Reviewed June 14, 2026
When TrueCar first launched, it offered transparency and helped customers avoid the traditional dealership games. Today, that transparency seems to be disappearing. Many dealers advertise attractive prices on the platform but fail to disclose dealer markups, mandatory add-on packages, or other fees until the customer arrives at the dealership. In many cases, the TrueCar certificate does not accurately reflect the actual out-the-door price.
Another major concern is inventory accuracy. The platform frequently allows dealers to advertise vehicles that are not actually available for purchase. For example, if you're shopping for a high-demand vehicle such as a Toyota RAV4, you may receive a certificate only to discover that the vehicle hasn't even been built yet and won't arrive for months. At that point, the advertised price becomes largely irrelevant. The biggest disappointment is that these practices have become so common among participating dealers. Rather than protecting consumers from misleading pricing and inventory claims, TrueCar appears to tolerate them. The result is a platform that generates leads for dealerships but provides increasingly limited value to buyers.
I still remember when TrueCar helped make car buying easier and more transparent. It's unfortunate to see the platform move away from that mission. Unless TrueCar starts enforcing stronger standards for dealer pricing and inventory accuracy, buyers should treat advertised prices and certificates with a healthy degree of skepticism.
Reviewed May 8, 2026
As a small dealership, we had a very disappointing experience with TrueCar. We were promised by their representative that they would provide quality customer leads, while charging us $50 per lead, which is already very expensive for a small business. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the leads were completely useless. Many customers stated they were never seriously interested in purchasing a vehicle, while others had major credit or repossession history that made financing nearly impossible. We received little to no legitimate buying customers despite paying significant amounts for these leads.
To make matters worse, after we closed the account, TrueCar attempted to bill us an additional $2,300. Throughout our entire business relationship, services were always paid upfront, so this unexpected charge came as a complete surprise. We strongly dispute these charges and the alleged agreement they referenced, which was never properly signed or authorized by us. Overall, this experience caused financial loss and wasted time for our dealership. Small dealers should carefully review all terms and monitor lead quality before committing to expensive lead programs.
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Reviewed Jan. 24, 2026
Searched the car through TrueCar. The price was $12K. Within 1 year the price went down to $5K. I went to TRUECAR believing the car price would be fair. Their price estimate isn't that fair. But still won't tell anybody to not try. My experience was the Big depreciation where the price of the car is much lower than the loan on it.
Reviewed Nov. 17, 2025
I arrived and test drove the vehicle, with satisfaction. As I waited to be processed, the salesperson (Rachelle) came to me and stated the vehicle had already been promised to a person out of state and attempted to sell me a lesser vehicle. If the vehicle was not available, they should have informed me and not waste my time to get me there to sell another vehicle to me. This was a case of gross incompetence or an obvious bait and switch. I would give TrueCar and Carma a rating of 1.
Reviewed Oct. 2, 2025
Horrible, all they do is sell your information. And then you get a call from everyone within whatever radius. I have now gotten 5 calls back-to-back. Trying to talk me into buying a car. None of them have the parameters that I wanted or in the range of price that I needed.
Reviewed Sept. 19, 2025
I used TrueCar to negotiate a deal with Ben Mynatt Chevrolet Cadillac. I was working with Bryan ** at the dealership. He sent the deal and I confirmed I was on my way into the dealership. He said he would be there until 7 PM. We had been corresponding with Bryan ** about a 2023 Cadillac they had on their lot. Brian finally sent an offer to me and he was very much aware I was coming in today. I even kept up with informing him when we were on the road and stuck in traffic on I-85. When we arrived at the dealership, we were met out front by one of your salesmen. He was nice, but you could see the look on his face, there was a problem. That’s when everything began.
His manager gave him the keys and we went outside to look the car over. He was even getting ready for us to test drive it. I went and got my handicapped brother from my car and his wheelchair to put him in the car. While trying to put him in the car, their salesman then decides to say "Oh, we just sold this. A man from Florida drove here and he drove further than you so that’s how we decided who got it."
First, this should never have happened when Bryan knew over half the day we were coming for it. Second, if they were going to sell it out from under us, he should have had the decency to let us know and not let us drive over 4 hours to get it. They then did not want to make good on what they had done and offered a horrible deal on the other 2023 XT5 on their lot. The salesman couldn’t even get the heads-up display to work on it.
