Agreed. There is a lot of potential to it, and it works well in some cases. I’ve even recommended people check it out and have tried it myself, however, I shouldn’t have to caveat a recommendation with “just FYI, the offers may be totally fake.”
The problem is that either Rodo itself is bait and switching or dealers are and Rodo isn’t holding them accountable. Neither is acceptable.
Agree, we shouldn’t. But fighting the whole dealership model isn’t easy.
They may be trying to straddle along the route until they gain size such as they can dictate the rules or if one dealership can’t fulfill the deal they can pick another one that will.
Which was my case but at least I went in with my eyes wide open trying to test for others to know the result completely expecting it to fail like always.
So for me 2 case that were posted here are already better than 0 that were last year 
Slow? Yes. But moving forward.
The other frustrating part is that people came here from Rodo a while back, said they acknowledged the problem and that they had fixed it and it wouldn’t continue to happen. And yet here we are.
They are dealing with dealers…
We all know how dealers can be, and I’m sure dealers try to pull these games with them as well…
Sure, but you can either prioritize expanding your dealer network or providing a consistent product, even if it means losing dealers that are unscrupulous. I’d rather have a smaller dealer network that actually delivered in the product I was offering than a larger network that was tainting my reputation while trying to grow market share.
Yes, and you don’t know that they aren’t.
Sometimes it takes a dealer pulling a fast one and it getting back to them to get them to remove the dealer. There are many dealers out there.
With my one experience there were a few Hyundai listed in the app, I went for one and as soon as they called to say the deal fell through due to the dealer not actually having it all Hyundai were removed from my area.
I don’t know if it was then or the dealer but its possible that rodo kicked then off…
All they need to do is compensate users for the price difference when dealers do not honor the price ADVERTISED by Rodo. That would be real customer protection and would shield them from being called “bait and switch” operation. Until they can offer that there will be perception of them being a shady operation
Agree. Have no idea why it’s so hard to do especially with VC funding that other startups practically throwing away.
They probably have to answer to VCs to do the always “10x” expansion. That’s all VCs are talking about.
The only connection is I got 2 cars from them! That’s it,and actually I think the owners are from California not Brooklyn.
One would think they would do this considering the amount $ invested in the app and while they work out the kinks.
Yep. And then they can deal with their dealers to get their money back.
I’d think it is obvious to include in the contract with dealers that any difference between advertised and final prices is due from the dealer.
This isn’t about Rodo/Honker but lets put this in perspective in general. The price protection sounds like a good idea for any general direct to consumer start-up but charge backs to vendors/dealers and they would cancel left and right; thus reducing any start-ups expansion hopes. If a start-up took on that cost it would kill its pocket book, VC money isn’t free money; its investors money and the one thing you want to do is put it to work responsibly. There is a happy medium between consumer protection, keeping vendors/dealers honest and still making money but if we all knew what that was we would all be involved in one start-up or another.
They are a “no-fee” car brokers with an app. So, imagine our brokers going back on their advertised prices. Why should Rodo get free pass? They can’t sit on two chairs at the same time, but they also will not win going against dealers. No idea why they think they can do better for their customers than original Honcker or TrueCar.
It’s a market economy and you reap what you sow. The internet doesn’t forget (unless you live in Europe and file to be forgotten with Google). What I’m saying is any companies actions will reflect on their sales positively or negatively so it’s not a free pass. If brokers went back on their advertised prices on here they will likely not get as much business (if any at all) compared to the brokers/dealers that always perform as promised.
And all I’m saying, from a customer point of view, is that they can do better to avoid “bait and switch”. They bought an app from folded Honcker, so there may not even be VC. Heck, I wish @Benedetto bought Honcker’s assets. He’d do much better job with it lol
Interestingly they are not licensed in NY as an automobile broker. They claim they are a marketplace and not a traditional broker.
Will see how long that will fly.
Giving dealers a 3 strike rule wouldn’t be a bad idea!
It’s a losing battle, unless they work the same way as our best brokers here - building personal relations with dealers and really working for their customers.