Just a thought....

'REGULATED TO DEATH' Fed regs for auto dealers cost over $10B, study says

"Federal regulations for auto dealers are costing America's economy more than $10 billion in lost sales and employment each year"

and

"the average dealership incurring about $182,754 in annual regulatory costs, representing roughly one-fifth of the average dealership's net profits."

Mandatory back up cameras, anyone?

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/06/03/federal-regs-for-auto-dealers-costing-us-economy-more-than-10b-study-says/

I get that reading is hard, but that article was talking about the DEALERSHIPS, not the MANUFACTURERS.

So your mandatory back-up camera comment is completely irrelevant.

If you're going to troll, you have to try harder.

I have no pity for most car dealers, sorry. And NADA can suck it. Car dealers exist (seemingly) solely to screw their customers both on the sales and the service side, and to make profits off of shady repairs that aren't needed, sales add-ons that aren't needed, and taking advantage of the general populace's ignorance of cars. Granted there are certainly dealers who don't do this stuff (or, at least, do less of it than others), and some sales/service people who aren't shady. But in my experience that's not the majority.

If all car dealers changed to the Tesla model, the world would be a far, far better place, at very least on the sales side. They'd probably make more money too, in the end.

As to Fox News screaming about over-regulation.....what else is new? I'd like it if all Fox News employees were forced to buy and service their cars at a dealer that was totally unregulated regarding fraud, safety, and environmental standards. I'm sure it would be a great, great place....

the dealerships don't want to change the rules. By keeping them so byzantine and expensive, it cuts down on competition

The US yearly GDP is 16,799,700,000,000$. Just to put that small number in perspective.

z31maniac wrote: I get that reading is hard, but that article was talking about the DEALERSHIPS, not the MANUFACTURERS. So your mandatory back-up camera comment is completely irrelevant. If you're going to troll, you have to try harder.

Well, that's odd. I thought I bought my car from a dealer... go figure, must have been the manufacturer.

Who do you think the additional cost gets passed on to?

Is that the same great Tesla model of business that requires the government to give them HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of tax payers dollars just to keep building cars?

irish44j wrote: I have no pity for most car dealers, sorry. And NADA can suck it. Car dealers exist (seemingly) solely to screw their customers both on the sales and the service side, and to make profits off of shady repairs that aren't needed, sales add-ons that aren't needed, and taking advantage of the general populace's ignorance of cars. Granted there are certainly dealers who don't do this stuff (or, at least, do less of it than others), and some sales/service people who aren't shady. But in my experience that's not the majority. If all car dealers changed to the Tesla model, the world would be a far, far better place, at very least on the sales side. They'd probably make more money too, in the end. As to Fox News screaming about over-regulation.....what else is new? I'd like it if all Fox News employees were forced to buy and service their cars at a dealer that was totally unregulated regarding fraud, safety, and environmental standards. I'm sure it would be a great, great place....

irish44j wrote: I have no pity for most car dealers, sorry. And NADA can suck it. Car dealers exist (seemingly) solely to screw their customers both on the sales and the service side, and to make profits off of shady repairs that aren't needed, sales add-ons that aren't needed, and taking advantage of the general populace's ignorance of cars. Granted there are certainly dealers who don't do this stuff (or, at least, do less of it than others), and some sales/service people who aren't shady. But in my experience that's not the majority.

I like the way you think guy. We must be related somehow. I couldn't have said it better.

When I saw "foxnews" in the provided link, I stopped reading.

When dealerships put like a 200% profit margin into the parts they sell, you cant feel bad for them in any way...

kb58 wrote: When I saw "foxnews" in the provided link, I stopped reading.

Well, I suppose I could have made it up out of whole cloth then... numbers are numbers, and yes, they can be massaged, but can we really deny the cost of "mandatory" this that and the other?

200% parts mark-up - good thing there aren't dozens of other sources to get parts at... economic principles at work, giving you the choice not to pay 200% mark-up, by going somewhere else.

Then there was the horror, yes, the horror of "unregulated industry" - my how straw men burn... Suddenly a note about the cost of over-regulation has devolved into "by God it'll be anarchy if we don't mandate EVERYTHING!"

Taking the numbers at face value, that's a potential of a 20% swing in price in the car buyers favor. How many times on here as someone written "If they can sell it for "x" I'd buy it"?

All things being equal, what's the driver of the vast majority of all purchases when comparing competing products? Price. If the price of a car was, let's say even 15% less, letting the "stealer" keep more profit (the greedy bastards - that's why I work for free, dagnabit), would not more cars sell, and to the benefit of cheapskates on here that wait for them to depreciate in the used car market?

In reply to OldGray320i:

You just said what I was thinking after reading this thread. Especially how complaining about OVER regulation got twisted around to somehow mean you wanted NO regulation. And they think Fox News spins things.

