Looks like they don’t buy used:
Was replying to this; it’s about as close as I’ve seen to buying direct.
k thx. I want to be in the 20% but need a 3 row suv/van ideally PHEV
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Looks like the high end, and I do mean the high end, are getting more expensive due to scarcity.
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More of what we already know …
For the new cars, I’m wondering what’s the contribution in that increase from manufacturers’ shift in production strategy like putting whatever chips they can get towards manufacture of higher priced (higher margin) cars.
I wonder why Uncle Joe and Warren haven’t jumped on the “price gouging” band wagon for new cars.
Honestly, there’s a decent chance they have some really deep data - that we dont get to see - that indicates car prices are infated due to standard supply/demand pressure, while certain other things have strayed from their normal pricing norms.
I’m as jaded as anyone in thinking that we are attacking gas prices as “gouging” just because lower gas price means happier voters. But there probably is more to it than that.
I have no doubt that refiners (petrochemical) adjust the ups and downs of gas prices in the way that is most advantageous to their margin. When the feds help “big oil” by limiting the number of refineries, or by allowing oil companies to own the vast majority of filling stations, it is to be expected, sadly.
To me, it is a more obvious and a more easily provable case of gouging when the manufacturer tells you the retail price, and the local dealership won’t sell it for that.
But until recently, the manufacturer told you the retail price and you were ridiculed by all your friends if you actually paid that price. It’s not like they’re now suddenly ignoring what was previously followed as gospel. The fact they couldnt sell at list price before and can now sell over list price indicates it isnt simply a matter of greed. Instead of margin per car, what’s a dealer’s aggrigate profit now - selling fewer cars at higher prices - verses before selling more cars at a lower price? My guess is that there is a lot of dealers who are worse off now than they were, despite the higher sale prices.
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I don’t know of any ‘limit’ on the # of refineries. I don’t think there is any law that says we can only have X number of refineries.
But the governemnts (state, local, federal) make it anything but easy to build a refinery. Plus the NIMBY effects. Plus the fact that a refinery is a large investment in a very volatile industry.
Still, there were 5 new refineries built in 2014 to 2018 …
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
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is that a downtrend since Jan then? Really hoping to get a deal on a new(er) demo etc SUV
+1 Thats why we get crude oil etc from countries/states that say drill baby drill, who cares about the air.
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yes for low margin dealers like entry level. they make their profits on service apparently
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That’s what I meant by limiting.
I was shocked at that number, and then saw that they were small refineries. I’m not sure if those are pay offs for larger compaign contributors, or (taking off my hat of suspicion), those are the only size refineries that can get EPA, SocialJustice, local, and state approval. The last refinery of size was completed in 1976.
I’m not sure I understand. Are you saying that drilling is more environmentally detrimental than running a refinery?
I don’t get it. Can’t that be said of gas stations, grocery stores and hardware stores that jack up prices just before a hurricane, or almost anyone who does gouge? Yet, they are accused of gouging every year.
Where is it posted? And I mean the books, not the profit/losses that film studios use to show that all of their films lose money. 
I’ve never seen any gas station or grocery store that just uses their shelf tags as a suggestion. You used manufacturers suggested retail as the basis for your conclusion, which is mostly an entirely irrelevant detail. And I dont think anyone has claimed that we’re “just before” anything regarding car sales; the prices have gone up in reaction to inventory becoming scarce, not in anticipation of it. There’s a difference between charing $20 for a gallon of milk because you think there wont be any next week, and selling it for $20 because that’s all the milk there is.
Besides, most public cries of “price gouging” are just people pissed because they have to pay more, and thus they assume it must be unfair so they can deflect blame off themselves for not buying it yesterday.
As I said, data that we never get to see.
“Price gouging” as it is used by Americans is a rhetorical term, not an actual description of prices on the ground. The only way to actually price gouge in the USA involves breaking anti-trust laws. Anything else labeled as “price gouging” here is just two parties entering into a mutually agreeable transaction. If I have a cooler filled with bottles of water in the desert and you walk by in need of water with no other way to get it, it’s not price gouging for me to charge you $20/bottle. For all you know, if I wasn’t allowed to charge more than $10, I might not find that it was worth it to setup shop in the desert hoping you would come by. So by outlawing my ability to charge you $20/bottle, you may lose the opportunity to buy water in the desert altogether. This is why people can’t get generators after hurricanes. Home Depot, Lowes, and Joe Entrepreneur would get lynched for showing up to a decimated hurricane disaster zone charging 5x the price for a generator because Americans have been fed the economic BS of “price gouging” for their whole lives and automatically think those people are harming them when they charge that much for generators. Irrational people (made irrational by politicians usually) would rather have no option to buy a generator than see generators on sale for 5x the price and have to decide if it is worth it to pay extra for something extremely hard to come by right now.
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