Car Dealerships: The Good & The Bad

searcher said:

Volkswagen May Convert German Auto Plant Into Iron Dome War Factory<!-- --> | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

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Shades of 1930s Germany.

Except...the German people...the "German" people...are no longer the orderly, hard-working Caucasian population they were 90 years ago.

searcher said:

Stellantis sues supplier in Mexico, halting Jeep production

A parts dispute between Stellantis and ZF Chassis Modules has idled a Mexico assembly plant and threatened disrupting a facility in Windsor, Ontario.

www.freightwaves.com

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Ohhhh, who'd ever a THOUGHT! Move important production outside of the nation that gives protection of law, of Rule of Law, of enforceable contracts...and then MARVEL at the PROBLEMS!

IMHO, Stellantis is gonna go to its natural end. Which is, bankruptcy and court filings. In Eurocrapistan, not in the US - because the Globalists managed to gobble up the whole of what once was an important percentage of our domestic auto industry, Chrysler.

What did they do with it? Discontinue the economy line, Plymouth. Close internal product-development divisions. Chrysler became the brand of recycled Daimler products - back when the Daimler thieves owned them. Nothing new was brought out to replace that one 25-year-old Mercedes/Chrysler/Dodge, except one sad minivan, designed by Indians over Zoom. Its real-world lack-of-durability shows it.

Meantime, the morons in Belgium - headed by a former test-driver - thought Jeep could be a competitor to Land-Rover. Well, neither is naturally an important brand - LR, is where it is (was, until recently) due to money-without-work, COE-vidd, Stimmy, social-media, and brain-damage among Jabbed 20-somethings who feel they have to outdo each other in huge silly purchases.

And as has been demonstrated, Jeep-branded products cannot even undo the fake pinnacle held by Land-Rover. Which tells you how low quality has fallen - those of us who remember when Jeep was Kaiser, the engines were GM or legacy Willys. Or even when Jeep was AMC, and the engines, while tame, were indestructible. A Jeep was a work rig, even if it sat in a suburban driveway.

Not no moar. Today's Jeeps are just cosplaying Fiats or other fringe European brands, brought over by a Euro corporate leadership that's completely ignorant of what Jeep was, and witheringly contemptuous of American buyers.

And now they're failing. And it is well that they do.

Maybe Chy-Nuh can do better. Given the indescribable mountain of regulation and government demands on EVERY new car...a series of stipulations that even Chrysler couldn't meet, alone...Jeep is never going to be American, again. Even GM hasn't the resources.

Meantime, the people who actually used Jeeps as intended - in military roles - those are dying off. Even I am too young - when I was in, the HumVee was replacing the M-151, which was designed by Ford, to replace the Jeep. Jeep, the company, hasn't made anything military or even government, since 1971.

• Rivian is VW Group’s software and hardware partner outside of China.
• Xpeng is doing a lot of the same work for Volkswagen in China.
• Xpeng software and hardware is world class, possibly better than anything a Western firm can make, analysts said.
• Laws and geopolitical tensions keep the U.S. and China automotive markets siloed, but there are longer-term threats to companies like Rivian and legacy automakers.

FTC, Maryland Attorney General Secure Full Refunds and Additional Penalties Against Lindsay Auto Group for Deceptive Pricing Practices and Unwanted Add-ons​

The Federal Trade Commission and Maryland Attorney General today announced Lindsay Automotive Group and its executives will return money to resolve allegations that they deceived consumers for years with falsely advertised low prices and unwanted add-ons that led to buyers paying thousands of dollars more for their vehicles.

Consumers who were charged a total of more than $75 million between April 1, 2020, and December 31, 2025, may be eligible for redress. In addition, Lindsay will pay a $3.1 million civil penalty to the Maryland Attorney General’s office. The proposed order settling the agencies’ complaint also requires Lindsay to provide the total price of the car, including all mandatory fees, to consumers looking to buy or lease a vehicle.

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Europe could ban Ford F-150, Silverado and Ram trucks over new rules​

America’s most popular vehicles, the full-size pickup trucks from Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, may be banned from Europe in a move that has angered US carmakers.

According to Financial Times, US automakers are accusing the European Union of planning to keep trucks like the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and Ram 1500 off European roads by enforcing new safety rules that would exempt them from the trade deal between the EU and the US.

More:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/aut...s-over-new-rules/ar-AA20rIBh?ocid=socialshare

I don't think there's much of a market in Europe now for $100k tinfoil trucks that don't last.

