This has been tangentially discussed previously, but I'm not sure that there is a current thread about this. In the past, it was the concensus of the board that FNA dealers sold cars at sticker (or less--think the 456)--apparently the result of an "informal' agreement between FNA and said dealers. Clearly, with in demand models like the 430, the dealers are leaving a fair amount of money on the table by selling at list. This was somewhat made up for by "flipped" cars (i.e. a person on the list orders a car, takes delivery of it, drives it home, and returns it the next day to the dealer who then sells it on the floor as a "used" car with 150 to 200 miles on it--with the profit divided someway between the owner and the dealer). In thinking about this, why does the dealer share this "market value" profit with the person on the list. I understand that there are some very good customers (think Maserati buyers) who the dealer wants to maintain and excellent relationship with, and I understand that occassionally these cars come up because the individual that ordered one truly doesn't want it, or had a change in their financial situation, or whatever. But from a pure profit perspective, selling at list doens't make sense. This begs a second question--for anyone who is actually on a 430 list at a U.S. dealer--do you have a contract, or verbal agreement, or something that specifies what you will pay for the car (e.g. list, list +, or market)?
The dealers do not have any flexibility to sell over MSRP. My agreement is to pay MSRP. FWIW other major high end car manufacturers have the same prohibition. Once they allow selling over MSRP the whole pricing structure collapses and leads to serious customer relation issues.
nberry: I can't say you're wrong, but it has been suggested on this board that other than Ferrari of San Francisco (which, I believe, is owned by either FNA or Ferrari SpA) all of the dealerships are independent, and as such, can charge what they want. Of course, FNA can determine their new vehicle allocation... It would be interesting to here from the dealers on the board (Sean Harris?) to see what the actually policy is, or whether FNA has a "gag agreement" with their dealers regarding this.
Just curious but does anyone know how many percent dealers are getting in a new car? Informal reports are emerging that an increasing number of dealerships are beginning to scale back their markups on aftermarket insurance and financing. The dealer finance markup, as well as dealer insurance markup, could be pretty high as often as not.
