Transparency is supposed to cure the excess profit that dealerships make on selling a “commodity”. We’re discussing a platform that promises “upfront pricing” as the “new world order” but cautions “its arrival heralds a bona fide tipping point in automotive retailing”. Transparency offers the customers an “upfront pricing” that is “non-negotiable in an environment defined by net margin compression”

Some say, we don’t want transparency suggesting instead that we prefer deceit and magic. Transparency is apparently the answer to solve the age old question of how much profit is too much profit on a car. Having pricing posted below invoice online is supposed to ease our customer’s minds about paying too much profit on a product.

Must we forget that dealers, managers and employees of dealerships are major contributors to local economies? We are your relatives, neighbors and friends. We are dads, moms, uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters that happen to work in the field selling a product. Most of us are very philanthropic offering our time, money and support to cure diseases, end poverty, provide education against child abuse and cancer research. The money we make from selling a desired product is invested in houses that reside in your neighborhoods. We buy cars; send our children to church pay our taxes, support local schools and athletic programs. We advertise at the play, concert and sponsor events when other local businesses refuse to add additional costs. Our business is the single largest contributor of local tax dollars generating millions in revenues for small towns and big cities.

Dealers want the same things that our customers want. We want our customers to be happy, loyal and fair. We want our products to be sold at a fair profit margin that is dictated by supply and demand and not some vendor with a separate agenda. We want to train employees to become successful business leaders and better people. If dealers refuse to stop the momentum of pricing below costs online than perhaps we should consider one-price cost structures whereby margins are a function of supply and demand? Every dealer would then have to sell their unique qualities instead of cannibalizing our profits. It’s a viable option that neutralizes third-party predators and offers the transparency our guests require.