Buying a car has always carried a mix of excitement and dread. Between rising prices, confusing discounts, and long hours at dealerships, many Canadians walk into showrooms expecting a fight rather than a fair process.
For Jordan Russell, co-founder of Price Driven, that frustration isn’t theoretical. It started when he was young, watching his mother struggle through a dealership visit that felt more draining than empowering.
“It didn’t look like she was having a good time,” he recalled. “That moment stuck with me.”
Years later, after selling hundreds of cars himself, Russell saw the same tension from the other side of the desk. Families would arrive in groups—parents, siblings, cousins—all there to protect one buyer from getting a bad deal.
“They weren’t nervous about the car,” he said. “They were nervous about the process.”
A broken buying experience
Surveys show nearly 70% of Canadians don’t trust traditional car-buying practices, and up to 80% report feeling stressed or unsure when negotiating with dealerships. The problem isn’t just price—it’s confidence. Vehicle costs have climbed for years, with more than 1.6 million new cars sold in Canada last year, an 11.8 percent jump, yet most buyers still feel they’re navigating blind.
Russell understood the gap: information existed, but transparency didn’t.
“Two people can buy the same car and pay completely different amounts,” he said. “Most buyers don’t know what a fair deal looks like, and that uncertainty is what hurts them.”
Building a platform that speaks both languages
Price Driven is Russell’s answer—a platform built from his years of dealership experience and conversations with thousands of buyers. How to avoid dealership markups is easy with Price Driven, says Russell. It provides free discount reports showing verified invoice pricing on new vehicles in Canada. Shoppers can use the report to negotiate on their own or upgrade to have Price Driven negotiate for them.
“Most customers save around seven hundred dollars,” he said. “Sometimes much more. And for something as big as a car purchase, that matters.”
One of his earliest wins came from an elderly couple shopping for a Lexus SUV. Their son, living abroad, worried they’d get taken advantage of. Price Driven stepped in.
“Our report showed almost eight thousand dollars in available savings,” Russell said. “We helped them secure six thousand off. No pressure, no back-and-forth—just a clean deal. The family was relieved.”
A business model built on alignment
Unlike many services, Price Driven doesn’t take commission from dealerships. Instead, it uses a subscription model, where dealerships pay a flat monthly rate for ready-to-buy, verified leads.
“We don’t get paid more depending on which car someone buys,” said Russell. “Dealerships pay the same fee whether we send one lead or ten. So our incentives stay clean.”
Buyers benefit from transparency. Dealerships benefit from efficiency. Sales staff save time because customers already understand pricing and expect a fair number—no haggle car buying canada platform.
Growing out of Waterloo Region
Russell credits much of the company’s momentum to Waterloo’s tech community. Originally from Peel Region, he moved for a tech sales opportunity and found himself surrounded by resources that pushed him to take entrepreneurship seriously.
“You’ve got Velocity, Accelerator Centre, Communitech, so many programs and people who support you,” he said. “Waterloo is one of the few places where you can walk into a room and meet a mentor who changes everything.”
He calls the region a “small, friendly Silicon Valley,” and believes that sense of community played a major role in Price Driven’s growth.
Helping Canadians navigate a tougher economy
With rising living costs and a shrinking middle class, many Canadians feel more pressure than ever to make the right financial choices. Russell says that’s a major part of his mission.
“People thank me after downloading a report,” he said. “They’ll say, ‘I couldn’t have bought this car without your help.’ That keeps me going.”
He also hopes to help people avoid the overwhelm that often comes with budgeting and negotiations. His advice to buyers is simple:
– research the specific car
– use the brand’s “build and price” tool to check real payments
– and don’t be afraid to walk away
“A lot of stress disappears when you know the numbers,” he said.
The road ahead
Price Driven currently helps a few dozen buyers each month. The next step is scaling that impact—hundreds per month, then thousands. Russell wants the service to become the simplest part of anyone’s car-buying journey.
“We want to make the process so easy that people say, ‘Why wasn’t it always like this?’” he said. “If a customer isn’t happy, they get a refund. If they find a simpler way, we want to hear it. We want to remove as many headaches as possible.”
For Russell, the goal is clear:
bring trust, clarity, and fairness back to one of the biggest purchases Canadians make.
“At the end of the day, car buying should be fun,” he said. “If we can help people feel that again, that’s a win.”
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Company Name: Price Driven
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Website: https://pricedriven.ca/