Wal-Mart Becomes The Latest "Lead-Gen" Middleman To Profit From Car Dealer Shortcomings; Buyers Plight, "I Hate To Visit An Auto Dealer" and Buyers "Treated Like Mooches"

Editors Note: No other retail industry is so lazy or has pissed off enough potential customers, so intensely, that they supported, stimulated and encouraged the billion dollar third party lead generator industry to grow like weeds...from the original Auto-By-Tel to today's many snake-oil lead generators like TrueCar and another hundred out there who cost the misguided and jerked around car buyers the commission fees earned by today's aggrandized bird-doggers.

Can you imagine any other industry encouraging potential buyers to believe that they need a third party intermediary to protect them from getting screwed and insuring a fair transaction when they purchase?

This week the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) is having its convention in New Orleans and frankly I believe their number one concern should be to clean up their members act and welcome, appreciate and reward (not screw) Free To The Dealer Independent and Unencumbered Direct Buyers when they shop at their local dealership. But as third party intermediaries go, I think Wal-Mart might be my choice, I can't imagine that they would risk their reputation to make a few more bucks on their customers.

WASHINGTON, DC - January 23, 2017: AIADAonline reported that according to Automotive News, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation's largest retailer, is jumping into car sales through partnerships with dealership groups, including AutoNation Inc., the nation's largest new-vehicle retailer.

CarSaver, an online auto retail platform, will launch the program April 1 at about 25 Wal-Mart Supercenters in four markets: Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, and Oklahoma City. Ally Financial is the program's preferred lender.

CarSaver's digital platform allows car shoppers to select, finance, and insure a vehicle through its website or on a touch-screen kiosk, backed by bilingual auto advisers available by phone.

Staffers at CarSaver Centers – set up inside Wal-Mart stores across from checkout lanes and alongside other services, such as vision centers and nail salons – will explain the car-buying program to Wal-Mart customers.

CarSaver then will connect customers with a local, certified dealer and schedule an appointment to visit the dealership. If a shopper doesn't contact the dealership, an auto adviser reconnects with that shopper.

For more on Wal-Mart's entrance into the auto sales space

CarGuru's Winner's Of Consumer-To-Dealer Third Party Interlopers