1) new FTC proposed rules (which are open for public comment!) would ban the practice of “surprise” add-ons at the dealership.
2) a lot of folks that contribute to markups (and other crowdsourced initiatives) go all the way to getting a buyers order and then report those add-ons when they show up then.
If you’re interested in the FTC rules, read here: https://joinyaa.com/guides/ftc-dealer-rules/
Right now in the US, there's resort fees, booking fees, regulatory compliance fees, and on and on that all get added during checkout. It's so deceptive.
It's been fascinating how you've (very intentionally) built your online following. Between social media vectors, the website, forums, paid tier access, pricing tools, and now insurance, you have quite the operation.
Other folks on HN should take notes on what you've accomplished so far.
Right now we are currently accounting for both markup and mandatory add-ons as a total in the same numerical value. If it's 0 markup but $2995 for N2 filled tires then the total markup is $2995.
We are finding the opposite to be true. Most of our posters are folks that have actually spent at least a little time dealing with a dealership and are reporting the numbers back to us. Our hope is that as we get more postings the false or innacurate postings will be drowned out by the accurate quality ones.
Just say "no".
> Me: I don't want that and won't be paying for it.
> Them: Well we do it for all new cars and you can't have us not do it.
> Me: Well then you can either eat the cost of this unnecessary "service" or sell me the car for $700 under MSRP to make up for it.
> Them: Sorry, we can't do that.
The advertised price has to include everything a typical buyer will end up paying.
Eg. it was found illegal to advertise a certain price which only applied if you paid with a certain quite rare credit card. (and there was a surcharge for other cards). You have to show that a good chunk of buyers end up paying the advertised price.
Phoned up the next day to say another dealer in their network had already sold it earlier in the day but not uploaded the paperwork yet.
Polite, but firm, email was sent back opining being disappointed in their customer service as the dealership was so close to work and would have loved to have a long-term relationship with them yielded - a 1250 GBP discount on ordering a new car, as specced, at MSRP.
There are good dealerships out there, but it's liking finding a diamond in the rough.
The last time I bought a (used) car from a dealership, I walked out, and they caught me as I was walking out the lobby and dropped the add-on, and then another add-on after some arguing since they knew I’d leave. That was successful.
Hopefully that goes well for you. When I recently got a new car, I called around to all the local dealerships before I found one that would order me a car at MSRP. But I knew I wasn't done with the BS. It took seven months for the car to come in, and they didn't add any cash markups, but they did give me a money factor for the lease that was really high. I could have walked, but then I'd be waiting another seven months or so and would be paying above MSRP and probably still get a marked up money factor. I really had no leverage.
More annoying than that, though, was that when I asked them about the high money factor, the finance guy just straight up lied right to my face that they didn't mark it up. What I'd heard on the internet was wrong. What the other dealers told me was wrong. The whole world was wrong. Why? Why would he lie to me like that? It served no purpose, because I couldn't really do anything about it anyway. It's like it was compulsive with him or something.
FTFA
> “The problem with the majority of other new car search sites is that they are not using crowdsourced data — they are using the data dealerships provide,” Soucie-Howren said. “We have found that the majority of dealerships do not display the true markup data or mandated add-ons.”
Sounds like your concerns are taken into account - the founders claim to take into account "mandated options" (such as it is).
How do you account for dealers which sell for $0 above MSRP but then include a non-negotiable $700 "paint protection" service?
As a crowdsourced site, you'll get a ton of reports that a particular dealership has no markup and few if any reports from people who have actually been far enough into the purchase process to discover these hidden markups.