’t go to my desktop, login and find my “liked” cars. 5- The last and worse nuisance is that you must share too much personal info with dealers (name/address/cell/email) just to see if a car is available. It doesn’t provide you with their contact info
I didn’t give this app permission to send my number to every car dealership within a 50 mile radius and put me on automated telemarketing machines but that’s exactly what it did. A person should be able to use this app in the privacy of their own home to view what’s available from different manufacturers that suit their tastes and if they should spot something and want to be telephoned by a dealership it should be their decision to do so. I never opted in to these calls but I sure had to opt out of about twenty or so different numbers and block a bunch of numbers to get them off my back. You want a guarantee I won’t buy from you? Then subject me to what amounts to open harassment attempting to force me to make appointments I don’t want and refuse to hang up until you get a promise I will come into your dealership at a specific time to force a purchase out of me like a pushy car salesman. I will never use this app again and I recommend nobody else does either.
I love the way the app works. The search options helped me narrow down and find a car. I’ve tried all the other car buying apps, and this one worked the best.... ...BUT, the contact info is often wrong. About 25% of the listings have incorrect contact info, especially the dealership location. I almost missed out on the car I ended up purchasing because the name and phone number from one dealership was listed under a totally different company. I wasted a lot of time trying to find and contact some dealers. Two suggestions: 1) Include a link to a map, with correct location info, so its easier to find them. 2) I called many dealerships to schedule appointments, but the outgoing calls don’t show up in the call log, so it made it really difficult to keep track of who and where they were while driving around.
This is nothing more than a sales tool for car dealer sales agents. Within 5 minutes of submitting preferences I started receiving phone calls and emails. I did so thinking I would see a few deals, but the app only returned website advertised pricing from three dealers in the area. The app no longer shows what the dealer paid, just a no haggle price they hope you will pay. The two closest dealers did not show up even though they had the model I was inquiring about. I think dealers must pay a fee to be included in True Car’s search results. The calls continue for three plus weeks, all unanswered. I feared if I answered them it would open a line of communication that I could not close. After a week of no response they knew I was not interested, but the calls and emails have continued into the fourth week. I hear the app used to be an accurate source of actual car pricing, but I didn’t find any useful advantage by using it.
I purchased a car from The Taverna dealership and when the car was delivered, the truck driver pulled the front bumper off when unloading. I have video showing the full incident. When I reached out to The Taverna dealership they told me I had to go through the delivery company’s insurance. When I filed a claim it was denied based on the delivery company NOT being insured to deliver to individuals. The Taverna dealership contracted with the delivery company and I had nothing to do with selecting or even knowing who the delivery service was until the car arrived. When I contacted the dealership again letting them know the delivery company did not have proper insurance I was told that we both were scammed and there is nothing they can do. The total cost to repair is over $6,000. My only option for recourse is to take them to court. Which is what I’m in the process of doing now. I rated 1 star because I can’t rate them lower.
Impressive, but a couple features would make this AMAZING
Very impressed with the app. A couple things that would take the mobile app from great to exceptional: - a way to save searches for particular vehicles with particular parameters (ie. I’d pay x for a Benz, and up to y for a Toyota) - “back to search” automatically places me back at the top of the list for that page. I hate losing my place especially when I’m far down the list already so being able to make it refresh in the same place would be optimal. - Price range for cars I’m looking to buy. Excellent vs Fair price is helpful but I’d like to know how good of a deal Excellent is
There was a time when true car was in my personal opinion, the best place to look at cars. You could select from many models and configure a car that you would in fact want to buy and the shown price and you could get at your nearest dealership in a relatively short time. However now there is no way to put together your own configurations, there are only a select few pre made ones to choose from. Also if you want to see dealers near you, you will come to find the advertising to be cars of the same brand but not the exact model you choose and you will immediately start getting phone calls, emails, and sometimes even texts from dealers. This experience is awful and this is a prime example of trying to fix something that was never broken... this place has become extremely disappointing and i will not be returning anytime soon.
