Automotive Corporations and the downfall of local dealerships.

Don’t have much experience for the topic at hand. But in my opinion, the automotive industry has become the biggest rip off industry in history.  The cost of new/used vehicles is ridiculous. Repair costs are even worse. 

 I am strongly considering totaling out my moto van that’s in limp mode. I would need to fork over 10 grand or more to fix it. If I do it myself, the parts are between 6 grand and 8 grand. The culprit, exhaust and def system 🤔  That’s after I dropped 6 grand earlier this year to replace power steering pump and repair a bad injector. Never would have thought replacing an exhaust system could make me consider totaling a vehicle. 

Anyway, rant over 😉

Where to begin?

Cars are so complicated we can't work on them ourselves,  same with John Deere tractors.  So we are forced to take them to the dealership.

I strongly believe current cars are going to be a HUGE problem in the near future.  Why?

Lower income people (40% of the population  at least)survive by being able to maintain and work on their cars themselves. There is now going to be so much tech related horse shit we don't need that lower middle class and poor people will not be able to drive.

You can extrapolate that to appliances also.

Nothing I hate more then having to do business with a car salesman, I have a few friends that sell cars ,it pains me to know the kind of person they turn into once they punch in. Thankfully we qualify for a couple different  A plans so negotiating vehicle prices if we buy a new vehicle isn't something we have to do. Not to mention absurd mark ups just because they know they can onbhigh demand vehicles.

The business model for a modern auto dealership is simple:  Over-staff your store and put every single employee on commission.  Makes a shitload of money for the store, but your employees and your customers get screwed.  I'm glad I got out of that business.

I worked in a motorcycle dealership for many years, and believe me, we were amateurs compared to the auto dealers. Those guys know how to squeeze blood from a turnip. Here are my suggestions for buying a car:

-Do not trade one in. Sell it on your own first. This will help you remove one part of the 3D chess game they try to play.
-Understand the difference between a lease and a loan. Choose accordingly, and don't let the payment be your deciding factor. They can manipulate the payment using methods that do not lower your debt. In fact, sometimes, they bury you deeper with a lower payment. If you are doing a loan, it is worth it to have a pre-approval from your own bank that you can use instead. The dealership wants to sell you a bank loan too (they make money on that,) and you can leverage your own financing to get a better deal. (They may cut you a deal on the price of the car if you stay with their financing. Do that, then refinance a few months later.)
-It's worth repeating: Don't buy based on the payment. Odds are, if you can afford ANY payment, you can afford one that is $50 more. (Or less.)
-Find out what you are paying for the car alone. Note how hard the salesperson tries to hide this information. There's a reason they don't want you to know, and it isn't so you get the best deal. Do not agree to the anti-theft devices, Scotchguard treatments, or Nitrogen in the tires unless you think that $100-$200 worth of parts is worth $1000 of your money. Make sure you understand what they were originally trying to charge you for that stuff and make sure it ALL comes off the price of the car. (PS- many of the anti-theft devices come with a tracking device that records your location, acceleration, and braking data, then sells it to insurance companies so they can justify raising your rates. REMOVE this device. BTW, your car itself it probably doing that also - find and remove that capability as well. That's another topic.)
-On a related note, only buy an extended warranty if it comes from the manufacturer. Also, if you are leasing, do not buy one at all. Your lease will probably expire before the factory warranty anyway. 

In short, my advice is: Only pay for the car you are buying. Don't pay for add-ons unless you want them. Don't muddy the waters with a trade.

I love dealing with the salesman and have even been told that the sales manager yelled at me and made me cry. I started laughing after that comment. I had already dealt with 3 different Honda dealerships on line out the door best deal that Honda had on their website. This was my closest Honda dealerships and they wanted to add a bunch of things to the price and immediately called the other dealer salesman and asked if they added these things and he said no. This deal was down to they wanted to charge me an additional $200 for the plastic mud guards that in working at a honda car dealer I knew was part of a new car and where put on by the set up guy. We left and drove to the other side of Charlotte and bought a new Accord from the other dealership. 

