Transaction Prices Rise While Incentives Decline in April According to TrueCar.com

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May 03, 2011, 08:30 ET

SANTA MONICA, Calif., May 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- TrueCar.com, the authority on new car pricing, trends and forecasts, estimated today that the average transaction price for light vehicles in the United States was $29,583 in April 2011, up $229 (0.8 percent) from April 2010 and up $305 (1.0 percent) from March 2011.

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"Despite high gas prices causing near record-level purchases of fuel-efficient vehicles, we saw the highest industry average transaction price ever recorded in April," said Jesse Toprak, VP of Industry Trends and Insights for TrueCar.com. "The increase in transaction price was due to the dramatic reduction in incentives, lower dealer discounts, and consumer preference for better-equipped vehicles."

Transaction Pricing Forecast
Manufacturer	April 2011 Transaction Price	March 2011 Transaction Price	April 2010 Transaction Price	Percent Change April 2011 to April 2010	Percent Change April 2011 to March 2011
Chrysler	$28,770	$28,385	$28,160	2.2%	1.4%
Ford	$32,461	$31,918	$31,534	2.9%	1.7%
GM	$34,030	$33,907	$33,618	1.2%	0.4%
Honda	$24,969	$24,762	$24,701	1.1%	0.8%
Hyundai/Kia	$19,099	$19,054	$19,007	0.5%	0.2%
Nissan	$27,616	$27,020	$27,308	1.1%	2.2%
Toyota	$25,586	$25,386	$25,632	-0.2%	0.8%
Industry	$29,583	$29,278	$29,354	0.8%	1.0%

In addition, TrueCar.com estimated that the average incentive for light-vehicles was $2,386 in April 2011, down $306 (11.4 percent) from April 2010 and down $98(4.0 percent) from March 2011.

"Manufacturers and dealers will benefit greatly from higher transaction prices and lower incentives due to higher customer demand and temporarily low vehicle inventory levels," continued Toprak. "But earnings could be negatively affected due to supply constraints over the summer months and beyond."

Incentive Spending Forecast
Manufacturer	April 2011 Incentives	March 2011 Incentives	April 2010 Incentives	Percent Change April 2011 to April 2010	Percent Change April 2011 to March 2011
Chrysler	$3,069	$2,983	$3,664	-16.2%	2.9%
Ford	$2,651	$2,804	$2,979	-11.0%	-5.4%
GM	$3,524	$3,314	$3,332	5.8%	6.3%
Honda	$1,915	$2,309	$1,997	-4.1%	-17.1%
Hyundai/Kia	$1,359	$1,270	$2,032	-33.1%	7.0%
Nissan	$2,310	$2,433	$2,982	-22.5%	-5.1%
Toyota	$1,625	$1,969	$1,910	-14.9%	-17.5%
Industry	$2,386	$2,484	$2,692	-11.4%	-4.0%

TrueCar.com estimated that the ratio of incentives to average transaction price for light-vehicles was 8.1 percent in April 2011, down from 9.2 percent in April 2010 and down from 8.5 percent in March 2011.

Ratio of Incentives to Average Transaction Price
Manufacturer	April 2011 Incentives/Avg. Transaction Price	March 2011 Incentives/ Avg. Transaction Price	April 2010 Incentives/Avg. Transaction Price	Percent Change April 2011 to April 2010	Percent Change April 2011 to March 2011
Chrysler	10.7%	10.5%	13.0%	-2.3%	0.2%
Ford	8.2%	8.8%	9.4%	-1.3%	-0.6%
GM	10.4%	9.8%	9.9%	0.4%	0.6%
Honda	7.7%	9.3%	8.1%	-0.4%	-1.7%
Hyundai/Kia	7.1%	6.7%	10.7%	-3.6%	0.4%
Nissan	8.4%	9.0%	10.9%	-2.6%	-0.6%
Toyota	6.4%	7.8%	7.5%	-1.1%	-1.4%
Industry	8.1%	8.5%	9.2%	-1.1%	-0.4%

For additional data on incentives and transaction price, please visit the TrueCar Truth Blog.

About TrueCar, Inc.

TrueCar Inc. is an automotive solutions provider focused on changing how cars are sold by providing a significantly better customer experience while helping qualified dealer partners to gain incremental market share and reduce costs. TrueCar.com is a transparent, visual publisher of new car transaction data. TrueCar.com price reports help both dealers and consumers to agree on the parameters of a fair deal by providing an accurate, comprehensive and simple understanding of what others actually paid for the identically equipped new car over the last 30 days both locally and nationally. TrueCar, Inc. works with a national network of nearly 5,000 Certified Dealers that provide up-front, no-haggle, competitive pricing to assist some of the nation's largest and most well respected membership and service organizations to meet the auto buying needs of their members and customers. These partnerships include American Express, AAA, USAA and more than 60 others. Collectively these audiences represent over 1M in-market customers each month. TrueCar, Inc. is headquartered in Santa Monica, CA and has offices in San Francisco. The company was founded in 2005 and has been profitable since 2009. With nearly 200 percent year-over-year growth TrueCar has driven over 250,000 sales and is developing a suite of transaction oriented products and services centered on transparency and radical clarity as a result of comprehensively analyzing market data and information.

You can follow TrueCar on Twitter and become a fan of TrueCar on Facebook.

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 most car sales within a week of the actual sales date, and have a substantial fraction on the site within 48 hours of the actual sale. TrueCar believes the greater our informational accuracy, the greater benefit we provide to both dealers and consumers.

Disclaimer

This press release and the information contained herein is for noncommercial use on "as-is, as available" basis and may be used for informational purposes only. TrueCar makes no representations or warranties, express or implied, with respect to the information contained in this press release and the results of the use of such information, including but not limited to implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. The information contained in this press release may include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Neither TrueCar nor any of its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates or respective partners, officers, or directors, employees or agents shall be held liable for any damages, whether direct, incidental, indirect, special or consequential, including without limitation lost revenues or lost profits, arising from or in connection with your use or reliance on the information presented in this press release.

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Jesse Toprak

https://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=94534

SOURCE TrueCar.com