I used TrueCar in the past years and it was really good to be able to look through and get an idea about price and options until you were actually ready to have them connect you with the dealers in the area. Today I was interested to see some details and pricing on a specific car and the next thing you know is I got bombarded with phone calls from the dealers about the car. Listen! I’m not interested to buy right now! I was just curious. Before I was able to check the deals, looks at some incentives and than decide if I wanted to connect with the dealers. It was a great buffer for the buyer before was ready to get in contact with the dealer. Very Annoying! If the dealers are paying for leads, they are getting ripped off. Like in my case, I’m the coldest lead they can ever have. I’m not interested to buy a car for about 5 years......Guess what! I deleting this app that used to be great!
I stumbled upon this app when I began my search in Christmas Day. What an amazing find. I was able to comparison shop a variety of makes and dealers and felt that it was an honest representation of what was available in my area. Yes I was contacted by salespeople, both by phone and email, but that’s to be expected. I stuck all the emails into a “car dealers” sub folder to go over later. While I was out dealing with something else, an email came in from one of the TrueCar certified dealers with an offer on my dream car that was significantly below what I was considering that I would have been stupid not to take it. Since I was paying cash, there was no haggling about financing. I test drove the vehicle the following day and did all the paperwork. Since the vehicle had to be brought from another dealership, I was able to pick it up the day after. I am so thrilled to have found this app. I recommended it to an out-of-State friend who used it to find a car for his wife.
True car was my go-to for car shopping research, now it’s the garbage way to get spammed incessantly by dealers. They took all the value away from consumers and gave it to car dealers. You can’t get info on what others paid for their car, or even a “true car price” without agreeing to let true car share your information with dealers, which then shares it to a database, which allows other dealers to access your email and suddenly you’re getting dozens of ads in Facebook and endless solicitations via email for months. I will never use or recommend this worthless resource again. Someone needs to reinvent the old true car so consumers can better price shop, without getting harassed by dealerships. I get this is a business and they need to make money, which comes from dealers, but if you don’t provide enough value to consumers and they all leave, so will your dealers.
DON'T USE THIS APP! They INSTANTLY sell your information! I signed up and within 5 minutes my inbox was inundated with generic emails from dealerships all over saying they have the best vehicle for me. Now I'm worried I'm going to start getting sales calls because they require a phone number to sign in. ALSO, their filtered results are HORRIBLE! If you want a particular trim, they don't use specific trim levels from each make and model, the trim levels that show up are whatever people write as trims, so the sheer amount of trim levels are ridiculous, seriously, some differences I saw were literally a comma. Keep is simple people SLE, SLT, Denali... SIMPLE! Use CarGurus, you'll like it way better, they don't sell your information, they don't require a login and they put ALL dealerships on an even keel so you see ALL cars available, not just the dealerships that pay to get in front of you.
Last year I used this app which was pleasant and helpful. I was able to research cars without the dealership squawk and hassle. When I found the vehicle I was interested in, I could request to be contacted by that one dealership selling that vehicle. I actually ended up purchasing the car I found on TrueCar. Now, needing to replace our other vehicle, I logged on today to do some research and discovered that True Car has totally changed. Within ONE minute of logging on, three car dealerships had blown up my phone with calls. So, I am deleting the app and complaining to my Credit Union to stop using them. True Car is not what it once was and is now being used as an opportunistic tool for dealerships to find customers, instead of existing as a consumer resource to find a vehicle. Today, it seemed as True Car has been transformed into a major scam!
I’ve tried a lot of car buying apps and the search results and distance sorting were the most frustrating for my first (and last) search, meaning I’m done with this app after only one try. I searched for a Subaru Outback within 75 miles then 25 miles to reduce number of results. All but two were hundreds of miles away (but could be shipped for extra charge of course), which I only figured out by sorting by distance and scrolling to the BOTTOM. I mean who in their right mind thinks you want the closest cars to be at the bottom by sorting by distance??!? Half the time I think software / app designers do this kind of thing on purpose to aggravate users, but does this company want to encourage you to buy a car based on pictures alone and pay hundreds to ship it?
