An extra $200,000 on a new Hummer or $20,000 on an EV6—these are terrible deals.
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Buying a new car? This database might help save thousands in dealer markups
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They were marking up Rav4 Primes in SoCal 20-25k back in sept/oct. They also want you to do the $500 hold fee, but refuse to negotiate the sales price until it arrives here stateside. Feels like a trap, cause it is.
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In Georgia, at least, adding unadvertised fees is illegal and can result in fines or loss of business license.
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Clearly, the free market is going great! Nothing better than a distinct absence of regulations around dealership pricing!
/facepalm
/facepalm
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That is crazy. I bought mine last summer at MSRP. Took 2 months to arrive. The only change that the dealer lowered my trade-in value by $1k, though it still meant that after 11 years, I received 77% of the purchase price on my FJ.
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Bought a new car a month ago. Felt like I got somewhat raked over coals by dealer, but my last car had just failed catastrophically and I needed a replacement immediately. Negotiated the price down, but still paid more than expected... tinted windows, floor mats and alarm marked waaaaay up.
Just checked Carmax and Caravana. I could sell my car used for significantly more today.
Market is f'd up.
Just checked Carmax and Caravana. I could sell my car used for significantly more today.
Market is f'd up.
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Yeah it's out of control, and certain dealerships are really cashing in on the FOMO/Panic buyers.
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Well this is complete bullshit. Regardless of economic conditions, dealerships have been viewed by consumers as the most rancid parasites in the retail world. People have complained plenty about dealerships, all the time.
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Friend of mine sent me a picture of car sticker at Ford dealership. They were selling a 47K Bronco for 81K.
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There was pent-up demand (think early Tesla orders, but for Toyota fanatics), and then they cut the already meager production numbers in half when COVID hit.
You got very lucky. IIRC, $10k markups were totally normal in the first year.
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Any way to buy cars directly from manufacturers? I know there are predatory laws in some states that empower these shit dealers.
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I just got a 2015 Escape on Friday (and lucky to get that) from a dealer that I have dealt with occasionally over the last 40 years, and they were classy and professional as always. YMMV.
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Well, there's Tesla for starters. They did an end run around the traditional dealer model. For most manufacturers, there are dealership franchise agreements dating back decades that would be extremely difficult and costly to amend. Therefore, changes probably won't be happening anytime soon.
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Just Reported this discrepancy to the website:
Ford dealer in Austin TX,
Report Ad - 5590 - Leif Johnson Ford - https://markups.org/ford-adjusted-deale ... ord-1.html
The bronco has a $29,890 markup built into their price. The window sticker has Total MSRP of $49,440. Their advertised price is $79,330! Things to take away, Look at the original window sticker for the price details.
Ford dealer in Austin TX,
Report Ad - 5590 - Leif Johnson Ford - https://markups.org/ford-adjusted-deale ... ord-1.html
The bronco has a $29,890 markup built into their price. The window sticker has Total MSRP of $49,440. Their advertised price is $79,330! Things to take away, Look at the original window sticker for the price details.
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I'd argue that the issue isn't a lack of regulation.
The issue is legislation *requiring* dealerships. Look at the struggles Tesla has faced with such laws.
Remove all of the laws that are currently making dealerships nigh-compulory, and we can actually have competition (at least at the middle-man level)
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The US could really do with the equivalent of the UK's CarWow (there are other similar sites).
But the dealer situation is still makes very little sense with different branches of the same company
competing against one another to the detriment of the company as a whole - I can see the whole dealership structure here collapsing as more EV's are sold and manufacturers can adopt the Tesla approach of list price only.
With sites like CarWow the customer put's in the spec they want for a new car and dealers make their best offer. The last petrol car I had, there was only one of the spec I wanted in the UK - whomever I bought it from - it was going to be that vehicle. Using the platform I got the car from the Swindon branch of the dealer for 3 k less than the local Branch of the same dealer - presumably someone had a target to make and cut their commission to do it.
Similarly, when I sold that vehicle (using motorway, a site that does the same thing but in reverse - you provide full details of the car you want to sell (including all defects) and dealers bid on it) - the Bristol Branch of a dealer out bid the local Branch of the same dealer - who then had to give the driver a lift to my house to collect the vehicle!
