‘For people who think dealers make big fat profits, read this and see if you would invest millions of
dollars on a risky venture with this kind of return. There is most certainly not $5000 of profit margin at the dealer
level in a $20,000 or $25,000 car unless sales are really slow and it’s being subvented, in which case the customer
usually sees some if not all of that trunk money.’
The above is part of verdegrrrl’s comment to
the post, Help Wanted: Car
sellers—inquire within (#24). Verdegrrrl included a link over to Autonews that discusses how rising
interest rates, costs for maintaining larger inventories, dealership renovations and dealer discount cuts have affected
dealerships’ bottom lines. General Motors plan, for example, to adjust its vehicles’ prices closer to what they
would actually sell costs one dealership, B&L Automotive, which sells Buicks, Chevrolets, and Pontiacs, $500 per
vehicle.
Verdegrrrl’s comment and link are the first of Comment Corner, hopefully a
regular series where interesting, informative, and researched—such as a link—reader comments are posted for
further discussion on Autoblog.