Limited utility - minimal discounts and no way to browse without triggering dealer hell
Yesterday I tried this from the web and from the app. 1) Lease - basically no function to support leasing, only sales price. 2) Discounts on 3 different models I tried were exceedingly minimal. VW GTI $600 discount from msrp, Chevrolet Volt $1200 discount from msrp, Chevrolet Camaro SS about $1000. In their defense I imagine this might limit “junk” fees that some dealers like to charge to offset an advertised low price. 3) There is no way to browse around dealerships and look for bargains without triggering “dealer hell” where you get repeated calls and emails from sales to sales managers. I immediately contacted each dealer and apologized and indicated I accidentally triggered this while browsing. Some continued to press the issue. In the past, I’ve examined dealer inventory and emailed them with a detailed lease proposal using the actual money factor, mileage, residual, cap cost, tax, doc fee, and registration costs including incentives and have gotten good traction on a low cost deal. I was hoping I could use TrueCar to achieve the same goal more elegantly, but this appears to be more a tool for sales leads than a way to functional savings on a new car for the end user.
First, I know this review is not going to be read by the App Store. That was sarcasm. It will be read by its intended audience, potential users if the app. After reading these reviews, I’ve deleted this app without ever using it. Your reviews revealed a troubling theme of users’ getting spammed mercilessly by dealer phone calls. In essence, the app exposes users to the very thing its users are trying to avoid. There is also a disturbing theme in the developers’ responses to these dealer phone calls complaints. They all say, we will contact the dealers and tell them to stop calling you. First, they cannot deliver on that promise. Dealers maintain their own call contact lists, and those lists are their lifeblood. My experience suggests that it takes an act of God to get yourself off such lists. Second, why should you have to do this at all? The app professes to changing the car buying experience, but too many users report the exact opposite. Based on reviews, the app developer does not appear to present a better experience over dealing with a few dealers on your own. I’ll end as I started. Thank you App Store for publishing these app reviews. I hate unsolicited sales calls. And it looks like you saved me from that hell.
Recently, I had a great experience with this app that could able to provide the best price that beats the hidden dealer price. It saved my Money incredibly good. We definitely need this kind of tool which is very helpful to give a transparency and happy with our buying experience. I TRUEly encourage everyone to check the actual price of your dream vehicle before even go to the dealer. Lock your price and walk-in to the dealer. This will definitely save a huge amount. Dealers are not very transparent to provide the price information. Thank you for this tool!
I originally used TrueCar for purchasing a vehicle in 2013 (Honda) and again in 2014 (Acura) with a pretty hassle free experience. I used the website and not the app at that time. So far my phone has been blowing up by multiple dealers with a ferocity of debt collector. The same dealers calling multiple times per day. The landscape and experience has really changed in the last 4.5 years.... So far, all of my responses have been met with “We don’t have that exact vehicle in stock, but here’s a link to other similar ones” which conveniently have pricing thousands of dollars higher than the TrueCar pricing. (Audi) Or, (Honda) dealers that are willing to honor the TrueCar price but offer you an absurd low value for your title-in-hand vehicle that more than negates the TrueCar price. They wouldn’t even honor their own trade-in quote once they found out it was associated with a TrueCar price quote. I think if you eliminate all variables other than the new car price you might be able to save some money (if they don’t pull the nothing in stock scheme) otherwise they’re going to try to falsely devalue your trade in to make up the difference or flat out discourage you from using TrueCar altogether.
The functionality is mediocre. First - you search for a particular model/color/package and it still shows you other colors and cars slightly related to your search... annoying. Second - there’s menu options to view saved searches and builds, but saving those searches and builds is not intuitive and maybe impossible. I still can’t figure out how to save a search. Additionally, as other have said, they’ll quickly distribute your information to dealers and you’ll be receiving emails/calls immediately. The ONLY positive I’ve found on this app is the possibility of $500 cash back bonus by purchasing a car through the app. I’ve yet to do this but it supposedly works. Generally terrible app though, so I’m worried about attempting it.