The salesman called me the next day and said my manager has approved not charging the $200 and I said to late we already bought it last night.

My wife hates watching me do it but I walk in already knowing what I will pay.

Car fax is a scam to beat down the trade in price. On my truck I said thats not enough for our HRV trade in so where is a good place to go eat lunch and ready to leave changed their high attitude.

We then went back to finalize and they wanted me to tack on an extended warranty and a high interest used vehicle loan and I let them rattle on and said nope I will pay cash. We went to lunch with a new to us truck.

I deal with dealerships through email first, then phone calls, then in person visits. Always try to get an OTD price quote with everything itemized through email first. I can then compare with other dealerships. It's worked for me well for an F150. Found the best price, no mark ups, no add ons, etc. walked right into the dealership no haggling signed the paperwork, denied all add-ons in the finance department and was on my way with the best price found from CA all the way to Iowa. I was will to drive/fly to any dealership for the best price I could find. Luckily the dealership with the best pricing was only 2 hours away. The dealerships I did correspond with via email/phone and went in person were an absolute waste of time.

Bought another brand new Toyota using the Costco auto program and that was a dream! Costco has things set in place where the dealership has to show you invoice pricing with no add-ons. They have to show you what they paid for it and what you're getting the car for. Usually very competitive pricing below market value. Went into a dealership who said they had the car we were looking for, they didn't have it. They lied, shocker. As we were about to walk out they found the car at another local dealership and could have it transported to us in 1 hour. Well, they weren't willing to haggle on price as much as we wanted and we found the dealership that had the same car they were going to bring over. We took our Costco OTD quote over to the dealership that had the car. They had the same car and same VIN for 10k more and were not willing to haggle or take off any dealer add-ons. The said they could not come anywhere close to the price we showed them and we should go back to the other dealership and buy that car. Never told them it was the SAME EXACT CAR with the same VIN of the car he was showing us. So we went back to the original Toyota dealership and bought the car. Had the car in an hour. The 2nd dealership salesman texted us later asking if we were interested or if he could help us find another car. I told him we bought the same car off his lot for 10k cheaper from another dealership. The dealerships do car trades and that's what happened. 

I will heavily recommend Costco auto again and use it next time for sure.

EDIT: Both cars we bought were extremely specific with very specific colors/configurations/packages which made both hard to find and even harder to haggle on price since we were so specific in what we wanted and not many were available.

I'm not sure how many true 'local dealerships' are left.  Maybe more than I think, but their share of the sales pie has to be very small and decreasing rapidly.  

I do know several people who still believe that Dave Smith Motors is Kellogg ID is a local dealer and owned by a still living local named Dave Smith, though......

No value in dealerships, whatsoever outside of warranty service.

Try that with a RV warranty 😂

I drive back to the Newmar factory in Nappanee Indiana repair center after 1 time trying the local dealer.

Not arguing with anyone in here, because most of you are right - the bigger issues stem from financial illiteracy, and grown ass men and women walking around not having a clue how money works. Most of the general public can only fathom "X" dollars per month, and cant be bothered with understanding negative equity, insurance rates, term lengths, interest rates, maintenance and fuel costs, and the like. Impulse buying a $65,000 truck because you got a 1 time $1,000 bonus from your work, or signing for a new $45,000 SUV just because it has 'wireless carplay' is the type of ignorant shit that keeps dealerships afloat. Financially savy customers AREN'T whom the dealer (and the banks handing out the loans) are marketing towards. "Flat rate" pay for techs, and Commission based pay for everyone else (complete with a 'draw') creates an atmosphere of "Every man for himself". Cash paying customers are met with the most contempt and hatred of all - I suggest doing this when ever possible. 

Anyone buying based on a payment kind of deserve to be ripped off..that is like car buying 101. 

The biggest issue folks have when buying a car is letting their emotions get the best of them…they love the car so much they’ll make dumb financial decisions..

I personally enjoy negotiating—-so for me car buying is a blast. And I don’t get emotional. 

I think it’s easy for salesmen to spot an inexperienced buying who they can easily screw over..

I’ve had nothing but great experiences buying cars over the years..