TruPayments

What TruPayments does

TruPayments is a U.S.-based financial technology company that builds digital retailing and payment calculation software for automotive dealerships. Its core offering, tru Shop-by-Payment™, is a personalized payment shopping platform that begins the consumer journey with the customer's credit profile rather than a vehicle selection, then computes accurate, real-time monthly payments across the dealer's full inventory and all available finance programs, terms, rebates, and incentives simultaneously. The platform is powered by a patent-pending truPayments® engine and built on a mobile-first Grail® architecture designed for cross-device customer journeys from browsing through deal structuring and delivery scheduling.

The product portfolio also includes engagement modules that feed leads into the core funnel: Payments on Inventory (payment buttons on SRP/VDP), Quick Pre-Qualify (soft credit pull delivering full bureau data to the dealer), Payment Calculator, Landing Pages for marketing campaigns, Instant Trade-In Equity, and Custom Marketing Assets formatted for social media and GoogleAds. These modules are tightly integrated into the Shop-by-Payment™ experience and are governed by dealer-configured rules for key deal terms.

TruPayments generates revenue through SaaS subscriptions sold to automotive dealerships via a direct enterprise sales motion (demo-driven, with toll-free phone and website lead capture). Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. Founded in 1999 and operating for over 20 years in online auto finance, the company was acquired by PureCars in 2021 and now operates as part of PureCars' digital retailing suite, with its shopbypayment.com website pointing customers to the parent's platform. The firm is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio with a secondary presence in Atlanta, Georgia, and reports 11-50 employees.

Name

TruPayments

Legal name

TruPayments

Website

https://truPayments.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Acquired

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

TruPayments is a U.S. SaaS provider that builds the tru Shop-by-Payment™ digital retailing platform for automotive dealerships, using a patent-pending engine to compute real-time, credit-based payments across dealer inventory and finance programs. It was acquired by PureCars in 2021.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Automotive Digital Retailing Software

akta.pro primary industry

Merchant-Integrated BNPL (Checkout POS Financing) (FSAGAIAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

B2B Marketplaces & Wholesale Platforms (BPAMAGAD)

Keywords

• Automotive digital retailing
• Payment calculation software
• Auto finance SaaS
• Dealership engagement tools
• Credit-based shopping platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Cincinnati

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. SaaS Platform Subscription: TruPayments generates revenue through SaaS subscription fees for dealership access to the Shop-by-Payment™ platform, including the truPayments® engine, Grail® mobile platform, and engagement tools. The model includes dealer dashboard configuration and ongoing platform access.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

TruPayments operates a B2B SaaS platform called tru Shop-by-Payment™ that enables automotive dealerships to offer consumers personalized payment shopping. The platform starts with the customer's credit profile rather than vehicle selection, computing accurate real-time payment calculations across all dealer inventory and finance programs simultaneously using a patent-pending truPayments® engine, built on a mobile-first Grail® technology platform.

Product overview

TruPayments offers tru Shop-by-Payment™, a single unified product platform for automotive dealers that provides personalized payment shopping experiences. The core offering consists of the tru Shop-by-Payment™ platform powered by the patent-pending truPayments® engine and built on the Grail® mobile-first technology platform. Additional engagement tools including Payments on Inventory, Quick Pre-Qualify, Payment Calculator, Landing Pages, Instant Trade-In Equity, and Custom Marketing Assets function as integrated modules within the Shop-by-Payment™ ecosystem. The company has been acquired by PureCars.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• tru Shop-by-Payment™: A personalized payment shopping platform that allows consumers to shop for vehicles and financing together, starting with credit profiles to provide accurate, real-time payment options across dealer inventory and finance programs.
• Grail®
• truPayments® Engine

Products and services

• tru Shop-by-Payment™ A personalized payment shopping SaaS platform for automotive dealerships that allows consumers to shop for vehicles and financing together by starting with their credit profile. The platform computes accurate real-time payment calculations across all dealer inventory, finance programs, terms, rebates, and incentives simultaneously using a patent-pending calculation engine. Includes customer-facing self-desking tools that let shoppers dynamically control deal preferences (loan/lease, term, down payment, trade-in), dealer-configured rules for key deal terms, and integrated engagement tools (Payments on Inventory, Quick Pre-Qualify, Payment Calculator, Landing Pages, Instant Trade-In Equity, Custom Marketing Assets). Delivers qualified leads with full credit bureau and vehicle preference data to the dealership.

Quantifiable outcome

• No frustrated customer expectations from inaccurate payment quotes
• +3 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• PureCarscoreOthersTruPayments was acquired by and is now integrated into PureCars, a digital retailing platform for the automotive industry. The Shop-by-Payment™ product is now offered under the PureCars brand. PureCars provides the parent company's platform infrastructure, customer base, and go-to-market resources for TruPayments products.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Cox Automotive: Cox Automotive owns Dealertrack, Dealer.com, VinSolutions, Kelley Blue Book, and other dealer technology assets. Represents the broadest incumbent in dealer digital retailing, with the ability to bundle payments/financing features that compete with TruPayments.
• Tekion: Tekion is an automotive retail cloud platform (acquired DealerSocket) spanning DMS, CRM, and digital retailing. Overlaps with TruPayments in digital retailing/payment shopping but operates at much broader scale across the dealer stack.
• Dealer.com: Dealer.com (Cox Automotive) provides dealership websites, digital marketing, and digital retailing tools. Adjacent to TruPayments in driving online-to-showroom conversion and dealer payment/quoting workflows.
• RouteOne: RouteOne is a major dealer F&I and credit application network connecting dealers with finance sources. Adjacent to TruPayments' payment shopping and pre-qualification workflows but focused on the credit submission/decisioning side of the deal.
• Dealertrack: Dealertrack (Cox Automotive) is the dominant dealer F&I and credit-application platform with deep lender integrations. Comparable to TruPayments in enabling finance-driven shopping flows but part of a much larger automotive technology ecosystem.

Direct peers

• AutoFi: AutoFi provides an online auto finance, payment, and digital retailing platform that connects dealers, lenders, and shoppers around payment-driven purchase flows. Closely comparable to TruPayments in starting the deal with payment/credit rather than vehicle selection.
• Roadster: Roadster is a leading automotive digital retailing platform that lets shoppers configure payments and complete deals online. Direct overlap with TruPayments' Shop-by-Payment across dealer digital checkout, payment shopping, and self-desking workflows.
• CarNow: CarNow (now part of Reynolds & Reynolds) is a digital retailing solution for dealerships that includes online credit applications, payment calculators, and deal structuring. Competes head-to-head with TruPayments in the dealer checkout and self-desking layer.

Emerging players

• CarGurus: CarGurus is an online automotive marketplace that has expanded into digital retailing and connected car shopping experiences. Relevant comparable in terms of consumer-facing payment discovery and dealer lead origination even if not a direct platform substitute.
• AutoGravity: AutoGravity (now part of AutoFi ecosystem) pioneered credit-first car shopping on mobile. Conceptually aligned with TruPayments' "start with credit, not vehicle" approach; comparable as an emerging adjacent player in payment-led auto commerce.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about TruPayments