The dealership prides itself on honesty and fairness, but they prove themselves otherwise. The entire experience was devastating not only to us, but my handicapped brother really had a horrible trip and experience with their dealership. How they claim to have decided who got the car was totally unacceptable. We trusted your staff to do the right thing but they didn’t. Bryan told us he would be there until 7pm and we were there way before that and he never bothered to come out and even say I’m sorry, this is messed up. We can never recommend their dealership to anyone and will have to give it negative reviews. Nobody there cared about what they did and the manager on duty never even bothered to come and talk with us. They made the salesman do it all.
Reviewed Sept. 11, 2025
So, you want to buy a car online? Good idea. I did it, with Carvana, and it was amazing. like ordering from Amazon Prime. Click a button, boom, car at my door. Easiest thing ever. So naturally, we thought, “Let’s do it again.” Enter TrueCar. Never. Never. Never. Never. Here’s my experience so far: I’ve made two insurance payments. Already paid the first car payment. Got the tags for the car. Already. And yep… Still don’t have the car. They mailed paperwork to a CVS (Why CVS? Is Walgreens busy? Was my mail box not good enough). The paperwork was mail to my mailbox anyways, a week later, because CVS kept saying they didn't have it. The notary? Didn’t show up. We had to go hunt down our own and handled the paperwork ourselves.
The car? “Shipped”… Then “not shipped”… Then “shipped again”… Now “delayed.” Currently, it’s parked ½ mile from my house but apparently being held hostage until someone cleans it. (Why they didn’t clean it before shipping? Who knows, maybe they’re waiting on rain?) We get a lot of it in the summertime in Florida. Daily, wash the dang car. So yeah, buying through TrueCar is like accidentally picking up the phone from an anonymous call enrolling in that extended warranty everyone is talking about. But, on a car you will never see after a month of trying to get the dang thing. I so….so wanted to play a 2Pac song in my new car- Picture Me Rolling. But that is what you will have to do. Picture it. No ROLLING.
Carvana = smooth, fast, painless. TrueCar = paperwork at CVS, waiting on a ghost notary, and paying for a car that’s basically living in my neighborhood but won’t come home. And yes…it’s still sitting a half mile away. So - update while writing this post. The car is not 1/2 mile away like they have been telling me for two days. It is really 190 miles away in Fort Lauderdale. I guess Key West can be confusing with directions.
Reviewed Sept. 6, 2025
Was unable to get any info from their website. I answered all the questions and clicked all the right checkmark to no avail. When I answered all the questions, it says next and then proceeds to ask them all again. Tried 5 times! Nothing!
Reviewed Sept. 6, 2025
Criminally bad company. No communication, unfair prices and just a pain to deal with. Show actual prices, have a live person to talk to, and support your customers. Avoid this company at all costs!!!!
Reviewed Aug. 24, 2025
If you're thinking about selling your car, beware of this company. They’ll collect your personal information and distribute it to numerous dealerships—profiting off your data without your consent. Expect relentless calls, emails, and messages from dealers. It's not just annoying, it's invasive.
Reviewed Aug. 2, 2025
Misleading website. It left me feeling like I was tricked into providing my contact information and then to see the car listings I was interested in, once I clicked “next” or whatever it says, something pops up saying basically my information has been sent out and the dealerships will be contacting me. I had no idea! Their website needs to make it abundantly clear on how they operate otherwise it just leaves a bad taste in the consumer’s mouth and for me, makes me want to steer clear of them. My employer refers to this company via a perks program and I don’t feel a company like this should be promoted and plan to voice my concerns. I feel like my contact information has been shared with all these dealerships and once it’s out there, I really have no idea who all now has can access it. Very disappointing and concerning.
Reviewed July 24, 2025
The True Car platform has become rife with fake deals that are no other than bait and switch deals. In this TrueCar is complicit with these unscrupulous and dishonest dealers. In my case, TrueCar provided me a price with a dealer discount. I confirmed the car and price with the dealer (Toyota in Modesto CA), made an appointment for the next day, first thing in the morning, as the dealership was closing 10 min later. 30 minute before the appointment, before the dealership opened for business, the car salesman (Walter, as he calls himself) called to confirm my ETA, because he was not sure he could hold the car much longer. When I arrived there, he said the car had been sold the night before, which contradicts what he has said on the phone, and offered other options. TrueCar has become a medium to lure customers to these dishonest dealerships. Caveat Emptor (buyer beware).
Reviewed July 24, 2025
I've been approved for an auto loan on their site through Credit Karma and received an offer from a dealership for $0 down and $438 a month but the dealership is refusing to honor that quote. They're saying that they don't have to honor the offer I received.
