Dealership model vs. direct sales?

[Crissa]

Damn! he is even being taxed on the $50k...... that's brutal. So it's more like an extra $54,750 he has to pay. F That!

That is how taxes work. It raises the registration fee, too, as that's based off purchase price.

-Crissa

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[HaulingAss]

I guess there’s a lot of car dealers out their. Looks like the Dealers have lots of friends.

When you pay for web bots, they are, by definition "your friend".

 

[Old Pro]

Do you believe in free market capitalism when it comes to car sales?

Let your voice be known in this poll:

https://www.hartfordbusiness.com/po...-to-sell-directly-to-consumers-in-connecticut

Going into a traditional "old school" car dealership is such a pain. That model has done in themselves. Who has time for "the game"?

 

[Ogre]

Dealers know their model is broken. Just like most addicts know they have a problem… they can’t give it up.

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/...-too-they-re-freaking-out-already-184938.html

 

[TruckDaddy]

Picked up a new model Y last week. It was so nice NOT to talk to a single salesman. Looked it over for 30 minutes. A guy came by and asked if I had any questions. Nope! Accepted it in the App and drove away.

 

[EV Rob]

Dealers know their model is broken.

I’ve bought a dozen cars from dealers. You get to know the dance and learn how to protect yourself. I’m sure the weak get fleeced regularly. Buying a Tesla was a wake-up to how painful and unnecessary the dance is. Did the dance one more time at a legacy dealer after buying the Tesla. Makes you realize what a terrible waste it is. After escaping with a car after hours of negotiations, I talked to the salesman about how great and easy it was to buy a Tesla. He just lowered his head. Not sure if it was shame, or just awareness that you described. They know the days of that sales model are numbered. Americans will demand the Tesla experience.

 

[Crissa]

Fortnine explains how dealerships benefit manufacturers (he's talking about motorcycles, but it applies even to Tesla):




Now if only they weren't mini-monopolies.

-Crissa

 

[Dusty]

Dealerships have put themselves in a position where they are despised by literally everyone who doesn't receive money from them. Even then, their sphere of influence rarely goes beyond 1 degree. The "dealership experience" will cause people to treat their eventual demise with the indifference given to an annoying movie character that gets killed once their usefulness to the plot is gone.





On behalf of:

• every little old lady on a fixed income who paid 30% more for a car simply because she didn't know the "game"
• every family with modest means that over-paid for a shitbox because they didn't know the "hustle"
• everybody who needed a car for work after their mule broke down and had to paid through the nose because they didn't have weeks to research how to "negotiate".

And finally, for making grifting, trickery, and chicanery something they consider "harmless sales practices"--Fuck their whole industry. And I don't care about their jobs, they can find a new employer. History is littered with far better industries that perished after their usefulness expired.

 

[Crissa]

Even if you know the game... doesn't mean you have time, luck, or leverage.

When we bought our Nissan, the Nissan dealership was the only one who'd get us a loan that wasn't completely predatory. When we bought the Mazda, we had more leverage, but that meant that we only came out even. The two cars total cost to buy ended up the same, even though one was bought ten years earlier with a sticker ten grand lower.

-Crissa

 

[Ogre]

Fortnine explains how dealerships benefit manufacturers (he's talking about motorcycles, but it applies even to Tesla):




Now if only they weren't mini-monopolies.

-Crissa

Benefits manufacturers… not consumers.

 

[Ogre]

Just a little reminder. Most legacy auto companies make the bulk of their income from their financing department, not from their car sales. Legacy auto companies are banks that manufactures products to generate financing activity.

Ford or GM profit indirectly from every added dollar of markup that dealer makes because that money gets rolled into the loan. The idea auto makers don’t benefit from dealer shenanigans is largely bunk.

 

[Crissa]

Well, they do care if they could have sold two and end up with over production. They want the money machines to go brrr and someone threatening the flow by tarnishing their rep does that.

A markup here or there is pure profit, but enough to turn away customers later is bad.

-Crissa

 

[Sirfun]

Just a little reminder. Most legacy auto companies make the bulk of their income from their financing department, not from their car sales. Legacy auto companies are banks that manufactures products to generate financing activity.

Ford or GM profit indirectly from every added dollar of markup that dealer makes because that money gets rolled into the loan. The idea auto makers don’t benefit from dealer shenanigans is largely bunk.

You make a very good point. Take for example the Hummer that had the huge mark-up with a total price of $177K. The finance department is licking their chops at that. Of course with that higher price they will have to extend the loan on that huge amount which hands them even more money!

You're also right in that there are very few times consumers do well. I'm 65, so you can just imagine how many times I've played "the Game". Fortunately, I was able to play the game and walk away feeling pretty good, with our purchase of the 2020 Pacifica PHEV. It was late in Nov. of 2020 and the prices of fuel had been cheap all year, and with Covid, all their sales were down. The dealers were advertising huge rebates and bargain prices, trying to move inventory. The PHEV's were abundant in So, Cal. I had about 10 dealers emailing me and calling when I showed interest online. Luckily, I was able to take advantage of that and negotiate over the phone with several dealers, over a couple of days to get the discounts they were promoting at 0% financing. I did have to buy from a dealer almost 100 miles away. But it was worth it.
There is absolutely NO CHANCE of that happening in our current environment.

 

[Sirfun]

Well, they do care if they could have sold two and end up with over production. They want the money machines to go brrr and someone threatening the flow by tarnishing their rep does that.

A markup here or there is pure profit, but enough to turn away customers later is bad.

-Crissa

Hooray for social media!!!!

 

[Crissa]

Hooray for social media!!!!

Positives and negatives. This is one of the positives.

-Crissa

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