One of the worst side-effects of COVID is it gave all of these companies an excuse/opportunity to charge much more, and then when COVID was over they were like...let's not roll anything back and see if anyone notices.
I emailed every dealer within 220 miles of my location. Half never even replied and the rest tried every trick in the book to get me to the dealership before they'd give me a price.
My favorite story was an exchange with a salesman who quoted me $1,000 over MSRP. He said a year ago we were selling these at $10,000 over list price, I am saving you $9,000! I told him COVID is over and if he wanted the sale he'd have to get more competitive.
My goal had been to buy 10% under list and though I failed to achieve that I did all right. Don't think I'd buy another vehicle any other way although it took a very frustrating seven weeks.
This is the way when it comes to car shopping.
When I was buying a Subaru BRZ back in 2016, I did the same thing, though I only chose the 3 closest dealers. One didn't respond, one quoted a price at MSRP, the other quoted at $2K below MSRP and included about $1K of addons for free.
Not sure why that third guy seemed desperate to sell the car, but I went there that weekend, took it for a test drive (Pretty sure I was only the second person to ever test drive it, since it had only 4 miles), signed the paperwork, and drove it home.
Though tbh, I really wish the whole dealership model would just fuck off. I personally can't stand the whole haggling song and dance. The price should be the price and that should be it.
would you be able to list those tricks? I'm currently car shopping myself. how did you get them to give you a price without showing up?
Ask. Let them know you're reaching out to other dealers. Be clear about your timeline for buying ("this weekend", "ready to buy today if I can get it at $X", etc) so they know you're not wasting their time. Don't discuss trade-in or financing.
Remember, if you're buying, financing and trading in (selling) at the same place, that's 3 opportunities for them to take advantage of you. So don't actually visit the dealership until you have a price, financing already secured (from someplace else, but stay open to theirs, too) and have an offer for your trade-in ready (Carvana or equivalent, at least), too.
The norms have shifted towards getting less for the same (or similar inflation-adjusted) money.
Earlier, you expected daily housekeeping if you stayed at a hotel or motel. Now, so many of them have moved to a "Hang a tag outside if you want the room cleaned" model. And this isn't just cheap motels. I once stayed at a 250 a night hotel that was following this model.