TrueCar – founded in 2005 – is designed to provide a “hassle-free” car buying experience for auto dealers and consumers. It allows potential car buyers to view the average price of a new car, its sticker price and what the site estimates to be a fair price.
DETROIT, MI- TrueCar Inc. today announced that it has filed paperwork for a proposed initial public offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Santa Monica, Calif.-based company, which operates car-shopping website TrueCar.com, plans to raise up to $125 million in an initial public offering of common stock, according to its SEC registration statement. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined.
TrueCar – founded in 2005 – is designed to provide a “hassle-free” car buying experience for auto dealers and consumers. It allows potential car buyers to view the average price of a new car, its sticker price and what the site estimates to be a fair price.
“Our mission is to transform the car-buying experience for consumers and the way that dealers attract customers and sell cars,” reads TrueCar’s overview statement in the filing. “We have established an intelligent, data-driven online platform operating on a common technology infrastructure, powered by proprietary data and analytics.”
The company, according to the filing, plans to list its common stock on the Nasdaq under the symbol "TRUE."
Goldman, Sachs & Co. and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC will jointly manage the offering.
The filing comes two years after TrueCar changed its business operations to better suit its network of certified dealers. In 2012, regulators from multiple states questioned its methods after dealers complained about losing money on certain sales because of the website.
TrueCar changed its advertising strategy in late-2012, focusing more on a fair, transparent price rather than the lowest price possible and making TrueCar a national brand.
The IPO filing also comes a day after the company announced John Krafcik, former Hyundai Motor America president and CEO, was named to TrueCar’s board of directors.