But the dealer situation is still makes very little sense with different branches of the same company
competing against one another to the detriment of the company as a whole - I can see the whole dealership structure here collapsing as more EV's are sold and manufacturers can adopt the Tesla approach of list price only.
With sites like CarWow the customer put's in the spec they want for a new car and dealers make their best offer. The last petrol car I had, there was only one of the spec I wanted in the UK - whomever I bought it from - it was going to be that vehicle. Using the platform I got the car from the Swindon branch of the dealer for 3 k less than the local Branch of the same dealer - presumably someone had a target to make and cut their commission to do it.
Similarly, when I sold that vehicle (using motorway, a site that does the same thing but in reverse - you provide full details of the car you want to sell (including all defects) and dealers bid on it) - the Bristol Branch of a dealer out bid the local Branch of the same dealer - who then had to give the driver a lift to my house to collect the vehicle!
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Tesla only does direct purchasing.
Makes no difference, they just raise the price as demand continues to climb. Matter of fact, a Model 3 Long Range went up $1,000 last night.
Supply and demand actually works. I've stopped considering buying a Tesla as the price has gotten so high. Maybe a few years from now they'll be more reasonably priced as the two new factories come online and increase supply.
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The catch being, IIRC, the estimated wait time for some models is as high as 2 years.
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While Tesla is more transparent in pricing, they simply raise the price of the vehicles to compete with demand. In that sense they're no better than the dealer model.
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We bought a new car just over a year ago, and not a moment too soon. Not too excited about the pending transmission recall or the potential class-action lawsuit over the crappy CarPlay implementation, but we actually do love the car despite those issues.
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While strolling around the show room at Opequon Motors (yes, I'm calling them out) while waiting on the scheduled maintenance for my wife's modest Buick, I saw a Cadillac Escalade with an extra sticker with $10K added on as mark-up, taking it to $103,000.
A fool and his money...
A fool and his money...
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none of those complaints were that car dealers were losing money discounting cars. Unless they were coming from car dealers.
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Probably important to note that the opposite does exist - there are dealers still out there not adding markups (though less common with high profile vehicles). Be actually more useful to track those, so buyers can reward them!
Of course, be prepared to drive a few hours, but can easily be worth it to avoid 4+ figures of markup.
Of course, be prepared to drive a few hours, but can easily be worth it to avoid 4+ figures of markup.
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It's not just the overall amount extra that the dealer charges, it's the markup on the shit they attach. I've been seeing shit like this: look for Hyundai Kona EVs. Hyundai national lease offer on it will be something I'm willing to pay. Dealer says they have something in stock that qualifies for the offer but then in actuality it's at least $100 more a month than the national offer because of the "dealer-installed extras". And the stuff they're saying is worth thousands of dollars extra probably cost them a couple of hundred dollars tops to install.
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Bought a new Crosstrek just before the pandemic, remember dealership shopping and quickly realized Subaru locks in prices across dealerships to prevent them from competing against each other. Actually led to a positive experience, and the markup site confirms there are few/no ADMs on new Subarus (except for a few outliers).
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The fact that dealerships are mandated to exist throws the free market argument out the window...you can't expect free market behaviour from a industry that has lobbied to be anti competitive from the get go.
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The base model 3, which was going to be less than $30k at one point, is now 48k+. It's a five year old design.
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I'm going to make a donation to these folks with the direct request that they also add support for us dear folks north of the 49th parallel.
I went looking for a maverick in eastern ontario, and the markups were an obscenity.
I went looking for a maverick in eastern ontario, and the markups were an obscenity.
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The only people who like dealerships are owners and employees of dealerships, or people with Stockholm syndrome.
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Never happened. My wife works at a dealer. I have had them as clients. Never seen one that lost a dime.
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While dealerships are making vastly more money per vehicle, given the overall inventory shortage, are the dealerships actually making more profit? After all, they still have fixed costs related to rental/mortgage, overhead, and staffing costs.
I ask because I'm currently in the market for a new car, and the dealers are always complaining of how bad business still is.
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