The MSRP Dealer Crisis May Be Over for Toyota, Says FB Group Poll

Some of us remember going to the dealer in mid-2021 to buy a nice new car and then seeing the over MSRP sticker price plastered on each new vehicle. This happened because of a shortage of semi-conductor chips and few new models being produced. Mind you this wasn’t just Toyota. Almost every single automaker selling in the U.S saw their dealerships raise prices by an absurd amount above MSRP. It’s normal to see a car a little above MSRP at regular times. However, dealerships last year would mark up the car almost 30-40% above MSRP. Sadly, the only way people can combat these prices is simply not buying a new car or even a used dealer car.

However, a poll on a Toyota Tacoma Facebook group showed that a lot of people either paid MSRP or below. Only a few still paid above MSRP. Of the 336 people that participated in the poll, 158 people paid MSRP, 132 paid under MSRP, 20 people paid $2,000 over MSRP, and the rest paid more or leased.

Looking at some of these comments, it turns out it’s pretty hard to find dealerships that are willing to sell under MSRP. John Anderson, one of the group members, said, “I’m from CT and that’s a completely other state and they agreed to MSRP before I even got there on a unit they hadn’t sold that was incoming.”

Alfredo Perez, another member said, “even in Cali I pay below MSRP, anyone paying over MSRP probably pays for air also.” That surprises me because everyone knows it’s hard to find a nice cheap car in California…especially a pickup truck.

It seems like most people are starting to see a slow MSRP crisis downfall as so far Toyota dealerships have shown. I’m not sure how long this extreme MSRP price hike will go on but as long as Toyota produces more vehicles and the chip shortage starts to fall, we will see fewer and fewer dealers charging insane markups on MSRP vehicles.

Even on used cars, the prices have gone up. 4 years ago, a simple 10-year-old pickup might’ve been several grand to where you can’t find any good low-mileage pickup regardless of what year it is under $10,000.

Hopefully, this will be the start of a slow path to bringing our dealers (who by the way were invented so that manufacturers wouldn’t charge us over MSRP) back to reality so that we can buy these nice cool cars without breaking our wallets.

By the way, check out one of our previous articles about the Toyota Tundra coming out as the top truck for production a few months ago.

Also if you like hybrids, check out how a Venza's battery might last longer than you think.

What do you think? Is the Toyota dealership near you charging over MSRP? Let us know in the comments below.

Harutiun Hareyan is reporting Toyota news at Torque News. His automotive interests and vast experience test-riding new cars give his stories a sense of authenticity and unique insights. Follow Harutiun on Twitter at @HareyanHarutiun for daily Toyota news.