Reviewed April 18, 2025
Awful site. Does not list deals as it promises. Someone is paying them to highlight weak deals. Shame. Hate to see this click bait ruining searches for true deals. Go away Truecar. Leave us alone already.
Reviewed March 20, 2025
Worst experience with this company. They take money for sending fake leads. Every day we received more than 5-10 requests, but none of the people who left a request answered our calls. Sometimes people responded to us saying that (we are not looking for a car at all and we did not leave a request for your company). For 3 months, not a single person came to us on request from TrueCar. And believe me our company is represented on many resources CarGurus, Carfax, OfferUp, etc. but only from TrueCar we get fake leads. We do not advise you to use TrueCar.
Reviewed Feb. 8, 2025
If you want to be inundated by dealerships contacting you that no more have the car that you're looking for then this is for you. If you want to find a car you want then stay away! We have been called upon 10 times not one had the car specified.
Reviewed Oct. 23, 2024
They quoted me $7,000 for a mint 2008 Bentley Continental GTC with 44,000 miles. That car sells on the market for $50-60,000. The wholesale dealer auction price is $41,000. So TrueCar is just $32,000 under wholesale and $43,000 under market. Lol, "TrueCar" is a TrueJoke.
Reviewed Oct. 3, 2024
TrueCar prices that dealers advertised on site are false. I used TrueCar/Military and received Dealer Summaries for 6 dealerships in Miami area. Not one delay would honor or even offered a price close to amount they allegedly listed on Truecar site. Most even admitted they used it to bring you in. It was a totally waste of time. I would tell you do own research. TrueCar is a waste of time.
Reviewed Aug. 23, 2024
Let the spam begin! TrueCar took all my personal information and then spit out a special “Employee Price.” The price was no different than MSRP. There was nothing special about it. It also gave me a horrible trade in appraisal (based on NADA, Kelly, Carvana, etc.). Complete waste of time and now I am subject to all the spam! Thanks for nothing TrueCar!
Reviewed March 29, 2024
I was looking for a trade-in value how much my used Audi would be. I have already requested info from Carvana, Tesla and Edmunds.com (Carmax). These three almost gave me the price in the ballpark but TrueCar has given me a ridiculously low ball price which an Audi dealership picked up and conveyed and offered to me. What a bunch of low ballers!
Reviewed Dec. 15, 2023
I recently created an online account with TrueCar as I was shopping for the best deal available on a Hyundai Tucson Hybrid. After entering my search parameters on their website, I was presented with a list of results that matched my search criteria. So far so good. Each listing including the price, the location of the auto, and a photo of the vehicle. It also indicated that taxes and dealer fees were not included.
When I reached out to the dealerships and mentioned the listings on truecar, each one said that was not the accurate price. They indicated that the price listed included a number of discounts such as military, victim of hurricane Idelia, etc. Nowhere on the TrueCar website did it mention that these prices weren't the actual prices. I ended up wasting a lot of time and became frustrated contacting three dealerships, only to have them come back with a price that was $3000-$5000 higher. Bottom line: In concept TrueCar is a valuable resource, but in real terms, it is very flawed.
Reviewed Nov. 26, 2023
I purchased a Car through a Truecar authorized dealer with the military package that's supose to reimburse me for my repairs. There's pertinent information hidden in all the documents. I was told that I had 2 years of coverage up to 4k in repair reimbursements if needed. Hidden in all the content is a clause that repairs have a be turned in within 90 days. I have over 10k in repairs before the car was safe to drive but when I reported it TrueCar said they were sorry and that's the only truth I've gotten out of them. Car is still garbage but they asked me to reach out to the dealer who has told all the reviewers on his site that he is sorry he can't help with the problem and or offer 100.00 dollars to fix every issue I read about. If you have no money you have no rights. AIN'T THAT AMERICA!
Reviewed Sept. 24, 2023
I gave my personal info to a dealership because TrueCar sent over an offer (apparently on behalf of the Lexus dealership) stating car description, vin # and offer. I got call from dealer for another car/offer…and asking about original car/offer which they said was nonexistent.
Reviewed Aug. 20, 2023
We were quoted a price on the True car website. We drove for 5 hrs and rented a vehicle to get the car. When we arrived the dealership said the car had another offer on it and was not on the lot. This was after much communication with the True Car/dealership reps. So disappointed that Sam's Club would allow this sort of unprofessional behavior.