True car used to be a great app, where you could put the information for the car you want and get prices from local dealerships with no hassle. You could just look things up cars with no commitment if you liked the price you could click a button for that dealer to contact you. Unfortunately that’s not the case anymore. They now gather all your info and sell it to every car dealer in the area. I looked up a car today when I clicked to see the true car price they sent all my info to every dealer in the area. I got 5 calls in 30 minute! Also got emails from all the dealers too. If I wanted the dealerships to have my phone number and email I’d contact them myself. Terrible regression for this app. I am deleting now! Some people just want to be able to browser prices without being bothered.
This app, and TrueCar's service for getting "certified" quotes from local dealers, is little more than a conduit to lure unsuspecting car buyers into dealerships, whereupon the dealer pulls a complete bait and switch. Not a SINGLE dealer, out of the 10 that I got quotes from through TrueCar, would honor their price quotes, and TrueCar won't (or can't) do anything about it. Each time the dealer blamed TrueCar for "mis-pricing" the vehicle, and when I called TrueCar they blamed the dealer, saying that the dealer has total control of the prices quoted. Whatever the cause, it is squarely within TrueCar's ability to remedy these problems. Either it is a glitch in TrueCar's systems (doubtful), or the car dealers are low balling their quotes (very likely), in which case TrueCar should investigate and ban/reprimand those dealerships from the service. They don't, and that means TrueCar is complicit.
Sales associate at Woody Folsom Nissan in Visalia, Georgia named “George”...
I spoke with this salesman named “George” at the dealership noted above today...well I was not expecting to be bombarded with rudeness and then having a phone slammed/disconnected simply because I preferred he not compare the Woody Folsom dealership to a Walmart Store. I wasn’t rude and wanted information that was sent to me by the internet sales department verified. After reading “George” the information that was emailed to me he stated that it was not correct. Okay, I understand she made a mistake but please work on your customer service skills George...btw, I called back after he disconnected me and asked for a manager...well, I spoke with a male and he refused to state his name. That dealership leaves me with serious reservations... I guess they don’t need anymore cars sold today... I will cross Woody Folsom Nissan of Vidalia, Georgia off my list ...serious car shopper.
That’s right. You heard me. The second I downloaded this app and entered my car preferences, I was inundated by emails and phone calls from dealerships. Truecar Product Managers: PEOPLE DON’T LIKE GETTING SPAMMED OR HOVERED BY CAR SALESMEN. We don’t like it in person and we especially don’t like it when it’s through text messages, phone calls, and emails. The product is completely MISLEADING and does not even hint that your information would be transmitted immediately to dealerships. If you are someone who is looking to do research on a car for a reasonable price, comparable offers in your geography, then stay FAR FAR AWAY from this app. Kelley Blue Book alone will probably suffice. You will feel that Truecar is extremely intrusive. I immediately deleted the app and blocked all emails and phone calls from the dealerships.
Don’t use this app unless you like car salespeople harassing you
Late one night I decided to use TrueCar to see how much a Jeep I’m thinking of getting sometime this year...maybe. You can’t see anything until you give them your information. So in my tired late night stupor, I did. By 10am I had 5 voicemails, 8 emails, and 3 texts from the 3 local dealers they showed me vehicles from. Not only that, the next day I got 9 emails from FCA. 6 from Jeep, 1from Dodge, 1 from Fiat and 1 from Alfa Romeo, all thanking me for stopping by their dealership. This dealership we’re from all over the country, and the only one the used my first name was the one Jeep dealer closest to me. All the others were other people’s names in other cities ( thanks Mary for stopping by the Fiat dealer in Van Nuys CA.). I a Jeep guy on Tennessee. And it hasn’t stopped for over a week.
