Submitted by reddit_dwhyer t3_yiooso in Connecticut
I'm looking for a car and I'm calling dealerships for prices and all of them telling me the that they are adding a $4-$6K 'surcharge' because of low inventory. In New Rochelle , a dealer wants to add $10K, but in CT is about $6K. Is this legal? their reasoning is because the inventory is low.
It's totally legal. Don't reward these dealers by shopping there though. Part of my job is decisioning auto loan applications, and it's infuriating watching people sign up to pay $10k+ over sticker. Not every dealer is doing this, so give your business to the ones who are sticking to MSRP. You might need to do more research and drive a little farther, but it's worth it.
I'm surprised banks will even give loans where the loan amount greatly exceeds the value of the collateral.
Looked at used car prices? Bought a car for my family 21,500 list and payed that with fee's etc 24k same car on carvana 27k with 1k miles. So going by resale value yup the collateral is worth it.
In normal times the car goes down 5k for driving off the dealer lot.
MSRP is Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price. The dealer is under no obligation to use that as a maximum price. A sister-in-law bought a new car earlier this year and instead of a fixed dollar amount, was told that all cars on the lot were going for 9% above MSRP. However, since we had referred her to the dealer we had used, she got a "friends and family" discount down to 4.5% above list.
Remember this when dealers lobby politicians for benefits / market restrictions
They are not here to help you.
Why wouldn't it be legal? They are free to charge what they want for the product, you are free to look around and play those dealers off other dealers. To be completely frank, I hate the car buying process because of the crap you need to put up with and deal with just to make sure you aren't getting screwed.
Last December an Audi dealer tried to sell me 10k over MSRP.
I will never buy a new car again theres many used ones at good a price.
Free market. Of course it’s legal. Don’t pay it
Anecdote: this summer, my friend from LI ended up buying his car at a dealer in Wallingford and driving it back because they were the only place anywhere close by that was not charging a markup over MSRP. LI was $5k over minimum, which is remarkable on a $30k car.
Toyota Wallingford?
It was actually Kia. He ordered in May and picked up in August.
Not every dealer nor every brand are selling over MSRP. Toyota and Honda have among the least inventory this year and are likely to charge a markup. Stellantis brands (Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram) have plenty of inventory and many are selling vehicles at MSRP unless it's a special/limited-run vehicle. Talk to several dealers in person and you'll quickly get a sense of what's going on with each brand.
MSRP is manufacturer's suggested retail price so that basically means nothing. They are free to change anything they want and its up to you as the consumer to pay it or not. Not illegal. Supply and demand.
Obviously yes.
All companies set their own prices. Cast dealers are just a bit more transparent.
jjma14 t1_iujould wrote
Yeah, it's happening all over the place, but it's not at every dealer. If they won't knock the charges off then I'd find another dealer.