Truecar.com used to charge dealers between 400$ and 500$ for every deal that would close (sale). Since then, I believe that they changed it into a monthly subscription, or a combination of the two.
The problem is that Truecar is yet another middleman, and yes, it's much better to sign up with a new email address because you will get all the spam in the world.<p>It is much better to get "certificates" on Truecar with a fake name/email, then go to the dealer and say: give me this car for 500$ less, or I'll walk away.<p>I didn't buy a car yet, but I got two real offers from dealers just like that.<p>Truecar is a middleman... Middlemen tend to go away. I am not optimistic about their future.