What's Wrong With This Picture: That Had Better Come With Free Blinker Fluid For Life Edition
Grizzled automotive veterans of the VRA (that’s Voluntary Restraint Agreement to you whipper-snappers) often wake in the night screaming about “ADP! ADP!” That’s “Additional Dealer Profit”, a little markup sticker found on everything from Accords to Z-Cars in the Reagan era. Honda dealers were perhaps the worst offenders, adding as much as three thousand dollars’ worth of pure markup to vehicles which often had MSRPs below ten grand.
There’s no “agreement” on the books that limits the number of Elantras that Hyundai can import from the far-off land of Alabama (or, in the case of this Touring model, Korea) but it looks like at least one dealer has decided to revive the glory days of automotive “stealerships”…
Yesterday, Jalopnik investigated College Park Hyundai, home of the $1,495 door guard. What did they find out? Not much, actually, other than the fact that door edge guards normally cost approximately eight bucks. The Jalops figured that the $1,495 door guards were a “bait and switch” to advertise a lower price in the newspapers and on the Internet. That’s at least partially true, but my experience in VRA-era dealership politics were that “options” like this were put on the sticker to offer an easy “win” for the customer.
Customer: I want this here Elantra, but I ain’t payin’ no thousand somethin’ dollars for no door guards.
Salesman: (Laughing) Of course not! Our owner makes us put that charge on there to (whispering) fool the suckers. (Back to hearty voice) But you’re no sucker! I can negotiate that off for you and we can put this Elantra on the road for the price of $21,680, just like it says on the regular sticker.
Customer: Awwwlright then! Let’s do it!
And there you have it. Unfortunately for the nice people at Hyundai, dealer-lobbyist-funded state law prevents them from doing too much about this kind of chicanery. The day may come where you purchase a car from a Web browser at a rock-bottom price and have it delivered via Amazon Fulfillment, but in the meantime, buying the Elantra of your dreams, just like meeting the girl of your dreams, will result in a sticky transaction or two in the flesh.
More by Jack Baruth
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What is this "Elantra of my dreams" of which you speak? Surely it would be a better looking car than any Hyundai currently sold. But seriously, in my college persuasion class (a clever-sounding disguise for advertising/marketing) the tactic here is called "in your face," and it fits into the reciprocity family. The notion is that something that obviously goes too far is thrown into someone's face (which of course they reject), and then when you remove it, it gives them the impression you are doing them a favor, thus they are more likely to return the favor.
There was a dealership in town known for keeping cars a long time due to wanting to make the most on each car. They had a PT Cruiser sit for over 2 years before some fool bought it. I say fool because anybody that would buy a car that sat out in the weather for over 2 years, never driven, doesn't know diddly about cars.