Supply and demand is alive and well.
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Some people don’t want a “new” car even though they can afford it. 
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There’s so many people out there that refuse to buy new because of the depreciation so they go for a car that’s 1-2 years old because they think it’s a better deal. Except that many times they end up paying the same or more for a used vehicle compared to a new one because of rebates etc.
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Actually they have to raise RVs so much!! My Lease depreciation has been only 4k for 36months, exactly half of what they estimated in 2018. I should have paid $110/m instead of $220/m for my RAV4?
Thought of this comment walking my dog tonight when I stopped to talk to a neighbor. She mentioned she had just bought a Highlander from Carvana. The woman was standing outside her million dollar home.
She said she just didn’t want to deal with the “dealership experience.”. I bite my tongue and walked away. I wonder how much it is her not wanting to deal with the dealership experience versus just not knowing that she was paying about the same price for a used Highlander as a new one.
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One reason Tesla is successful. No haggling
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I always wonder for folks who dont like haggling, and sorry if this is offtopic, whats stopping them from literally telling the dealership I’d like to pay the msrp or msrp+all the adms?
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When my last lease ran out 18 mo ago I had no luck getting anyone in the area to give me anything close to a Leasehackr deal (the joys of the Phoenix area dealer market). I ended up buying a 2018 used sedan from Hertz as a stopgap because I needed something to drive.
Fast forward to the current market and that used car is worth almost $3K more than I paid, even with the miles I’ve put on it. Yesterday I traded it in and bought a 2021 Rogue SL for 11% off MSRP and 0% interest for 60mo. Yes, that’s Nissan which are typically more discounted than most makes, but even so I’m pretty happy with where the current shortages brought me!
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If they do it, they feel like they’re getting ripped off. If Elon does it, it’s a blessing.
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I think I would have done the same based on my nightmarish experiences in the past if it’s not for this forum…
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Because someone perceived to be that naive would get destroyed in the finance office. APR/MF markups, “mandatory” service contracts to avoid “voiding your warranty,” “preinstalled” accessories that cannot be taken off, etc etc.
Sky is the limit for profit potential off a stupid customer
And guess what, when you try to get those taken off, you are back to … haggling.
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I have a friend who is car shopping now and was looking at Carvana and Vroom because she doesn’t want to “deal with dealers.” She had absolutely no clue that you can do all of the paperwork, credit apps, etc online and then just come into the dealer to test drive the used car and sign.
Americans are just too stupid to do an iota of research. It’s a shame, but great for business and the educated.
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best is when they sell you gap. i cant imagine how many people, even those who were sent in to dealers through this site, have purchased gap insurance when it was already included in their lease.
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On my last purchase (not lease) they wanted $2,000 for GAP insurance. My insurance company offers it for about $8 per month. But hey…like you said…I bet there’s a ton of people that jump right in.
But this doesn’t really help. I did this with my recent lease and still got peppered with questions in Finance until the manager I worked with and told the guy, basically, I knew what I was doing/keep things moving. Dealers don’t make money selling cars online with nothing added on so they aren’t just gonna do that and give you a fair price off the bat.
Sure we do everything before getting to dealer but I spent hours and talked to 10 Volvo dealerships to facilitate that. Getting to that point with even a new car cash purchase wouldn’t be easy. And used cars is probably even worse. Someone who doesn’t know much about cars should not be negotiating a used car purchase without a PPE with maybe the exception of a CPO vehicle.
I think the real answer is most Americans should spend the 10 hours to get a decent deal. It’s just too big of a purchase for the average american households (income around 68k) to do otherwise.
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I don’t negotiate. Am I successful?
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Probably not that easy in general, but, since I love to be an outlier… When I purchased my Golf Sportwagen in late 2018, the 3 dealers I contacted were all offering ~$5K off of a $27K MSRP as their initial offer. I didn’t even bother to see if more was possible b/c my then-car was having some horrific mechanical issues. Picked it up for a dealer was all of 2 mi away from me. 
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True, but at least you have a choice of reading the contract terms before you sign. Whereas startups both Tesla and Carmax/vana the “selling party” sets the rules, even if they are not in your favor just to fuel that instant gratification itch folks who hate “haggling”.
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Average customer spends:
14 hours of online research,
118 days in the market
2.5 dealers visited
(numbers are outdated, too lazy to look up 2020s).
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That’s not possible for all dealers.
I still spent 6 or 7 hours yesterday in the dealership.
We all discount the convenience of buying something online, but there’s a lot to say for that easier experience. People are willing to overlook Tesla’s quality issues because they want to avoid the time required to haggle, the dealers who are not the nicest even on email, the decision fatigue that comes from deciding whether you should take a car with driving assistance or parking assistance, and the requirement some dealers still have to come in to fill out a lengthy app that should be super fast especially if you’ve used that dealer before. Sure your roof might fly off on the highway, but until then it’s a pretty good experience 
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