Car & Truck Inflation in America: Cost of Vehicle Ownership Soared by 36% since 2020​

Americans spend a lot of money on the ownership costs of motor vehicles, and inflation has hit them over the head in recent years. These costs of vehicle ownership weigh nearly 15% in the Consumer Price Index. They include the purchase price of new and used vehicles, the price of motor fuel, auto insurance, maintenance and repairs, auto parts and equipment (parts, tires, accessories, oil, coolant, and fluids), and motor vehicle fees (state registration and license fees, parking fees, tolls, and other fees).

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Fort Lauderdale woman wins 2-year legal battle with car dealer over used Mercedes-Benz deemed unsafe to drive​

Kim Muratori documented when a tow truck took away her 2018 Mercedes-Benz E-400. She said it was the first time it had moved in the last 25 months.

A mechanic deemed it unsafe to drive.

"I had to insure it. I was making payments on it until about a month ago," Muratori said.

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Florida Bugatti dealership sues carmaker, claiming retaliation after $1350-per-hour labor rate request​

Bugatti's North American wing and Florida dealership Bugatti Miami are currently ensnared in a lawsuit alleging that the supercar manufacturer retaliated against the dealer by canceling its right to perform warranty work over a labor-rate dispute.

A complaint filed in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court on March 6, 2026, alleges that Bugatti of the Americas cancelled the dealership's right to perform warranty work after nearly two years of rate negotiations. The dealership initially requested, and was approved for, a warranty parts reimbursement rate hike from 100.49 percent to 160 percent in October 2024. Then in June 2025, Bugatti Miami requested a labor reimbursement rate of $1350 per hour, eventually settling for an initial increase to $1100 per hour in July 2025. Bugatti Miami's labor reimbursement rate then increased to $1350 on January 1, 2026—before Bugatti of the Americas abruptly waived the dealer's warranty work obligations on February 11, 2026, according to the suit, citing excessive costs.

More:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/new...bor-rate-request/ar-AA21zaZI?ocid=socialshare

searcher said:

Fort Lauderdale woman wins 2-year legal battle with car dealer over used Mercedes-Benz deemed unsafe to drive

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I DO NOT understand why these things are held in such high esteem. They're grotesquely overpriced; sold by criminals (anyone trying to negotiate at an MB stealer can confirm that); run by BIGGER criminals (they bought Chrysler, looted the bank accounts, fired all the engineers, and then let Private Equity have what was left for assumption of pension liabilities). The products have been shoddy, engineered to FAIL, since about 1990.

In this age of the Universal Blob Car, the only way I can tell a German scheisse-vagen from a Toyota, is to get close enough to read the badge in front. And yet...2018 Camrys are selling for $20k; and cars like this are hauled away dead, as evidence in ugly lawsuits.

It's good she won the lawsuit. But frankly, she deserved what she got, in terms of hassle. STAY AWAY FROM THESE EUROCRAP CARS.

The $1,000 Service Changing How Some People Buy Cars | Tomislav Mikula on Daily Dealer Live​

Apr 6, 2026 Car Dealership Guy Podcast

18:29

Now, why anyone would even want to buy today's shoddy, Woked-up, electronified, idiot-proof spymobiles...that are failing with ridiculously-low miles, even now...why anyone would even spend, say, 2/3 of MSRP for one, is beyond me.

They're unaffordable. Unaffordable because they're not delivering value relative to price, and price has tripled relative to buyer's average wages.

I just bought a new car, and now the dealership is threatening to repo it unless I pay them another $15,000. What are my options?​

Imagine signing a contract for a new vehicle and driving it off the lot, only to have it repossessed because you refused to sign another contract after the dealer claimed to have made a pricing error.

Take Brad, for example, who bought a new pick-up truck after lengthy negotiations with the dealer.

After eventually coming to an agreement on terms, Brad signed the contract and put a $25,000 down payment on his new $69,000 pick-up truck. But hours later, he got a call from the dealer — during their lengthy negotiations, they said they'd made a mistake on pricing, and Brad owed them another $15,000.

Read the rest of this insanity here:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/per...t-are-my-options/ar-AA23oilc?ocid=socialshare

Give them back the car and then sue the dung out of them.

It's not worth it. They want the car back? GIVE IT BACK. That'll cut their sales that month by 20 percent or so...maybe the manufacturer will yank the franchise, too.

There's no point even worrying about it. Essentially, they've regulated and priced new cars out of practical consideration. Between the fantasy smog standards, the dope-dream fuel-economy mandates, and the sudden insane GREED these makers are showing (it's like the whole of the Elite Class are taking Crazy Pills, or taking Stupid Jabs...or...something) we just can't HAVE new cars anymore.

Time to plan around that reality.