Oso planning to go pro
We should have never invented cars in the first place. Think of all the stage coach drivers and blacksmiths that were thrown out of work.
The problem is that 99% of online car "buying" is just a front end to old fashioned dealerships. It is just fancy new advertising for the same old experience. Now, I will say that there have been some improvements to the process....like no haggle pricing and being able to compare prices across many more dealers. But you still have to have the sucky buying experience of going into a dealer, sitting around for five hours while some guy tries to upsell you on financing, a service plan, and an extended warranty you don't need.
And I'm not sure no haggle pricing is always a benefit. As noted in this thread, places like Carmax, are no haggle, and they normally sell for higher prices than other outlets. No haggle is only a benefit if you are uncomfortable negotiating.
And I don't think it can be argued that dealerships add cost the car buying experience. Otherwise, they couldn't exist financially.
What are you talking about? They exist because there is no other option when you want to buy a new car.
In my ideal, you could by direct from the manufacturer or go to a dealership.But also, dealerships have to make money on their transactions, otherwise they wouldn't be financially viable. So they must, somehow, add money to the transaction that otherwise wouldn't be there if sold directly from manufacturer.
Yep.As I tell my wife when we are in the middle of negotiations and the salesman stands up to get the business manager: "They won't let us buy this car if they don't make money on it. If they let us get up and walk out, we know we're below that money-making price." That gives us knowledge to resume negotiations either at that dealer or with the next one.
That isn't necessarily true. Dealers sell cars at an initial loss quite frequently. Typically they make their money by hitting goals set by the manufacturer and getting bonuses for hitting those numbers. So one way or another they make money on it, but it isn't necessarily off the customer.And of course dealerships have to make money to be viable. You could say the same thing about literally any sales channel. Not exactly rocket science. But if manufacturers sold direct to customers there would be added costs in that model too.
When we wanted to buy a 2007 Prius back then, they were still a very much in demand car, and they routinely sold for over list. We decided to use Costco's car-buying service. You go through Costco, fill out the form saying what you want, they set you up with a dealer that has agreed to a price, and you get the car for that. We got the Prius for $200 under list, which was very good back then (we wouldn't have been interested except there was a $2,600 federal hybrid tax credit back then). We haven't used Costco since, but I would definitely do it if I had my heart set on a very popular model that dealers weren't discounting. For example, I've heard that the Kia Telluride is like that now.
That isn't necessarily true. Dealers sell cars at an initial loss quite frequently. Typically they make their money by hitting goals set by the manufacturer and getting bonuses for hitting those numbers. So one way or another they make money on it, but it isn't necessarily off the customer.
This is why I find it amusing when manufacturers advertise a given vehicle as “the number one selling [midsize/SUV/pickup] in America.“ After all, the number one selling vehicle is simply going to be the one that is manufactured in the highest numbers. Eventually it will sell, whether at MSRP or some reduced rate, but the manufacturer is not going to be left holding on sold cars at the end of the day.I understand that sound business practices would require matching manufacturing to anticipated demand. But as we know, auto manufacturers don’t always follow the most sound business practices…
Uh, no. This ain't the USSR, kin. Supply and demand applies to cars too.Civics, F150s and Camrys sell because they are good value for the money. Pontiac coul have made a million Azteks, them suckers wouldnt sell regardless.
Azteks were ahead of their time. And a perfect example of GM design by committee. The original concept was beautiful. The Pontiac cladding was hideous and putting it on a minivan platform was dumb.
I shamefully admit I owned an Aztek. We badly needed a new car with 2 young kids. A mechanic friend told the wife and I it had a very reliable GM engine used on other automobiles. He rarely saw issues. We bought fully loaded dirt cheap. Never once had an issue with it and was the roomiest car I ever owned. We traded it in with 98,000 miles right after I got a new job for a 2-yr old 2006 Ford Explorer which I still have. My kids love driving the Ford and we from the safety aspect love them driving. They got rear-ended coming out if school. There was small puncture in the plastic on the bumper that we got fixed only because the other partiy's insurance was paying. The other car was practically totalled.
LOL, and how do you think the manufacturer makes up for those payoffs to dealerships? They raise MSRP. Which drives costs up. Whatever way you slice it, dealers add to cost.
This isn't how pricing works. However, I can't argue with your conclusion. Dealer adds cost - Infrastructure, Inventory, People & Profit. The question is is there a more efficient path to the market? People want to test drive and ask questions. Can the OEM do this more efficiently? I don't know. Frequently today dealer inventory is thin, particularly for foreign cars, so its a local place to do a test drive, understand the car better and agree on price/place your order. I wouldn't have bought the car without driving it, so at a minimum OEM's would have to have local 'trial centers'.
It is a legitimate point, but one that I think could be easily solved.Manufacturer show rooms and trial centers. Owned by the manufacturer, not a dealer who needs to make a profit. Cars available to sit in and drive around a test track. I'm pretty sure this is the Tesla model, where they are allowed to do it.