TruDealer is an all-in-one dealer operating system for independent car dealerships. It combines your dealer website, vehicle inspections and trade-in appraisals, a full dealer management system (DMS), AI chat on WhatsApp and your site, and finance tools — all in one monthly license.

Yes — the TruPro and TruEnterprise tiers include a full DMS with deal jackets, F&I, and audit trail. But TruDealer is more than a DMS: it also runs your website, inspections, AI chat, and social publishing.

Do I need a separate website if I use TruDealer?

No — TruShowroom is your branded dealer website, built into the platform. Every listing shows a condition score, buyers can run finance from the listing, and WhatsApp is one tap away.

How does TruDealer's AI chat work?

TruChat answers WhatsApp and web chats 24/7, qualifies leads, runs finance estimates, books test drives, and hands hot prospects to your team with full context. TruEnterprise also adds TruVoice, an after-hours AI voice agent.

Who is TruDealer for?

Independent used-car dealers, small floors doing 5–20 units, growing dealers doing 20–80 units, and dealer groups or franchise used departments on the enterprise tier.

Where is TruDealer available?

TruDealer is built in Cape Town, South Africa and deployed worldwide — South Africa, UK, Australia, New Zealand, US, Canada and Ireland.

How much does TruDealer cost?

TruStart is R1,599/month, TruPro is R3,599/month, and TruEnterprise is R3,599 per rooftop per month. There is no setup fee on TruStart.

Explainer · Updated 16 Aug 2026

What is TruDealer?

TruDealer is an all-in-one dealer operating system for independent car dealerships — your website, vehicle inspections, DMS, AI chat and finance tools in one monthly license.

By Paul de Beer, Founder4 min read

If you run an independent dealership, you already know the problem: your website, stock photos, condition reports, finance, and messaging all live in different places. TruDealer puts them in one system, and it was built specifically for independent dealers — not a stripped-down franchise DMS.

On this page

What TruDealer actually is
The modules
How it works day to day
Pricing
Who it's for

What TruDealer actually is

TruDealer is a dealer management platform that replaces the patchwork of tools most independent dealers juggle. Instead of paying separately for a website, an inspection app, a stock management tool, a finance calculator, and a chat system, you get one platform where every part talks to the others.

The core promise is simple: a buyer sees your car with an honest condition score, you know exactly what you have in stock and what each deal will make, and no lead ever waits on an "office hours". That's why inspections ship in every tier — trust isn't a premium add-on.

The modules

Everything is built around one vehicle record across the full car lifecycle:

TruLens — guided smartphone photo capture (28 shots in 3 phases), ghost wireframe alignment, licence-disc barcode scanning, free live market price scraper, photo scoring, and TruOrbit 360° spin viewer.
TruInspect — mobile field PWA + dealership manager desktop workspace, digital VIR condition reports with 35-point checklist (6 areas), 25 disclosure questions, manual damage pin tagger, inspector e-signature, and 7-day trade-in appraisals.
TruFlow DMS — central dealership operating system for stock, deal jackets, buyer pipeline, F&I calculations, and tax invoicing.
TruFlow Mobile — companion floor staff app on iOS & Android for adding stock, managing leads, and WhatsApp/call follow-ups on the go.
TruShowroom — custom designed from the ground up for your dealership brand (see live proof at www.true-cars.co.za) with live DMS stock feeds, condition scores, finance calculators, and 1-tap WhatsApp lead buttons.
TruChat — 24/7 DealerAssist™ AI sales agent on your site and WhatsApp that answers specs from live stock and books test drives.
TruValue — instant online trade-in valuation widget for your site with free Live Market Price Intelligence Radar.
TruTrade — remote video trade-in appraisal app where buyers walk around their car and dealers price accurately.
TruLive — guided 1-on-1 WebRTC video walkaround with live buyer flag pointers and auto inspection summaries.
Website Widgets — 7 CDN widgets including TruAfford, TruRepay, TruForm, TruBook, TruValue, TruShare, and TruChat.
TruSocial — auto-publishes stock to Facebook, Instagram, Google Business, and LinkedIn.

How it works day to day

Your floor staff shoot the car with TruLens (28 guided shots), TruInspect generates the verified condition report and inspector e-signature, and the listing appears on your TruShowroom site with live trust badges. Enquiries land in TruFlow's lead pipeline; TruChat handles the after-hours ones. When a deal closes, deal jackets and F&I calculations run in TruFlow, and the stock moves to sold across all connected feeds.

Worth knowing: the platform is fully localised per market — currency, compliance language and F&I partners switch for SA, UK, US and other regions.

Pricing

TruDealer is month-to-month with no long-term lock-in. You pay once to go live, then a monthly license.

TruStart — R1,599/month. Single rooftop, unlimited units, website, inspections, 28-shot capture, AI chat, mobile stock app. Free setup.
TruPro — R3,599/month. Full DMS + F&I, live market scraper, OTP deal jackets, unlimited inspection templates, video handover, social publishing. Setup normally R4,500, reduced to R2,250 if signed within 48h of a demo.
TruEnterprise — R3,599 per rooftop/month. White-label, multi-branch, API, SLA and TruVoice. Setup quoted after a call (from R20,000).

See the full breakdown on our packages page and detailed answers on how much TruDealer costs.

Who it's for

Independent dealers moving 5–20 units a month on TruStart; growing floors doing 20–80 units on TruPro; and dealer groups, franchise used departments or BHPH operators on TruEnterprise. If you're starting from scratch, our guide to starting a used car dealership in South Africa walks through the full setup.