Vinny 2.0 App Launches and Reveals Actual Dealer Value for Top Used Cars as Car-Buying Season Gets into Full Swing

BROOKLYN, New York--September 24, 2013: Vinny, the fastest way to find out any used car’s fair market price, today announced the launch of its new Vinny 2.0 mobile app, now available for free download on the App Store and Google Play. Vinny 2.0 is a new consumer ally to help negotiate car purchases as the market heats up with a recent U.S. car sales surge not seen since before the financial crisis and a busier fall car-buying season.

“With Vinny 2.0, consumers can rely on us as a trusted source to negotiate more efficiently and with confidence.”

Vinny puts the power of big data in the hands of consumers for the first time to help level the playing field for buying or selling used cars. With one quick scan of a car’s VIN barcode, Vinny calculates a precise wholesale auction value of that used car in seconds by cross-comparing data on recent comparable sales to help consumers negotiate a better deal. The Vinny price reveals the gap between retail asking price and the average wholesale price for the same used car at dealer auctions.

Based on Vinny’s big data analysis, the average gap between car dealers’ asking price and wholesale auction pricing for the top 10 most popular used cars scanned by Vinny in the U.S. from Memorial Day through Labor Day is $3,386. The Vinny-calculated negotiation pricing gap for the top 10 cars scanned are included in the data table, below. According to the National Automobile Dealers Association’s latest annual report released on July 1, U.S. dealers’ average pre-tax profit rose six percent in 2012.

Vinny is powered by a highly sophisticated analytics platform invented by its founders, who formerly designed electronic platforms for financial trading. The free Vinny app immediately calculates a wholesale auction price based on a used car’s make, model, age and other factors. It calculates these values in seconds analyzing high volumes of timely sales transaction data across the country from both public and private sources, saving consumers hours of manual research. Consumers spend an average of 18-19 hours researching new and used car vehicle purchases, according to a survey by Polk and Autotrader.com.

“Using Vinny is like having a close, personal friend in the used car business who happens to be a big data genius to give you free, trusted car advice anytime you need it,” says Marvin Chase, CTO at Vinny. “We designed Vinny as an independent source that’s not incented to sell cars. We use private and public car auction data and apply complex mathematical algorithms based on millions of actual transactions. The Vinny Price is more timely and accurate than any other resource available to consumers today.”

Mind the Used Car Pricing Gap with Vinny 2.0

Based on more than 87,000 Vinny scans across the country between Labor Day and Memorial Day 2013, here are the top ten most popular used cars with the corresponding negotiation pricing gaps between the average wholesale dealer auction price and the Kelley Blue Book price for comparable vehicles1:

Make

Model

Year

Average Wholesale Price

Average KBB.com Price

Negotiation Pricing Gap CHEVROLET TAHOE 2007 $15,527 $20,518 $4,991 NISSAN ALTIMA 2006 $6,206 $10,967 $4,761 TOYOTA CAMRY 2007 $8,696 $13,059 $4,363 TOYOTA CAMRY 2011 $14,765 $18,317 $3,552 NISSAN ALTIMA 2005 $10,734 $14,224 $3,490 HONDA CIVIC 2006 $5,747 $9,074 $3,327 HONDA CIVIC 2007 $7,439 $10,516 $3,077 HONDA CIVIC 2010 $12,659 $15,061 $2,402 TOYOTA COROLLA 2010 $10,479 $12,741 $2,262 HONDA CIVIC 2003 $3,991 $5,623 $1,632

“More than half of consumers hate negotiating for used cars, and they’re at a real disadvantage when they don’t know a vehicle’s actual fair market value based on the average wholesale auction price. It’s also a lengthy process with the average car buyer spending more than 18 hours researching choices to make a purchase decision," says Alex Kiss, CEO of Vinny. “With Vinny 2.0, consumers can rely on us as a trusted source to negotiate more efficiently and with confidence.”

The Vinny 2.0 app includes a number of features to improve how consumers buy and sell used cars:

In-app calculator to estimate car payments using Vinny price, down payment and financing Automatically map a used car scan onto Google or Apple Maps and leave notes for later reference Option to purchase full vehicle history report for $4.99 (compared to reports costing up to $40) My vehicle designation: a new feature in the Vinny Garage to tag owned versus desired cars Cached data so vehicle specifications and notes are accessible even if mobile device is offline Ability to create a myvinny.com account directly from Android and iOS apps Auto linking of mobile searches to website account to access scans from home or office PCs

To download the free Vinny 2.0 app, please visit Google Play and the iTunes app store.

For more information on Vinny, please visit: My Vinny