I glossed over the terms, and didn’t realize that looking at prices would submit a purchase request would spam me so bad. I got 4 phone calls and 10+ emails in about 10 minutes. I was really just interested at looking at prices in my area, not buying today. Ugh. Please read the terms folks! I’m not knocking the app, I’m sure it will be useful when you are actually ready to buy. I tried to explain this to the dealers that called me, but they still will not stop calling every few days. I know it’s not TrueCar that’s harassing me, it’s the local dealers. I really just wish there was more of a warning before submitting the information.
I was looking for a specific option package, it became available in March however true car filter didn’t have option listed. I received quote on secondary option I chose, when I talked to one of the true car dealers who contacted me, he was able to modify my request on on his side and found the option I wanted and located one in stock. Only one car available within 500 mile search. Unfortunately stocking dealer wouldn’t transfer vehicle to his dealership, Puente Hills Ford deserved sale but said he was happy he found one for me.
TrueCar was brilliant in helping me saving time by avoiding multiple trips to dealerships. The platform provided indicative pricing information, allowing me to compare prices and find the best deal from the comfort of my home. I appreciated the convenience and efficiency it offered, streamlining the car-buying process significantly. Overall, TrueCar exceeded my expectations, providing reliable pricing guidance, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to purchase a car hassle-free.
Used to be a great app for consumers looking for a vehicle. This would allow you to know what others were paying for a similar vehicle in your area. Now its more an app for the dealerships and a way to have salespeople calling you every day. No thanks. After using for over a year im deleting this app. I’d recommend you use something else unless you dont mind your phone # being given out to sales people and then being bombarded by calls. What a waste of what used to be a great app. Im sure i’ll get a fake carbon copy response like others have. Don’t bother! PS. Keep in mind most of the good reviews for this app were given before these changes. It used to be a 4+ star app. Now its a zero but you have to give a minimum of 1.
I used true car twice before this time to purchase a car. Both previous times the process was incredibly smooth and fast. I received offers with specific prices from multiple dealerships and chose the dealership I wanted, took my offer in, and the price was honored. It was quick, transparent, and simple. Unfortunately, the app no longer works that way. Now, you get approximations. You have to do more leg work and speak directly with dealerships or sales people before ever getting written prices, which due to market issues there are now market adjustment markups. This takes longer for the customer and leads to frustration, as we need to put in more work to see whose offer is genuinely a better out-the-door offer. True car provided a good starting point in the sales process this time, but was not as good as it used to be. I’ll probably utilize a different service next time.
I consider trading my current sports car three or four times a year. I like to browse new used inventory up to 100 miles away. I used to be able to do this hassle-free with the TrueCar app. NOW, I can’t even browse new and used, I have to pick one or the other and conduct two searches. Then, the selection criteria is automatically too specific. I might want to look at ALL of the Corvettes, not just 2LT trims. But I actually can’t browse anything until I give them my name and phone number and agree to accept phone calls and or text message offers from a bunch of pushy car salesmen. I want to browse/shop and research my options BEFORE I have to waste time conversing with anyone. This thing is getting deleted immediately.
App used to be better, most recent updates ruined it.
Are used to always use this app to search for new cars for me, my friends, and family members to give them a general idea of what to expect to pay and different customizations and rebates available. However, with recent updates, the rebates and discounts function has been removed, and I’m unable to customize with the options I choose. True car seems to bundle option packages together even if it’s not what you are looking for. They remove the ability to truly customize the vehicle you’re looking for. It’s unfortunate, because I used to love this app, now I can barely stand to use it.
