ORIGINAL: DamnSkippy
ORIGINAL: Paladin06
Dodge Dealer Public Robbery Don’t let it Happen
I went by the dealership shown below yesterday to ask about the Challenger. The guy’s story was in conflict with everything I’ve seen from Chrysler that I had to ask, where do you get your information? Here a list of what was the most shocking.
I would not buy a car from this guy if he was the last SOB selling the last car on earth.
Earnhardts Gilbert Dodge
1301 N. Arizona Ave
Gilbert, Az 85233
1. The initial release will only be 3000 cars.
2. He is getting 11 of those cars.
3. The cars being built as 2009 not 2008 cars.
4. The next release will not be until the 2010 build.
5. He is selling the cars with a $20K premium.
a. A $37k CAR WITH A $20k MARKUP. HE MUST BE SMOKING DOPE!!! I’LL BUY A DAMN FORD MUSTAND FIRST.
6. There are only two options, sunroof and MP3 player.
7. There are only two (2) colors orange and black.
Ok, so he is confused or the public has been lied to. The part that should concern the buying public and Chrysler the most the $20K markup. If Chrysler really wants to sell this car in meaningful numbers, it better reel the dealerships in. That story about they can not control the dealerships is silly. Nissan has formally released a statement from its Headquarters that it will take the necessary action to prevent dealerships from overcharging for their soon to be released GTR. If the import guys can do it, so can Chrysler, if they really want to...
I wish Nissan luck in this...and I'm not completely boned up on this, but I would imagine Nissan may hits some FTC rules on price fixing etc. We did a business study way back in the dizzy on McDonalds. They wanted to force franchise owners to buy only from them (perfectly good reason, the success of the franchise is hinged primarily on the consistency of the food being served, reasonable, right?) the FTC ruled that the franchise owners were free to buy, specifically, french fries from anyone as long as the quality was there. To remain consistent to this approach, you'll see McDonald's commercials say in reference to price promotions, etc. "At participating McDonalds". It's because the McDonalds Corporation isn't allowed to dictate terms of sales. Now, this is over 15 year or so, but having the company be able to "fix prices" even if it were protecting the consumer, might (as ridiculous as it might seem) not be allowed. I invite anyone with more knowledge on FTC practice to correct and comment, I haven't boned up on it in quite a while.
There's not much the corporation can legally do about price gouging at the dealership or 'flipping'. I guess Nissan or Dodge could reduce a dealer allocation to zero at the first instance of price gouging. Or maybe let people order/build their car online or place a deposit on a car at MSRP. Or set up a site at dodge.com where customers mark off which dealers sell at MSRP and which ones are gouging.
I remember when I had a 350Z, some dealers (actually, a lot) tried to price gouge, but it wasn't too hard to call around and find a dealer accepting deposits at MSRP.
The only real solution is to make enough cars to satisfy demand. And rely on the internet to out price-gouging dealers. And hope people aren't dumb enough to fork over $20,000 over MSRP for nothing. But there's always fools out there with more money than sense.