Reviewed July 19, 2023
Truecar work with dishonest care dealerships such as Victory Motors and Powers Motors. To trick customers to visit their organization when the car they list are not even on their property or even available. All three entities are a scam. Don’t waste your time using Trucar or visit the dealership the list. YOU WASTE YOUR TIME.
Reviewed July 8, 2023
Was looking at buying a Toyota RAV4 hybrid and was interested in a VIN and heard from the deal Westchester Toyota, Yonkers, NY. When I took the Truecar membership price and went to the dealership they wanted a 10 percent markup on the quoted price. That was a few hours waste of time and energy. Why would you have a true car quoted price if it is not going to be honored.
Reviewed June 13, 2023
Truecar indicated they had setup an appointment at a Toyota dealership. I sat at the dealership for 40 min with the sales not showing up! I called the provided number. He wasn’t available. Front desk was entirely unhelpful.
Reviewed June 2, 2023
Followed up on TrueCar quotes with their dealers and the price indicated is nowhere near the actual dealer price. Example: TrueCar indicated a $100 dealer markup on a Rav4 Hybrid. When I called the dealer they sent me to, the dealer indicated the markup was actually $3,000. The sales manager's comment was "I don't know why they do that, and we've been trying to get them to stop".
Reviewed May 1, 2023
I made a nationwide search for 2 specific new cars (BMW iX50 and Kia EV6) over a 2 month period. I used TrueCar to obtain pricing to avoid all the usual song and dance. In the end I purchased both cars, but had many hassles along the way.
1. Some dealerships (salesmen) won't honor the listed TrueCar price claiming "it is wrong and they left out this or that factor."
2. The BMW I purchased was not at the TrueCar price. They claimed the tax rate was incorrect and TrueCar left out a mandatory fee.
3. MULTIPLE times I stated I wanted to make an offer for a vehicle over the course of my 2 month search only to have the sales rep tell me "that car just sold" AFTER I told them I want the TrueCar price! (always a couple thousand less than the price they sent to me). I'm convinced they say the car is sold so they don't have to let it go for the TrueCar price!
In the end, multiple dealerships told me that TrueCar is a "referral service" only and the dealer decides the price. So much for a "locked in price." Nice idea, but has holes.
Reviewed Feb. 21, 2023
The purchase offer does not mean anything. My purchase offer was $13775, then the dealer that they referred me to offered $7500, saying my car was not in high demand. That's the way it works, the offer has nothing to do with what a dealer will pay.
Reviewed Dec. 16, 2022
On Tuesday 11/22/22, I met with a sales associate at Shottenkirk Hyundai Granbury to test drive a 2020 Telluride EX in hopes of buying this vehicle I saw on TrueCar. The experience went just fine and I put $3500 down to hold the vehicle. Erin reviewed the Carfax report for this vehicle with me verbally and conveyed to me that the vehicle came from an owner in Arkansas. The next day I confirmed my financing with Navy Federal Credit union and went to pickup the checking funds for the vehicle. The rep proceeded to send me email with the Carfax attached. Once I reviewed this report, I could see that the vehicle was owned and driven in one of the Canadian providences for more than a year and the vehicle resided in Arkansas for less than 3 months.
I got onto Kia's website to check for any recalls using the VIN number and the response kept coming back with error message 'invalid VIN'. I then called the Kia nationwide customer service number in California and gave them the VIN number from the Carfax report. They relayed to me that because the vehicle was on the road in Canada for more than a year, no US dealership would honor the manufacturer warranty. This would be a deal killer for me since the confidence to purchase the vehicle is based on the vehicle having 33k miles which would likely give me over a year to drive the Telluride knowing that any major issues discovered would be covered by Kia nationwide. More research online identifies these type of vehicles that have been put on the road initially in another country as grey market vehicles! Buyer beware.
Reviewed Dec. 15, 2022
Saves a lot of time spent in negotiation hassles. Also provides the inventory available within your neighborhood. No unnecessary trips just to know that the car is unavailable. It was really useful in deciding on the car. I bought my car and the dealership honored Truecar's price. Saved around 6-7 hours of negotiations.
Reviewed Oct. 29, 2022
This is useless. I've received 3 certificates and deals and no dealers honor their pricing. Need to rename this FalseCar. They just rope you in and then aggravate the crap out of you. Is there a way to have a nice buying experience? Haven't seen it yet.
