How Dealerships really work?

When i bought my 2013 ford f250 xlt brand new i knew the salesman i ordered the truck i want and got everything i wanted and waited 4 months for it to be built and delivered and paid about $10,000 less than i would of paid if i didnt know anyone because i got family discount.
i miss that truck

 

Im a former dealer. Family has been in the business since 1955. Dearborn, MI. Ford L-M, Cadillac, Dodge, Jeep, even Yugo. Personally, I left the business after college and pursued a military career. Im not the wealthiest member of the family, but Im probably the healthiest and happiest.

 

I still giggle when I fart.

 

Ok, we what about a different model. Much like the wal mart bread. Keep the dealer, but have a sticker price that is the price everyone pays. No haggling, no feeling like the dealer is trying his best to bend you over. The dealer can get a sustainable commission per unit and the customer doesn’t have to have anymore anxiety about being dealer raped. Thoughts?

(Also, for the record, I didn’t feel raped by my dealer and quite the opposite. I got a good deal, they made some money. Everybody won. That was after going through about 7 other slimeball dealers first though. Not all dealers are shitty, but certainly a lot of them are)

 

That has been tried before..Saturn. Didnt work out to well. People have been negotiating from sticker ever since Consumers Report first got big, late 80s, or so. Factory employees have a set price, whether its on the lot, or ordered. Dealers make a nice profit off of those deals, especially with the higher msrp"s. Most of a new car dealer's money is made in parts and service. There are some shitty dealers, no doubt, but dont expect them to last more than 7 years, the manufacturers initial contract. If enough complaints are made, the franchise is pulled.

 

I don’t disagree with your idea but Saturn tried this very thing. No haggle pricing. For whatever reason and I honestly don’t know, I’m sure there are a million reasons but it just doesn’t work for some reason. Manufacturers get greedy or can’t deliver the same customer loyalty or have something inherently wrong with there business model.

 

Saturn tried it ...did not go over well with the public! They wanted they’re discount

 

Saturn failed because who wants a no-haggle guarantee on a piece of junk? GM is known for HUGE discounts in order to move their garbage, everyone knew Saturn was owned by GM and at the bottom of the barrel quality wise. CarMax has no haggle and they kill it! Most all cars on a CarMax lot are $4000-6000 overpriced but they get it because of the experience and that you're very unlikely to buy a pile of crap.

 

So people pay 4-6 thousand over just for the “experience” what experience? It’s just like any other used car lot. As a person who has sold cars the worst experience I’ve ever had was helping my now wife buy a Ford Escape there. CarMax gets there cars the same way dealers do -auction/trade/leasereturns CarMax is a marketing genius and that’s all the credit I’ll give them lol they were the lone survivor or the dot-com auto boon.

 

Just FYI, if your shopping for a car and need to finance it, go to a State Farm insurance agent. You don't have to get State Farm insurance, for years they have been pushing agents to sell auto and home loans through State Farm Bank. They do strait forward loans, no gimmics. So far, I've had four auto loans through them. Negotiate the price as low as you can, apply for SF loan, if it's better, get cashiers check, go buy truck. Pretty easy

 

And all that open space in showrooms cost allot of cabbage to heat or cool.

 

Yes, you just have to look at ALL those awesome showrooms to know that they are making very decent money somehow..