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> Whether they provide value is kind of irrelevant, because one (at least in the US) _has_ to go through them. Is their markup equal to the value they provide?

> Whether they provide value is kind of irrelevant, because one (at least in the US) _has_ to go through them. Is their markup equal to the value they provide? We'll never know, because we can't choose to not go through them. > If I want to place an order for a vehicle (not buy one off their lot), the dealer does nothing but still makes a cut. I'm pretty sure this is the same in Europe, or at least in France. Even if I wanted to buy a local make, say a Renault, I don't know how I'd go about getting in touch with the manufacturer directly instead of going through a dealership. Now I've never actually bought a new car, only motorcycles. And even though it's the same process (I don't think I can order a Honda nor a BMW "direct"), the dealerships didn't try to make me buy useless options.

ilyt 4y ago
>I'm pretty sure this is the same in Europe, or at least in France. Even if I wanted to buy a local make, say a Renault, I don't know how I'd go about getting in touch with the manufacturer directly instead of going through a dealership. The difference is that manufacturer-owner dealership is basically not an option in US. My local Toyota dealership is owned by Toyota. Some other ones are just "licensed" to be their official dealerships, so not owned by Toyota. In US the "licensed" one can decide "well, the car is rare" (and in pandemic that was every car), here is extra 10-20% dealer markup just because we can. In EU, customer would just go to official Toyota one that doesn't do shit like that
wongarsu 4y ago
I'm pretty sure you can buy both Volkswagen and BMW direct if you go through their website. Honda meanwhile seems to refer you to a dealership. Volkswagen even offers you the option to fetch your vehicle from their factory in Wolfsburg (tour included, drinks cost extra) instead of having it delivered.

ilyt 4y ago

>I'm pretty sure this is the same in Europe, or at least in France. Even if I wanted to buy a local make, say a Renault, I don't know how I'd go about getting in touch with the manufacturer directly instead of going through a dealership. The difference is that manufacturer-owner dealership is basically not an option in US. My local Toyota dealership is owned by Toyota. Some other ones are just "licensed" to be their official dealerships, so not owned by Toyota. In US the "licensed" one can decide "well, the car is rare" (and in pandemic that was every car), here is extra 10-20% dealer markup just because we can. In EU, customer would just go to official Toyota one that doesn't do shit like that

wongarsu 4y ago

I'm pretty sure you can buy both Volkswagen and BMW direct if you go through their website. Honda meanwhile seems to refer you to a dealership. Volkswagen even offers you the option to fetch your vehicle from their factory in Wolfsburg (tour included, drinks cost extra) instead of having it delivered.