How do they get away with it?

My wife and I went to a Toyota dealership to check out the 2020 4Runners for her. While there we checked out their showroom TRD Pro Tacoma to see the TRD snorkel. I noticed they had a "build list" for their non-sticker upgrades. The first thing that made me chuckle was the "Toy tech" lift kit for $1,800 (claimed $500 for the parts). Chuckled, pointed it out to my that its Toytec and then looked at it and laughed when the lift was actually labeled Revtek. Searched the lift kit online and found it for $250 or less. At first I just thought it was a typo, then I thought they were just incompetent, then it sank in, they were flat out lying.

There are umpteen million threads about this or that dealership doing xyz that is questionable or flat out wrong (and a few that I'd argue the dealership was in the right). Though, despite everything these dealerships just continue to do they same stuff over and over again. How do they get away with it? How have we as a society/consumers not forced a change?

Btw, I actually really liked the new TRD "Desert Air Intake."

 

Think of how intelligent the average person is.

Now realize that about half the people in the world are less intelligent than that.

That's how.

 

Because they can get away with it. It's that's simple. Doesn't make it right or wrong, but when people are unaccountable, they'll take what they can get. It's reptilian.

 

The dealership's behavior is driven by greed.

 

The class of employees in that industry aren't that great.

I worked at a BMW Dealer for a bit and I made sure to do the opposite of everyone there and it worked out for me.

The dumbest shit goes thru their heads, and they really don't care. Dealers can be much more successful if they had more of a regular structure and staff that is customer advisory focused vs sales

I only buy our vehicles from dealers who were bought out. Penske etc. Staff isn't even on commission, so not hustlers, but they will make sure every description is correct and take care of the customer

 

If you had a problem with it why didn't you just take it up with the dealership on how the Clearly falsely advertised it.

 

It’s happens because they know people like you don’t that have the balls to call them out on it leaving the people that don’t know to get fucked.

 

I was looking at a dealer’s 2020 Tacomas on their website and they had one with $3k of upgrades added onto the price.

When I scrolled down and read through what they were, it was literally just Toyota accessories. Floor mats, bed liner, pro shift knob etc etc.

Maybe $600 worth of accessories, maybe. Crazy how they can charge $3k for some random stuff from the parts department.

 

I was at my local dealership today and walked around the showroom. There was a taco that had a caliraised type light bar behind the bumper and front tinted windows with a dealer markup of $3400. I just laughed!!!

 

They put a revtek lift on a pro?

 

I saw a documentary once about dealerships. They are loosely regulated by the manufacturers or the government. And because they have this contact/clause thingy, you can literally not buy direct from the manufacturer or anyone else if you want a NEW car. It's pretty much a monopoly but because of how they structure themselves, its a loophole of not being one. Long documentary but good info on how it all works and how they easily scam people with literally no repercussions

 

Ha. Same here but with a Tacoma TRD OR at the Gresham, OR dealership. Built up TRD OR with "over $8000" in dealer added accessories... spacer kit, wheels, TRD exhaust, OEM roof rack, etc. Even if I was generous in the labor time to put these on, it didn't add up to $8K. The internet price they emailed my was $34566. So I drove in to check it out. Once in the building, they had $51K bottom line. I bought my truck elsewhere.

 

Mine wasn't that bad, but still.... Went through Costco which is supposed to be no haggle. But they don't give you a real price online - just "dealer invoice" and something along the lines of "discounted price," but with a caveat that neither of these are the price you'll actually pay. OK, so what is the price I'll actually pay? I clicked through on the offer to find out. A rep from a local dealer called me less than 5 mins later wanting to schedule me to come in right away. I pointed out the caveat and pushed her to give me an actual quote over the phone, not wanting to waste a bunch of time. "We're not supposed to do that over the phone" but eventually she gave me a quote that was actually pretty good. I got her to confirm there would be no additional fees or dealer add ons. Went in and looked at the truck, and was handed off to another sales guy. Was happy with the truck so went inside to sign my no-haggle papers. The window sticker was mid 37's MSRP, including some add-ons that cost no where near what they list them at. I'd been quoted mid 34s. The sheet the sales guy handed me with my "actual" price was over 42k with all the bullshit add-ons I was told wouldn't be there. "Well we have to add these on, the Costco price is so low we can't make money..." $3k for service agreement, $600-800 for alarm system, paint protection, window tint. Those can all come off, not paying for them. Got them back down to within a few hundred of my quote, aside from service agreement. Fair enough to add $$ for that, though I may still go back and get a refund on that. Definitely not a no-haggle experience.

Not so sure about that...

The above is the run around I got at a Penske dealer. The sales rep didn't know the products his dealership was adding on. I asked for specifics on the dealer car alarm add-on. He couldn't tell me what exactly it was. At first it was an immobilizer? That is the only thing I would actually be interested in, but I thought all Tacos come stock with that. Right, you're correct - finally admitted this only adds an audible alarm, and access to an app that can track location of the truck. So what is the subscription cost for that online tracking? Nothing online these days comes without a subscription cost. I got a blank stare at that question. No thanks to the alarm, you can take that off the bill. Asked about the service plan next. Was told lowest they could possibly go was $2k for it, after they immediately upped it to 120k miles and 10yrs. That doesn't seem terrible but what does it actually cover? Sales guy told me it covered everything. OK, so it covers all scheduled maintenance, parts? Well no, doesn't cover parts like brakes, wipers, tires, etc. Fair enough, but but it covers the actual maintenance like belt replacements, coolant/trans flushes, things like that? Ummm you'll have to ask the finance manager what it actually covers. Had to ask 3 times for their paperwork or brochure on what it covers. Get in to see the finance guy, who says no it doesn't cover scheduled maintenance at all - it's more like an extended warranty. More back and forth, hard to get an answer on what it really covers. But managed to get a few hundred more off the price. Not getting a good feeling about that. Paperwork says I can get a full refund on it up to 60 days and then a pro-rated refund thereafter. Which seems odd too - if it doesn't kick in until the manufacturer warranty expires, why would pro-rating start after 60 days? Leaning toward getting my $$ back on this service agreement. I don't need them holding my money for 2-3 years. I'm sure they'll happily sell me an extended plan when my warranty is up. Not sure how any mods I do to the truck will play into coverage either.

 

Did you report them to the BBB?

That's why they do it, half of the people don't notice, half don't care enough to say anything and half want to buy it!

 

because they can and because someone will buy it

 

Become educated so you don't get taken advantage of

 

Bottom line, the dealer is a business with local market conditions and customer base driving the pricing of many items (e.g. homes, cars, furniture, etc). Economics 101.

Many of you will say “I would not pay that” or “What a ripoff”, but the vehicle will sell to someone that does not care about the price or the $3K extra for a dealer installed item.

 

Franchise laws... I'd wish those would go away.