It's a REAL problem not just hitting the auto industry. My company uses these specialized Edge Routers for our internet circuits...I realized if one fails we are screwed trying to get it replaced, so I ordered a few of them for backup. Not only did the price double, but ETA is December. I used to be able to get these in a week. Nobody fakes that kind of stuff, it's not good for business

 

It is what it is. I feel bad for people who have to buy a car right now, but the only advice I can give is try and wait it out and God willing nobody hits me

 

These people are my friends who just happen to be GMs of dealerships...there is no reason why they would lie to me...

I can post articles about record profits for real estate companies too, but I can tell you for 100% sure that they aren't really accurate because I work for the largest one in the country. Just like my friends have no reason to lie to me, I have no reason to lie to you. Gross profits are up, but net profits aren't. These are volume businesses that make the bulk of their money on ancillary fees and add on services and the lack of volume has curtailed those.

 

If for some reason your local dealer is not making money like the majority of others across the country, maybe they're doing something wrong. Your example is another reason why most people don't rely on limited input when researching factual data. When you determine one of your customer's house value, do you just compare it to one house that sold recently?

https://www.kbb.com/car-news/dealers...-car-shortage/

 

Toyota also recently reported record profits. https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Aut...April-December

And dealerships are also making record profits. https://www.civic11forum.com/threads...-profits.1178/

 

Not surprised by Toyota.

Good I am happy dealers are making good money. There are a lot of customers out there that wants to nickel and dime every $$$ a dealer makes. Two sides to every story

 

that's true, it's a highly adversarial business. most consumers are clueless when it comes to buying cars, and most car dealers are vultures wanting to pick the bones clean of consumers or saddle them with way more debt than they should have. car dealers generally have about as good a reputation as criminals. but i do feel for dealer salespeople who may use awful tactics, but they're generally not actual criminals, they're just trying to make a living as best they know how.

on the flip side, some consumers go way too far in trying to get the ultimate deal to brag about, and dealers should indeed tell them to get lost unless the dealer is truly desparate to get rid of a vehicle (not likely today!).

 

And that is dealers fault?

 

it's cyclical and you can't say you haven't had a good run for the last, oh decade or more. and you know what i think of the realtor business.

 

i understand 'caveat emptor' but consumers are clueless about most purchases and cars, boats, and houses are the biggest decisions they'll make, and consumers usually get taken to the cleaners on all 3 and others.

but that's still doesn't give the dealer a right to be so unethical, targeted at fleecing consumers for as much as possible. it's not about value at that point, it's basically legalized fraud. particularly when a consumer goes into a dealer, they're bringing a newspaper to a gun fight... the dealer knows all the 'tells' and reads them easily.

 

You cherry picked his quote. It's obviously not their fault, but to take advantage of their ignorance is. This is what makes people despise them.

 

So not the dealers fault. Dumb car buyers..

It is a scary world out there.... maybe family values are missing or need to be re-thought

Who is more dumb? The idiot buyer paying over MSRP...or the idiot dealer saying "DO NOT PAY MSRP...haggle with me"

 

Fault? No. But many (maybe most) absolutely take full advantage of it. A party with superior knowledge has an opportunity to educate the other party ("Hey, you may not realize that....").

If you see someone drop their wallet, is it your fault they did? No. But if you don't tell them they dropped it, and you let them walk away because it's their "fault", what does that make you? Now add to that someone who not only keeps silent, but takes advantage of the situation.

So if you know the customer is clueless, and you use that to your advantage, it's just as bad, if not worse.

 

Ok - so car sales people can start this move toward "family values" by helping show customers how not to be taken advantage of. Why don't they....?

 

I have heard this from more than one GM of different dealerships. What are the odds that they both had the same experience and that both of their dealerships are run poorly?

The reality is that like everything else what you read in the media is not completely accurate. That article is also from November and it cites sales volume as also being up. Look at the new car sales thread on here and look at the %s sales are off YoY from 2021.

I'm not complaining, and business is fine, we're just not "killing it" the way the public thinks we are. People say to me all the time "you guys must be loving this" and we really aren't loving it. The car business is the same way, its not nearly as rosy as it looks from the outside or the media would lead you to believe.