Somebody will buy it, put it in a garage and drive it maybe once a month, clean and polish it regularly, change oil annually and coolant every 3-5 years and in twenty years, sell it for a million.
1 Like
Wouldn’t this person receive the same ROI, without the hassle and expense of owning an exotic car, if they put the $128k into buying shares of Intel, NVIDIA, Microsoft, etc?
Well, I’m not a buyer at that price. But its not an essential commodity either, so I don’t see any reason the dealership can’t price it as they want. As long as they are upfront about the surcharges, and aren’t obfuscating the pricing. There’s a substantial number of folks these days who have more money than they’ll ever be able to spend, and if one of them wants to spend some of their loot on this car, no worries on my account. If it sits there, and sits there, for months at a time, no buyer, dealership knows what to do.
Yes, but people with this kind of money diversify. They invest in stocks, gold/precious metals/gemstones, collectables like stamps, coins, cars or artwork and real estate. It can be just part of the portfolio to them or like in the case of someone like Jay Leno, a real passion. Usually the latter when it comes to collectables.
I’ve always wondered about those collectable-experts the Las Vegas Pawn Shop tv-show asks to come to the shop to offer advice on the authenticity and value of something a customer brings in. How is it they are able to stop everything they are doing and rush to the Pawn Shop at a minute’s notice? …lol …
I have neverr cared about what people thought of what I drove. To me a car or a truck is a tool and I judge it by how well it fits the job.
I had a "work car that I kept my overnight bag and AM,FM and CB radios, antennas mounted on vise grip, and speakers in a wheeled plywood box .
I had started at a national, union trucking company as a casual road driver in Dec.89 and got put on the seniority list in Feb. 90. One of the other road drivers congratulated me and said, I could buy a better car now.
I laughed and asked “Why would I want a better to rust and depreciate sitting for days at a time in this parking lot?”
He had a $40,000 pickup je bought to pull the camper and boat that he had no time to use because at that time we got no days off unless we ran out of hours. I was driving a 66 Valiant slant 6 I bought for $235 several years before. It started easily and was dead reliable. I grinned every time I drove it, I loved the squeeze bold you stepped on for the windshield washers. I had a great laugh when I returned after a 4 day trip and we had had a blizzard and below zero temps and mine was the only vehicle in the drivers parking lot that started. I gave the other drivers that were there a jump and told the driver of the pickup that he should think about buying something that would start.`
Because it only ran short trips and barely got warmed up ,I used 5-20 oil in it.
2 Likes
Around here, they are sticking it to everyone- which is fair since everyone gets the shaft 
Even getting an econobox at MSRP is an increase over what they were selling before. The model then was to inflate the MSRP and sell below that. That way, the customer feels they won and the dealership gets what they needed to make a profit. Now, they are selling them at their full MSRP amount with no discount which like I said is still a percentage above the old method and pure profit on the backs of those who can least afford it.
People don’t invest in dealership unless they wand a profit on their investment that justifies the work and risk of starting and running a dealership. They naturally asnt a good profit for this and there are many things working against dealerships for a long time now; Their expenses are high and due to the internet and competition from other dealerships online sales departments, they have not been making great profits for years. With less cars to well because of supply chain problems, they need more profit per vehicle because their operating costs are not going down. I just don’twant them to get the profit from me.
I was going to buy a new car last year, but I don’t NEED a new car. I was not going to buy one at today’s jacked up prices.
My 2012 Camry shows no sign of rust, I only drive a few thousand miles a year and this one will probably last for as long as I am going to be driving and a used car would serve me as well.
Have you all forgotten in the late 70s VW dealerships had a listing on window stickers of VW diesels? Line read ADP $2000.
1 Like
We certainly share this same sentiment! 
I’m not so sure about the slim profit margins from dealerships. Have you looked at most of them? I used to say about Las Vegas- they didn’t build opulent casinos in the desert from people winning. Well look at the dealership buildings. They didn’t build those mansions with low profits. Around here, they tend to cluster together. They have more than a few “auto miles” with dealership after dealership. When I look at those fancy buildings with the marble floors and huge ceilings, expensive trappings, I just get upset because I know my money is going to fund those things. I don’t need/want a fancy building just a fair deal on a car from a simple brick and mortar store.
I think there’s decent profit in new car sales. However, I believe the gravy comes from the service business. It’s been like that everywhere I have worked. You sell the car once but you (hopefully if you’re doing it right) service it many times over.
You’re absolutely right about the pandemic related issues. However those are relatively short term challenges in the grand scheme. Leveraging other aspects of the business helps keep the profits up while weathering the storms. Stealing market share through excellent service and not gouging people when you could helps. Was it VDC that drove 70 miles to find a dealer not adding outrageous ADP? I bet a lot of people went that way…