4 ms·

I bought a car in April 2020 when the dealerships were reeling from closures and there were no shortages yet. I knew I had a good bargaining position as one of

I bought a car in April 2020 when the dealerships were reeling from closures and there were no shortages yet. I knew I had a good bargaining position as one of the few people buying, and I shopped around and tried to get the best deal I could. In the end i drove the car away 20% under the sticker price, but despite coming in with all cash I was asked to finance about 33% of the cost through the manufacturer and keep the note open for 6 months before paying it off. We didn’t go into it, but it was obvious the dealership was getting a healthy commission for that loan, enough that they didn’t mind selling me the vehicle at what I presume is close to their own cost.

jaclaz 4y ago
This could be also due to some (marketing) "target". The manufacturer might impose to a dealer (say) 1000 loans per year, if they meet the target they get an additional discount or a prize, not unlike the targets imposed for sales. At least here (Italy) the so-called "km.0"[0] are very common (of course rarely for models that sell well) the dealers have often some convenience to buy a few cars themselves (they are "sold" vehicles to all effects as seen by the manufacturer) and then re-sell them at a discount (the 20%-30% less than sticker price is not unheard of). Years ago these "internal sales" were driven by fiscal year reports, so you could find the "km.0" only in January/February, nowadays the manufacturers have moved to reports avery 3, 2 or even one month so you can find some discounted cars in every period of the year. [0] these are cars that were registered but never driven