Today I found a Metro Atlanta (GA) dealer selling USED SX White/Butterscotch (with 9,000 miles on it) for $44,900. Which is 2K+ over MSRP for the same as new. As far as I have been told it does not have any other equipment or options on it. INSANE! Dealers will who were a nightmare to deal with, under normal circumstances, with fall deeper into the "BAD REPUTATION" name-tag and it's their own making. KIA should have something to say about these dealers marking up Tellurides by 3K, 4K, 5K and 10K. INSANE! This will scar the reputation of dealers and KIA. This is nonsense over a vehicle!
Yep, preaching to the choir my friend.
Let's hope the inventory situation can normalize by next year. On the other hand, at least Kia finally has a hit and dealers can make some cash - maybe they can upgrade the dealerships a little... LOL. There is some behavioral economics at work here... because if Kia had set the MSRP $2-6 k higher depending on trim giving dealers more wiggle room to offer discounts (similar to other car dealerships like Acura, or luxury dealerships with large margins on some trims/vehicles) - then maybe we wouldn't see these markups and we'd feel like we got a "deal" when we got a 'discount' from the dealer.
i.e. take SX-P - $48,000 sticker with $1000 finance discount = $47,000.
- $54,000 sticker (theoretical higher MSRP) with $1000 finance discount and $4500 discount to price from dealer = $48,500
I'm worse off in the second case - I paid more for the same vehicle - but do I feel like I got a deal?
Some mass market manufacturers like Kia and Mazda tend to have a smaller margin between invoice and MSRP - which means that dealerships really don't make all that much on the sale of the car - only through dealer add-ons, markups and the finance department. All those tactics were invented long ago, and frustrate consumers - so I think Kia really needs to rethink the model. I couldn't believe it when I walked into an Acura dealership and they're willing to give $8k off sticker for some models - which would bring price down close to SX-P in some cases. Good luck doing that at a Kia dealership... even with the
Sorento many dealers are trying to stick with the factory incentives first (which are large) before offering dealership discounts. Same with Mazda.
BMW and Audi, however, tend to have smaller margins on their gateway vehicles (3-series, X1, Q5) and then much larger margins on higher trims/more expensive vehicles. Then they have massive costs for "option" packages... which have their own margins built in!
One day, hopefully, we'll be able to order with full transparency... like Tesla - but then individual consumers who show up at the dealership at 7:00 p.m. the Saturday before quarter end to haggle may not get as good of a deal as they do now!
