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TrueCar Launches New Pricing Tool

Santa Monica-based TrueCar.com, the online automotive pricing startup headed up by Scott Painter, said Thursday that it has launched a new tool to help new car buyers. TrueCar said that it has launched a Best Local Price tool, which will allow car shoppers to search for the best local deals on a vehicle. According to TrueCar, the firm said that the search tool will provide a "Lowest Certified Price" for a car, a no-haggle price which will be honored by participating dealers in its program. TrueCar uses actual car sales data from local dealers to present car shoppers with information on the actual prices paid for new cars in their neighborhood. The company said the new Best Local Deals feature was specifically launched ahead of Labor Day, which is traditionally one of the largest volume car sales weekends during the year.

TrueCar pulls its car sales data directly from car dealers, operators of dealer management systems, and data aggregators, including a deal with sister firm Zag, which provides pricing and configuration tools for automotive dealerships. The firm is venture backed by Anthem Ventures, Arcturus Capital, Capital One, Capricorn Management, and GRP Partners. Painter is best known for being the founder and CEO of CarsDirect.com, but is also heavily involved in local startups such as SharesPost, and other firms through his BrightHouse business incubator.