Good selection but it is incredibly frustrating to "Sort by Price" click on a car (on page 3 for example), click the back to results arrow which SHOULD bring you back to page 3 but instead brings you all the way back to page 1 vehicle 1 and sorted by "Best Match" to start over again... Oh and surprise..it just so happens that your best match is 600 miles away with a $1999 transfer fee, not the car a few listings down which is newer, has less miles, and only 20 miles away for the same price.... seems a little sketchy
A trusted friend loved this app during his recent car purchase transaction and recommended it. I gave my real phone number while signing up. Huge mistake. I like ONE car and have received no less than 25 calls in a week. My voicemail is consistently full from voicemails left by dealer salespeople. I missed important work calls because I’m afraid to answer an unknown number. I changed the number within the first hour of signing up but the relentless calls continue to come in. The interface is nice and the app does help to find the right vehicle but the integration with dealerships make the app unusable. This experience will be my go story on how not to build an invasive and costly user experience.
I really like this app. I have found it helpful and useful in my car search. I was wondering if it was possible, when the app gets updated. To include a specification dedicated to seats. The interior of the vehicle. For example, me personally, I don’t want leather seats. I live in the desert, and i really don’t want a car with leather seats. I feel strong enough about it, that I wouldn’t buy a car because of it. So, I would like to do a search and completely bypass vehicles with leather or faux leather seats. Thank you. I really do enjoy this app. I’m on it every day.
I downloaded the app about an hour ago and saved 42 vehicles. About half an hour after saving them I tried to bring them up to show my boyfriend and the app said ALL 42 were sold... which is strange considering it was 8:30 PM (how do 42 vehicles just miraculously get sold after hours??). While using the app it would glitch and close out on its own, it would freeze and not let me click anything, after looking at about 6 cars it would go blank and I would have to close the app and re open it to continue my search. I’ve tried restarting my phone, reinstalling the app, logging in online and it still isn’t working.
This is the second time I’ve used TrueCar. The first time was quick and simple. This decoy time was different due to car dealerships adding extra items to the msrp and not listing that through TrueCar. This is a loophole that’s happening due to the chip shortage. I still had to haggle with the dealerships and walk away from two of them to play hardball. This is why I am giving the app 4 stars. I would like to see if anyone else is having this same problem in the 21/22 car buying experience.
Not only do you get bombarded by phone calls and emails, but if you contact the dealer directly through their website and ask for their “ePrice” you’ll get the same quote. The difference is that only one dealer will have your info instead of 3 or 4. Also, there are dealers that are not “True Car Certified” and they compete with True Car prices. I was able to get a cheaper price on my car through a dealer that isn’t on True Car. You might think they aren’t certified for a reason, however when you are buying a new car from a manufacturer what’s the difference between dealerships? Hindsight: Do the extra research yourself and keep your privacy, you’ll get a better price anyway.
Five stars for being a very handy app for researching used cars but be careful when researching new cars. Negative four stars for being slimy with your contact info. I made the mistake of thinking I could see local new car inventory in the app. But the app would not show me any new car inventory and instead sent my contact info to a bunch of car dealerships and I’ve been inundated with phone calls and emails from salivating car salesmen for the past several days. Nobody likes dealing with salesmen, and I want to be able to research new car inventory without being forced to talk to a sales person. This app does not allow you to do that. I uninstalled the app and won’t be reinstalling until they change that.
TrueCar did not work for us. We received TrueCar Internet Price quotes for two new 2020 Toyota Prius LE from Internet Sales Manager at Norwalk Toyota. However, when we drove down to Norwalk Toyota to sign purchase papers to buy the car, the internet sales manager told us the prices he gave us on TrueCar are for Toyota Corolla not Prius LE which he provided me with Stock # and photos of the car that clearly show they are Prius LEs. We spent many hours working with internet sales manager online, made an appointment, drove down to Norwalk Toyota, and came home without a new car. This is a mentally and physically exhausting experience for us, and the reason why we use TrueCar to avoid. This is a scam and a complete waste of time for us.
When i set up a search with several filters, the first time I click on a car to view more pictures, it resets my all my filters. It resets my location, the distance, the price, narrows my search to a single car etc. it's basically impossible to look at cars. I do really appreciate that it shows you the total cost of the car after taxes, but it's unfortunate that they give your info to the dealership in order to give you that price. There's potential but its modstly a lead generating app for dealers. Auto Trader is superior.
