This could just as easily go in the minor rant thread, but man I hate dealerships. Their nominal purpose, according to them, is to protect the consumers from the big bad OEMs. That sure seems to break down under the least bit of scrutiny.
Case 1 - I was ready to buy a brand new Civic Si, already test drove (my friend owns one), financing in place at 6.3% from penfed that they were welcome to beat, and I was willing to pay MSRP ($31,045, incl destination, sticker below). Should be the easiest deal in the world. Nope...$3000 "market adjustment" that wasn't on the website or mentioned when I made the appointment. "Maybe we can do something", waste 20 min while they talk to the manager..."Nope, this is an in-demand car, we think the adjustment is fair". Cool, I'm out of here, thanks for wasting my time.
Case 2 - GR86, local dealer had managed to add $7000 worth of options onto a car ($1700 exhaust, crappy wheels, etc.), taking the price to over $40K. "No thanks, I have no interest in any of that, can you please order me a blue, stock, car?". Nope, 1. they're on allocation, so they get what they get from Toyota, not their fault, I understand, but it still sucks, leading to....2. Any allocations they get will get the same crappy upgrades to juice the MSRP.
Dealerships add nothing to the transaction, and if I could spec and order a car straight through the OEM for MSRP and have it delivered, I would be a very happy person. This is why I buy used cars private party, for folks claiming to be in the service business, dealerships sure do a E36 M3ty job of it.
Going to look at a used 2018 Golf R this afternoon with 40K miles. The new car buying experience is terrible.