BTW - To all the Fox News haters - ALL MEDIA IS BIASED. You like the ones that you agree with and demonize the ones you don't. Fox just happens to be the only one with a conservative bias (EDIT FOR THOSE WHO NEED THE OBVIOUS POINTED OUT - ONLY CONSERVATIVE TV NEWS OUTLET). But don't think for a minute that any of them are providing the facts and only the facts.

I thought we had an off-topic section for threads like this.

JM35 wrote: When dealerships put like a 200% profit margin into the parts they sell, you cant feel bad for them in any way...

It's got to be way more than 200%..........the last time I went to a dealership to purchase anything ( and believe me I never go to a dealership to purchase anything) was for a bolt for a vehicle with a oddball thread/length that I just couldn't find anywhere else and I needed it fast so I couldn't order it and wait. One bolt....$20.00. I invented new curse words leaving that place.

bravenrace wrote: BTW - To all the Fox News haters - ALL MEDIA IS BIASED. You like the ones that you agree with and demonize the ones you don't. Fox just happens to be the only one with a conservative bias. But don't think for a minute that any of them are providing the facts and only the facts.

But Fox News isn't biased. Just ask them, they will tell you. They are Fair and Balanced.

Yeah, getting accurate news is hard these days.

bravenrace wrote: In reply to OldGray320i: You just said what I was thinking after reading this thread. Especially how complaining about OVER regulation got twisted around to somehow mean you wanted NO regulation. And they think Fox News spins things.

They, in many cases, want NO regulation. No regulation in the environment. They want the EPA gone. No regulation in Wall Street and Banking, had that almost completely until the collapse.

Your right, over regulation and no regulation are different, but thinking about it, I haven't seen a right side pundit suggest different in any way regulation, just no regulations.

...and in reference to this thread...

bravenrace wrote: ..Fox just happens to be the only one with a conservative bias...

You must not own a radio

Feedyurhed wrote:

JM35 wrote: When dealerships put like a 200% profit margin into the parts they sell, you cant feel bad for them in any way...

It's got to be way more than 200%..........the last time I went to a dealership to purchase anything ( and believe me I never go to a dealership to purchase anything) was for a bolt for a vehicle with a oddball thread/length that I just couldn't find anywhere else and I needed it fast so I couldn't order it and wait. One bolt....$20.00. I invented new curse words leaving that place.

Our mark up on Marine and Industrial stuff as a distributor is 100%.

We give a discount to dealers. When I was at the Manufacturer, compared to retail for a service part, it was $153 for us to make a unit and it retailed at $775.

To the OP; In the context of this article, dealership regulation, what dealer regulations do you recommend are dropped? Not extending the topic to automotive manufacturing regulations, a different topic entirely.

The examples in the article are fixing a drainage system and a certification exam. Are those unnecessary? Discrimination in lending regulations, are those unnecessary?

Your math of reducing prices by 20% assumes the removal of all regulations, unless I missed something? The jump to removal of all regulations was done by the OP.

JM35 wrote: When dealerships put like a 200% profit margin into the parts they sell, you cant feel bad for them in any way...

Come work there and you will see the profit is somewhere between 20-40% above cost. A far cry from 200%.

In reply to Flight Service:

Who exactly are you referring to as "they"?

Flight Service wrote:

Feedyurhed wrote:

JM35 wrote: When dealerships put like a 200% profit margin into the parts they sell, you cant feel bad for them in any way...

It's got to be way more than 200%..........the last time I went to a dealership to purchase anything ( and believe me I never go to a dealership to purchase anything) was for a bolt for a vehicle with a oddball thread/length that I just couldn't find anywhere else and I needed it fast so I couldn't order it and wait. One bolt....$20.00. I invented new curse words leaving that place.

Our mark up on Marine and Industrial stuff as a distributor is 100%. We give a discount to dealers. When I was at the Manufacturer, compared to retail for a service part, it was $153 for us to make a unit and it retailed at $775.

Manufacturers generally do the most work and make the least profit. I've never quite wrapped my head around that one.

Not a fan of regulations, but most of them are in place essentially because some people cannot be trusted (e.g. dumping toxic waste in the river is bad mmmkay).

I don't know about anyone else, but when I think of words to associate with dealerships, "trust" is not one of them.

aircooled wrote: Not a fan of regulations, but most of them are in place essentially because some people cannot be trusted (e.g. dumping toxic waste in the river is bad mmmkay). I don't know about anyone else, but when I think of words to associate with dealerships or regulators, "trust" is not one of them.

FTFY

I was thinking...

Then saw his sign up date to the board was 2009. Maybe Fox News Manchurian Candidates are finally being activated.