Dealer add ons with trucks

I’m trying to get into a Ram 1500 and today I visited a dealer and discovered that they add around $5K to every truck in dealer add ons (nitrogen, security package, etc.) As soon as that part entered the conversation, I mentally checked out. I struggle to deal with crooks and a dealer that adds $5K to every single truck in dealer add ons falls under my definition of being a crook.

While they did mention that these add ons were negotiable when they saw my reaction, I already knew I wasn’t going to walk out of there with a truck. I was fiercely battling dealer discounts off MSRP and when this became a part of the conversation, I just didn’t want to deal with it.

Are dealer add ons in the truck segment a thing? Should I expect to see this everywhere? If so, I think I’ll look into something else.

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Recommend casting a wider net than to just one dealership.

The truck segment is very competitive, but I believe depending on the region that some markets are willing to pay for addons on trucks.

Pickups are high profit margin vehicles and tend to be heavily incentivized in most markets, so the addons may be a dealers way of trying to make
More profit. They’re definitely well within their right to ask for more money, it’s up to you as the buyer to not give them your business.

Don’t see why you can’t get what you want at a decent price, either look further away or find a broker.

That was your first mistake, second mistake was considering an FCA product.

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What’s your region?

I imagine that may have something to do with it.

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It’s certainly not uncommon here in NJ to see dealers add “protection packages” to advertise discount that are well below typical. In my experience, they will refuse to remove the packages because they will claim they accessories are “already installed.” When I bought my Jeep Gladiator it had a $1000 protection package, they refused to remove it but wound up discounting the deal by another $1000 to earn my business.

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Yeah definitely try to ask other dealers and compare the prices. The dealer add ons are high

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Easy. Take the add ons and pretend they aren’t even there. If they don’t bring it up, You don’t bring it up so long as you wind up where you want to be.

I keep reading FCA hate, but not sure why? Can you explain why considering an FCA product is a mistake?

He’s not a fan of the ram, also fca dealerships worst collective dealerships by manufacturer.

Hate dealing with 99% of them, think their product is worth way more than market value.

I’ll also say the ram is a good looking truck with updated tech but it’s still essentially the same truck as last gen, powertrain has not changed and neither have some of its issues.

And to answer your initial questions dealer add-ons aren’t a thing in this segment, you may run into dealers who charge for a spray in bedliner but 9/10 times that will be your first order of business once you get the truck anyway.

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Pretty much what @Lazarus said, they are the absolute biggest pain to deal with as far as dealers. Honestly I’ll give any make a shot if they have a vehicle that’s leasing well. Before I got my wife the Tiguan I attempted to hack a Cherokee, it just wasn’t worth the brain damage. If an equivalent car is close payment wise, I’ll skip the FCA product.

Dealer add ons just indicate to me that this dealer is scummy and probably not worth messing with. I don’t think I’ve ever leased a car with BS add ons

Almost every dealer around me at least does the required “VIN etching” add-on.

Just walked out of another dealership, 40 miles away from my house, they had around 3-4k in add ons and they wanted $700s a month for a $51k selling price (this is just what the website shows) truck and $1k down. They might have been able to discount the truck even deeper given that it is the last day of the month, but as soon as they took out the little dealer add on booklet, I checked out.

I’m starting to learn about the pain of dealing with FCA and also starting to agree that they’re convinced their product is worth more than market price.

I might give one last dealership a shot and then just move on if Iit doesn’t happen.

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They actually had a booklet? Wow. A lot of dealers I’ve been into don’t even go through that effort.

Can’t say much for their trucks as we have been ford all the way so far.

But when dealing with them when I was looking for my charger hellcat it was an absolute pain over the phone, I can’t imagine going into a dealership with them haha.

It’s just the way their dealership’s works. Their corporate and srt department are very accommodating compared to their dealerships.

Don’t shoot the messenger but to an extent the customer shares some of the blame for the way how many FCA dealers do business.

Get up and walk out. If enough people do that, the dealer will either figure out how to sell without being shady or go out of business.

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Yeah that’s true for many manufacturers as well.

I put the hellcat problems squarely on those idiots who paid over sticker and like 10-40k over msrp.

By no means is it a new thing but as of late there’s a term for it. YouTube/Instagram Rich.

They don’t care what it costs as long as they’re first to get it and the exposure that comes with it.

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Yeah for content :joy::joy::joy:.

But these behaviors cause issues for the rest of us, I couldn’t afford 10-20k over sticker but my parents can and they have never paid over sticker, even when the new gen navigators were freshly out my mom refused to pay $1600/mo to lease one, we ended up waiting a few weeks and found a dealer willing to go to invoice and drop the lease to $1300 w/0 das.

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Have you looked into the Rodo deals on Ram 1500 right now? They are pretty strong for Laramie and Long Horn models. Why not skip the dealer process all together.