Reviewed Oct. 6, 2022
It was very easy to sell my car. I just went to their website, entered my license plate, and *boom* I got a cash offer. I told them I have a higher offer from another dealer, and they quickly matched the offer. On the day of, selling the car was very quick, too. He did a quick car inspection, went to the bank with me to deposit the check, then we were done! Very fast and simple process. Liked it.
Reviewed Aug. 20, 2022
When I would like to keep my search local, 10 or 75 miles, instead it shows vehicles from other states as If I requested National search. Why would vehicles from other states come up, I don’t want to travel nor pay for delivery.
Reviewed April 7, 2022
I was just checking car prices for 5 minutes, the next thing I know I’m getting texts and calls from pushy dealers - which is exactly what I was trying to avoid by going online. Won’t ever visit that website again.
Reviewed April 6, 2022
With the hopeful understanding that the service that TrueCar is providing is the ability to obtain a "haggle-free" price that provides adequate profit to the car company while providing transparency to the buyer on what costs are appropriate, the price provided was minimal and did not provide any benefit. The absence of additional costs such as estimates of taxes, document fees, etc provided the benefit to the seller and not the buyer. There was no positive value to the buyer with this service.
Reviewed March 30, 2022
Sorry to say that it started to be a possible good experience, however, the experience turn sour. Sour in that where there was a car with price noticed as available, there was no car available. Plus, contacted by dealers who did not have what I requested from distances that were impractical to travel to in purchasing a car. Of course, they did not have the car to begin with. That is my experience! I will try this ever again!
Reviewed Feb. 19, 2022
I used TrueCar to find and buy a new car. TrueCar pointed me to Community Kia showing me a good price and stating that they could do all the paperwork online and deliver the car to my place, so I would not have to go to the dealer. When I contacted the dealer, the first thing I asked the salesperson was if they could really do everything online and deliver the car to my home. Jose, the salesperson, said that they could do it easily, sending a messenger with all the necessary documents I had to sign and later delivering the car. Jose asked me for a copy of my documents and ran my credit. After everything cleared out, he came back with a different price from what I had from TrueCar. I sent him the email I got from TrueCar with the offer and he took it to Terry, the sales manager, who said they would not honor the price.
I called TrueCar and they advised me to talk to Gil, who was the internet manager, responsible for entering the prices in TrueCar. I called Gil and he called Terry. Gil called me back saying that they would honor the price. It was sad that TrueCar left it up to the client to do the heavy lift and call the dealership to fight. I would prefer to have TrueCar calling them rather than leaving this up to the client. Anyway, I called Jose and told him to move on with the process. After a day without hearing from Jose, I called him and he said all the paperwork was with the Financial Manager.
Later that day I received a call from Jose saying that Terry, the sales manager, wanted to talk to me. Terry said they would not deliver the car to my house as promised by Jose because they were short on staff.He also said they would not hold the car for me and that I should call before going to the dealer because, by the time I get there, the car might have been already sold.
I called again TrueCar and asked why they had Community Kia listed as a dealer who would process the paperwork and deliver the car to the client if they were not honoring that. TrueCar escalated the issue and this time they contacted Community Kia. Community Kia informed them that they were short in personnel and would not deliver cars on the weekend. Also, they would not hold cars for clients. They mentioned to TrueCar that they would deliver only after the weekend, but again, they would not hold the car for me.
I am not sure what TrueCar is going to do from here. I advised them to remove Community Kia from the HomeDelivery program of put on the proper disclaimers. I would like to know upfront if the HomeDelivery program a dealer is offering is subject to having people available to deliver the car or if they work only certain days of the week, or any other condition that would prevent me to close the deal. Anyway, Community Kia came up with twists and turns in what was supposed to be a straightforward process. They got all my documents, ran my credit, and for what? Just to say I had to go there. They did not send me anything online and have not even confirmed the price in writing. To be honest, I am afraid to drive there just to find out the car was already sold, or to have them trying to pull another stunt.
For now, I lost confidence in TrueCar. I don't want to start another purchasing process with them again just to find out the dealership will try to change the price on me or that they cannot deliver the car as announced on TrueCar. In the end, I have located another dealer in Texas, who was more than willing to work with me online and deliver the car. I end up not using TrueCar and everything is working well.
Reviewed Jan. 19, 2022
I was looking at some of these cars and pulled up CarFax on some and found that they have false odometer readings. When you see low mileage and 2 or 3 owners it is a good sign that they have been rolled back. Be careful.