Santa Monica-based Zag.com , the online automobile buying service headed by Scott Painter, is reporting today that it had what is calls its "strongest sales so far this year" in June. The firm--which provides its car buying service as a private-label offering through affiliate groups such as the AAA and USAA--said it had 20% sales growth in June, and 15% growth on average for the previous three months. The firm did not say what drove the growth, and did not provide any financial details on its sales or profitability. Zag has previously received venture capital from such firms

Zag's technology provides a level of customization and detail on "fleet" style, pre-negotiated sales of autos, down to the accessory level; the firm has deals with USAA, Capital One, Overstock.com, AAA groups, and others to provide its service. Zag has received funding from USAA, Capricorn Investment Group, LLC, GRP Partners and Anthem Venture Partners. Santa Monica-based Zag.com , the online auto buying technology firm headed by Scott Painter, said Wednesday that the firm has sold its 50,000th car through its online auto-buying affinity programs. The firm, which develops

Santa Monica-based Zag, a venture-backed developer of online car buying software, said this morning that it has made a Zag said it has promoted Bernie Brenner to Executive Vice President in charge of the firm's consumer initiatives, named David Pributsky as VP of Partner development. The firm also named Steward Easterby as VP of Sales; Bill Lepter as VP of Business Intelligence; and Star Marcus as VP of Human Resources. a number of hires and a promotion.

Santa Monica-based Zag.com , the online automotive buying firm headed by Scott Painter, announced Thursday that the company has reached an agreement with Mercedes-Benz USA to offer an additional $5000 off pricing of new Mercedes-Benz cars to members of USAA, one of the affinity groups using Zag's auto pricing and purchasing services. Zag provides a white-label version of its automotive configuration and pricing engine to USAA and other affinity groups, which provides a detailed, in-depth quoting system for "fleet" sales of automobiles. The firm said the additional offer comes on top of special member prices, rebates, and dealer incentives available to members.

Santa Monica-based TrueCar , the automotive pricing spinout of Zag Automotive, disclosed Wednesday that the firm has inked distribution deals with five automotive websites. TrueCar is using pricing data, derived from information gained from Zag's auto buying service, to show buyers the prices that people have paid to purchase vehicles within a local area. Tags: truecar automotive pricing auto sales e According to TrueCar, it will provide its price reports on Pricequotes.com , Carbuyingtips.com , Carzen.com , Carpricesecrets.com , and Cardevotion.com . Financial details

Santa Monica-based SharesPost , which has created on online marketplace for sellers and buyers of private company stock, reported to its users late Friday that the firm now has sales of LinkedIn, Linden Lab, Tesla Motors, and SugarCRM going into escrow. Brighthouse is a technology incubator headed by both Brogger and Scott Painter, who also co-founded Zag and CarsDirect. The firm--which launched in early June--also said that that it now has offers to sell Facebook, Tesla, XDx, eHarmony, and LindenLab shares, as the firm's marketplace starts to gear up. The firm also bolstered

TrueCar is a spinout of Zag Automotive, and gathers its data from actual sales information from local dealerships. Santa Monica-based TrueCar , the automotive pricing startup headed by Scott Painter, said yesterday that it has rolled out a new, monthly consumer price report. The firm said that the monthly report will help consumers identify which cars have the most negotiating room, best deals, and other information.

TrueCar provides new car pricing data derived from actual automobile dealership sales information, and is a spinout of Zag Automotive. Santa Monica-based TrueCar , the new car pricing data startup headed by Scott Painter, said Monday that it has inked a deal with automotive publisher High Gear Media , where High Gear will include TrueCar's data on its network of web sites. TrueCar said that High Gear will include its search and pricing services through sites like TheCarConnection.com , MotorAuthority.com and GreenCarReports.com , part of High Gear's network of web sites.

Santa Monica-based TrueCar , the automotive pricing spinout of Zag Automotive, annoucned today that it has hired the Chief Evangelist from Edmunds. TrueCar is using real-world sales data from automotive dealesr to power its service, which allows both consumers and dealers to research recent pricing trends and actual pricing data from local markets. The firm said that Jesse Toprak will serve as the firm's Vice President of Industry (Tresnds & Insights) at the company, and will analyze and report on automotive related topics, trends and insights. Toprak spent nine years at Edmunds,

You can hire a talented head of marketing, business development, technology and sales.  If You need to for conferences, business development and often for sales.  It’s Scott Painter , founder of CarsDirect has created two new generation LA startups (Zag and TrueCar, both backed by GRP Partners). Los Angeles.  People People either love it our hate it.  All