Let me put it this way: you've got the entire continental US you can buy a car from and shipping a vehicle coast-to-coast usually costs under $2,000.
So, what do you think is truer? Is the market excruciatingly tight, or are there just a lot of people making bad purchases out there?
At least for the Prius Prime someone wrote a script to grab the data which you can peruse[1].
E.g., for 6/30/22 there were 113 LEs, 99 XLEs, and 18 Limiteds that weren't listed as presold on that spreadsheet.
I spot checked both by enumerating through Toyota's list of dealerships and emailing roughly 50 dealerships. Based on the response I'd say even in July only 10% of those numbers were actually available. And cut that in half once I let them know I was inquiring out of state.
Average markup over MSRP was probably 5k. (Outlier was 20k "market adjustment" :)
So regardless of whether people are making bad purchases, the market is exceedingly tight.
https://www.reddit.com/r/PriusPrime/comments/vcajy9/2022_pri...
It's a bit of a drive to get there in the adjacent state, but totally worth it.
Edit: Also, we made deals for vehicles they had in stock, not custom-configured from mfgr.
I ended up leaving with the car I wanted and paid about $500 more than I wanted to but they wore me down.
I think if you buy through Costco you can avoid some of the bullshit, but you do pay more than you probably have to. It might be worth it though just to have an easier experience.
This has the air of "That One Weird Trick" that used to work in the early 2010s before everyone had heard of it. But now that it's the lead paragraph in every single "how to buy the exact car you want, for so much less money" blogspam, of course it no longer works.
I'm not sure why people expected it to continue when the entire business model of car dealerships is to turn suckers into money.
"Having to interact with a dealership" is around number 4 or 5 on my list of why I will never buy a car again, after years of not having one.
Right now, some might balk. But you know what? That salesperson cares about their quota, and if your purchases pushes them over today's goal number, they twitch. Because the inevitable next buyer tomorrow isn't going to get them over the quota they need to meet today.
And if your dealership really plays hardball? Move on to the next one. Or buy used from a place that doesn't haggle.
The way to lose this is if you want a specific year/make/model - they'll get you. If your entire attitude is "anything within that set of parameters", it's much harder for them.
My best car buying experience has been Tesla though. Ordered on the app. Put 500 down. Got a build date. Got a notification when it was in delivery. Added my payment info. Got a time to pickup car. Drove home.
Specifically: the car is only the first part, then there's extra warranties from dealership, financing, etc.
A standardized quote that gives you the price of these optional items would go a long way in making the experience smooth.
Private companies can solve the issues themselves (Carvana), but that's coming at a significant $ premium so far.
The FTC rule mentioned in the article mentions this:
> Require full upfront disclosure of costs and conditions: The proposal would require dealers to make key disclosures to consumers, including providing a true “offering price” for a vehicle that would be full price a consumer would pay, excluding only taxes and government fees. It would also require dealers to make disclosures about optional add-on fees, including their price and the fact that they are not required as a condition of purchasing or leasing the vehicle, along with disclosures to consumers with key information about financing terms.