Haggling at a car dealership was one of the few prices Americans still fought over in person. TrueCar tried to end the fight with data. Its website showed what other buyers had paid for the same car nearby and connected shoppers to certified dealers who agreed to a price up front. It also ran car-buying programs for USAA and Consumer Reports. In May 2014 TrueCar went public, promising to make the dealership a less stressful place.

The CarsDirect Founder Tries Again

Scott Painter had already founded CarsDirect, one of the first websites to sell cars online. In 2005 he started TrueCar in Santa Monica, first under the name Zag. The company gathered transaction data to show the real market price of new and used cars. Dealers in its network paid TrueCar when a shopper it sent them bought a car. Some dealers objected to the model, and TrueCar had to adapt its program state by state to local rules.

Painter Comes Back

TrueCar priced its IPO at $9 a share in May 2014 and listed on Nasdaq as TRUE. Painter stepped down as chief executive in 2015. Dealer complaints, slower growth and the loss of key partner traffic weighed on the stock for years. In 2025 a company led by Painter, called Fair Holdings, agreed to buy TrueCar for $2.55 a share in cash. The deal closed in January 2026, and TrueCar left Nasdaq.

Cover: A Stagecoach Drawn by Five Horses, Jean Louis André Théodore Géricault. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a stagecoach and team (getting a ride).