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Originally Posted by MeredithMan

As I mentioned over in my thread, "wheelchair accessible SUV's", my son is about to graduate college in May. There are only a couple of SUV's that would accommodate the lift he needs for a wheelchair, one of which being a Honda Pilot. Since there is a Honda dealer close to where he will be living for his job in VT, we decided to go with the Pilot.

My son and I went to the Honda dealer in Manchester to check out a Pilot on the lot. Told the sales guy we were cash buyers and would be buying asap...just had to go home and discuss it with The Boss, (wife/Mom). I asked him to email me quote. Quote came over...List Price, Plus, $1000.00 "Market Adjustment" and $900 in "Fees", (with no detail on what the fees were). NFW....

On Monday, I went to the Honda dealer in Salem. Found a comparable Pilot and told the sales guy I walked away from his competitor due to the "market adjustment" and I that I would buy on the spot, but without the BS extortion added on. They capitulated and we signed the deal.

Subsequently, I was talking to my brother who has a friend in the car business. The friend told him that most dealers have to have a certain cash flow per month to keep the lights on, finance the floor plan, etc. Since there are so few cars available due to the "chip shortage" and other supply chain issues, they have resorted to these made-up fees to increase revenue any way they can.

I agree. I don't know exact numbers, but if you're financing or leasing as many buyers do, on a $45K car over 5-7 years, $1000 changes the monthly payment very little, so people put up with it. The trade in numbers are going crazy too.