Jeep Overcharges $8,000 for Cars
Jeep overcharges $8,000 over the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) for two of its models, according to a new piece of research. Jeep brand chief Christian Meunier, an executive of parent Stellantis, appears to have done nothing about it.
The new car market has gone through an unprecedented period recently. Car manufacturers have been short on parts. Demand has been pent up for over a year. There are simply too few new cars available. Ford recently said it had tens of thousands of partially built cars on its lots, and it hopes to complete and sell them in the fourth quarter.
One advantage to the shortage is that dealers rarely have to offer expensive incentives to lure drivers. That means their profit per unit is high. Unfortunately, they have few cars from manufacturers to make money across large lots of new cars.
Dealers have started to overcharge customers based on MSRP. In some cases, manufacturers have threatened these dealers with sanctions. However, either these dealers do not care or the manufacturers’ enforcement is weak.
For the recent Which New Cars Are Priced the Highest Over MSRP in Today’s Market? report, iSeeCars researchers reviewed 1.9 million new car listings. According to the data, new car prices are listed for 10% over MSRP on average. iSeeCars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer noted, “In today’s market, consumers are willing to pay well-above sticker price for new cars because inventory is so scarce and because they know that new car pricing is not expected to improve until 2023 at the earliest.”
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Among 15 models, the price above MSRP was over 18%. This list was topped by the Jeep Wrangler, which is priced 24.4% over MSRP. That translated to $8,433. The Wrangler is Jeep’s midsize sport utility vehicle. It is one of Jeep’s least expensive cars.
Jeep has other models on the list. The Wrangler Unlimited is priced 20% above MSRP. The Jeep Gladiator, the brand’s least expensive model, is priced 18.5% above. In each case, this translates to a price over $8,000 above MSRP.
Jeep’s parent may be unwilling to curb the action. However, consumers have long memories, and they will not forget Jeep’s practices.
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