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Nonprofit markups.org is exposing the most egregious new car prices
41–50 of 272 posts
Re: Nonprofit markups.org is exposing the most egregious new car prices
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wouldn't buy a Tesla from Carmax (I wouldn't buy a Tesla from anyone), but for everything else, it's pretty great. I bought my last car from them online at an extremely sane price, and they delivered it to my door; a few weeks later a better trim of the same car popped up on their site (many hours away), and I was able to exchange without any drama. I got pretty decent at car buying from dealerships over the years,…
My personal experience was that sites like carmax and vroom had significantly higher mark ups then dealerships and lots of complaints that their “360 inspection” had terrible quality control problems and frequently shipped bad cars. I can see these sites working for very specific models and trims but overall bad. Honestly it’s all bad unless you get lucky it feels like.
I recommend Manheim Auctions, if you can get access.
Re: Nonprofit markups.org is exposing the most egregious new car prices
#43If this downturn really deepens into a true recession (however it is defined) won't new vehicle markups go away naturally as fewer customers will be buying new cars? Isn't Markups a business that only is relevant during an inflated economy?
I'm not sure that Markups seems relevant only, or even chiefly, because of the state of the economy. To me, admittedly as an outsider in the UK, the US car dealership model just feels wrong and monopolistic, regardless of prevailing circumstances - an exemplar of rentier capitalism supported by robust, deep-pocketed lobbying [1].
I suspect that Markups will remain relevant for as long as the situation vis-à-vis car dealerships and how they operate persists in the US. Markups may even prove to be instrumental in successfully rallying and focusing consumer support sufficiently to overcome the status quo, and so eventually have no further reason to exist. But the word "eventually" in the previous sentence is key.
[1] https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/lobbying.php?ind=T230...
Re: Nonprofit markups.org is exposing the most egregious new car prices
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's very little difference between a dealership, and a scalper. Both capture all the items in the market, then work together to inflate the value, artificially. The difference is that many places have laws preventing scalpers, and many places have laws requiring that you buy a car through a dealerships.
Dealers and scalpers provide liquidity. Sellers want the item off their hands now, buyers want something without waiting months for a seller. Dealers link these two needs together and take a cut for the service. There is no monopoly or requirement to sell a car through a dealer. It’s just that people find the service worth the cost.
In WA if you trade in to a dealer you pay tax on cars difference. When you sell privately, buyer pays full 10% tax on used car.
Re: Nonprofit markups.org is exposing the most egregious new car prices
#45TBH, the only real issue I have with this is dealers capturing all the markup - this is happening because paying those prices gets you a new car now, and not in 12mo when the supply shortage is relieved.
I'm not exactly sure how these things work, but if the manufacturer is forbidden from selling direct and dodging the dealer, that's a problem. If the manufacturer could, but is choosing not to, well, that's on them - They are simply transferring the PR hit to the dealer (and giving up the profits, which sounds dubious)
Pretty good example of trading one thing for another though! Pay up now for a car now, or wait and save your money for a car that isn't marked up. It's kind of funny seeing corporations try to apply price controls, rather than the government :)
Re: Nonprofit markups.org is exposing the most egregious new car prices
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Dealers and scalpers provide liquidity. Sellers want the item off their hands now, buyers want something without waiting months for a seller. Dealers link these two needs together and take a cut for the service. There is no monopoly or requirement to sell a car through a dealer. It’s just that people find the service worth the cost.
Actually dealers have monopoly protected by law in most states.
Monopoly as in there is only one dealer?
Re: Nonprofit markups.org is exposing the most egregious new car prices
#47TBH, the only real issue I have with this is dealers capturing all the markup - this is happening because paying those prices gets you a new car now , and not in 12mo when the supply shortage is relieved. I'm not exactly sure how these things work, but if the manufacturer is forbidden from selling direct and dodging the dealer, that's a problem. If the manufacturer could, but is choosing not to, well, that's on them…
Most states in the US have laws banning the direct sale of cars without dealers.
Re: Nonprofit markups.org is exposing the most egregious new car prices
#48Hey @TreyGuy (or others from Markup.org)
How do you account for dealers which sell for $0 above MSRP but then include a non-negotiable $700 "paint protection" service?
As a crowdsourced site, you'll get a ton of reports that a particular dealership has no markup and few if any reports from people who have actually been far enough into the purchase process to discover these hidden markups.
Re: Nonprofit markups.org is exposing the most egregious new car prices
#49TBH, the only real issue I have with this is dealers capturing all the markup - this is happening because paying those prices gets you a new car now , and not in 12mo when the supply shortage is relieved. I'm not exactly sure how these things work, but if the manufacturer is forbidden from selling direct and dodging the dealer, that's a problem. If the manufacturer could, but is choosing not to, well, that's on them…
Most states in the US have laws banning the direct sale of cars without dealers.
For states like California where it is legal, can you only buy Teslas directly?
Re: Nonprofit markups.org is exposing the most egregious new car prices
#50The mobile experience is so incredibly bad. Tried to add a markup to the site, brutal time trying to navigate it. Moved to a different tab and lost all my input. Image upload is capped at 5mb; which is under the average size my s10e takes by default. Great concept, garbage execution.
Is it really necessary for every website to work perfectly on a pocket sized screen? Some ideas just work better on a big screen, mouse and keyboard. We shouldn't limit ourselves just to make everything work on an iPhone.
What percentage of authentic (human clicked, human viewed) web traffic do you think mobile is? It is no longer 2008.