How do they get away with it?

Shit people say until they find themselves with no dealer.

 

This is one thing that I appreciate about the higher end, specifically german, dealerships ive gone to. Theyre pretty much straight shooters in most cases. Makes conversations much easier. In most cases, they seem a but more passionate about cars too and just like to talk about them with you, instead of trying to push a sale. Toyota and subaru dealers are quite the opposite, and often dont even understand the differences between their own models

 

I had a similar experience at a dealer in San Diego. They gave me a decent price though the Costco auto program. When I sat down at the dealer they had a list of add ons they never mentioned. Factory window tint, 3m door edge guards, paint protection, alarm. They we’re all listed at a cost of $995 EACH! I’ve never seen window tint or 3m clear tape that cost $995. Not to mention the window tint was factory. They did not install it at the dealer. I asked about the paint protection and the guy didn’t know much about it. So I assumed they applied wax ‍‍♂️. I told them I wasn’t paying any of that. It took some going back and forth but they ended up taking every one of those $995 charges off the price.

It felt to me like they try to play with the price that way. They can offer you the vehicle at a lower price, but when you come into the dealer they will try to recoup some of that cost by listing over priced “add ons”. I don’t like it, but it’s kind of smart. I bet a lot of people end up paying some, if not all the BS “add ons”.

 

People buy crazy ideas. We sold a release series Supra for 10k over msrp. All dealers were marking them up. Some even sold a few 40k over msrp. Crazy!

 

Invoice and dealer cost are two different prices. They get incentives and kickbacks on different models and really don’t know what their cost is until after the sale. You can be sure they make a good profit and the fact most Toyota dealers sell hundreds of cars a month.

 

I was getting my car serviced last weekend and was looking at the Tacoma's they had on the lot. The 2019's they had up front were all over 56K because of lifts, wheels, and tires. The actual trucks were not even fully loaded but at least the parts they used were from the likes of King and Ikon. This same dealer is known for adding the "market adjustment" to the TRD Pro models and had one before the 2020 came out listed at 55K.