Note to Ford, re: Raptor "market adjustments"

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guernsej

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Why are the dealers the bad guys for selling to the highest bidder when the manufacturer cannot produce enough of their product to meet demand? If you owned a dealership, how would you feel about all of this?

Yea guys, you should really put yourselves in the poor dealership owner's shoes and try seeing things from their perspective before criticizing them!

Eric, I get that you're probably a small business owner and tend to see the world through that lens, but you have to recognize that the vast majority of car buyers are not business owners, will never be business owners, and don't benefit from approaching transactions the way a business owner would.

The dealers became the bad guys when they established a business model predicated on parting customer's from as much money as possible while providing as little value as possible in return.
 

EricM

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No I don't own a business. I just don't get the responses just dripping with hatred towards auto dealers. They are in business to make a profit, just like any other business.

How about if dealers made no money at all? Would that make you happy? Seems like a lot of risk running a business that large to not make any money. Would you run a business that made no money?

Look at it this way.. Would you feel better if there was no MSRP? Then there's really no mark up or discount to speak of. Its just the asking price that day.

How about if Ford's MSRP varied according to demand? Just like they do with MLB tickets. Nobody wants to see games against the KC Royals, but lots of people want to see the games against the Yankees. So start the MSRP at 85k until sales slow to 25 units a day. Then cut the MSRP and sell at that price until sales drop again.

Would you prefer the "Saturn" approach with one non-negotiable price? At that point you are starting to open the door to "vehicle scalping". First one to get there when they are available buys them all and resells for a higher price.

In the end all of the scenarios lead to the same result. The vehicle sells for what the market will bear. It varies some from dealer to dealer, but in the end they are all competing against each other to sell the same exact product.
 

fx4210

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Note to Ford, re: Raptor "market adjustments"

No I don't own a business. I just don't get the responses just dripping with hatred towards auto dealers. They are in business to make a profit, just like any other business.

How about if dealers made no money at all? Would that make you happy? Seems like a lot of risk running a business that large to not make any money. Would you run a business that made no money?

Look at it this way.. Would you feel better if there was no MSRP? Then there's really no mark up or discount to speak of. Its just the asking price that day.

How about if Ford's MSRP varied according to demand? Just like they do with MLB tickets. Nobody wants to see games against the KC Royals, but lots of people want to see the games against the Yankees. So start the MSRP at 85k until sales slow to 25 units a day. Then cut the MSRP and sell at that price until sales drop again.

Would you prefer the "Saturn" approach with one non-negotiable price? At that point you are starting to open the door to "vehicle scalping". First one to get there when they are available buys them all and resells for a higher price.

In the end all of the scenarios lead to the same result. The vehicle sells for what the market will bear. It varies some from dealer to dealer, but in the end they are all competing against each other to sell the same exact product.



I understand the point of view of some dealers. The trouble for me is when they don't care about existing or future business.

The 5k additional mark up lost you a customer who you've made at least 2x that on already. At the end of the day when times get tough the local dealers bitch about everyone going and buying from the big dealers or dealers in other counties but whenever they can screw you over they do. I have no problem with the practice but if you don't show me loyalty when I've offered it to you then don't ever expect it later.

I don't know maybe it's the way I was brought up or just something off about my business view. For me the high end f150 owners are the people who can afford to later get their kids new fords. It isn't all that uncommon for me to see a family with 4 new fords in the driveway. Why wouldn't you focus your allocation to keeping existing business rather than a quick buck?

I get it free market and obviously they will keep doing what they want (I mean it's obviously still working) just venting. I ended up driving an hour and half for MSRP but it really was disappointing that the local dealer basically laughed me out because I wanted MSRP after having bought two cars from them relatively recently.


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guernsej

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How about if dealers made no money at all? Would that make you happy?
That would make me very happy - I understand why they exist, but I wish they didn't.

Would you run a business that made no money?
No, but I also wouldn't run a business predicated on taking advantage of people.

Look at it this way.. Would you feel better if there was no MSRP?
I would not; I much prefer the price be set by the manufacturer rather than an unnecessary middle man.

How about if Ford's MSRP varied according to demand?
That's why manufacturers incentives and dealer holdbacks exist.

At that point you are starting to open the door to "vehicle scalping".
This is exactly what's happening already.

In the end all of the scenarios lead to the same result. The vehicle sells for what the market will bear.
Eh, sort of. Dealer inventory manipulation has created significant volatility and delayed market equilibrium to the detriment of many potential buyers.
 

jaz13

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So how about we flip the situation around. Everyone knows used vehicles depreciate and that makes it a good deal for secondhand buyers. Unfortunately for used Raptor buyers, 3 and 4 year old trucks in good condition are selling for nearly the same price as they were new.

So the question for all the high-and-mighty people who criticize dealers for charging market prices on popular vehicles, when it comes time to sell your highly sought after used truck, are you going to sell it for the typical and "fair" used car discount, or are you going to squeeze every dollar you can out of your highly sought after used truck?

Hypocrites are hypocrites.
 
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