Toyota Owners Fume Over Outrageous Markups on 2023 Sequoia at Local Dealership

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Prospective owners are furious at their local dealership for making insane market adjustments to the price. Some dealerships raised the price almost 25%!

We have covered many topics regarding this new phenomenon of dealerships of almost all companies marking up their newest stock of inventory because it’s an “issue with the economy.” We have listed reasons, excuses, amounts, and percentages all dealing with the greedy dealerships. As a short recap, a dealership makes money not by marking up the price of the car, but by the percentage of cars it sells. Think of it like an incentive program, the more cars you sell, the more money you make from the manufacturer. At the time of that article being researched, most dealerships were getting about 2% of the value of the car they sold. This number fluctuates depending on the MSRP of the car.

However, by law, they can mark up their prices as much as they want and because of the supply and demand law, it’ll work. If I am the only person selling water but the rate at which I get a supply of water is slow, then I have the ability to raise prices and still see sales growth. The only way we as buyers can really combat this is by simply not buying a new car for the next year and a half to two years.

Now here’s where things get interesting. Some reports have suggested a steady decrease in dealer markups on popular brand-new vehicles. We are seeing this unfold right now with the 2023 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, the 2023 Tundra, and the 2023 Tacoma. Now we are starting to see more reports of the new 2023 Toyota Sequoia being marked up with horrendous numbers.

On Facebook’s 2023 Toyota Sequoia group, Dewey Rebouche posted, “Every dealership adds 20k to a 23 Sequoia! We flew to Mississippi to get ours. No wait, no extra money added from dealer.” This is very surprising considering that the top trim of a Sequoia is only 80-90k. If the math checks out, dealers are adding an additional 25% “market adjustment” to these cars and selling them for 100k+. This right here is pure robbery. Taking advantage of a loophole and getting used to it. I am a capitalist at the heart but greed is where you cross the line and what these dealerships are doing is textbook corporate greed.

Granted, not all dealerships charge that insane amount. Due to a decrease in sales because of the economy, its understandable to see a little bit of a markup. I was driving by a prominent Mercedes dealership earlier and they had the new EQ-S with a sticker of 70k over MSRP.

Don’t expect to see this decrease anytime soon. Unless the large mass of consumers can get together and pledge to not buy a brand new car for the next 2 years, we’ll start to see less and less dealerships mark up prices. The only other way this will stop is if legislation is passed to cap off the automotive dealer add-on. I am not for that because I don’t like government intervention within the marketplace, it’s how things got messed up in the first place.

What do you think? Did you buy your 2023 Toyota Sequoia above 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 and on YouTube at Toyota Time for daily Toyota news.

Submitted by gary martin (not verified) on January 11, 2023 - 6:14PM

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I agree wholeheartedly with this article. Dealerships get around the law in California by listing the MSRP of the vehicle as the consumer hook. But then claim the ad price is higher depending on the so called “Market Adjustment”. Dealers will achieve a short term gain, but will lose in the long term as consumers will eventually force the market to transition from dealer based to a consumer based approach like Tesla. Farewell dealerships, your time will soon pass.

Submitted by Gary (not verified) on May 26, 2023 - 8:52AM

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I went to my local Toyota dealer yesterday and looked at a 4runner. 8900 dollar mark up at dealership. Over 600 DOLLARS for nitrogen filled tires. Hahaha. When I was leaving I heard a woman saying. Her mother was interested in a new car and will be coming in and thanked the salesman for her new car. These guys are getting rich. Also the manager that came over to talk me into selling me the car. Said the dealership was taking him to the Caribbean for a week.. That was it, I walked out and will never return.

Submitted by Scott (not verified) on May 27, 2023 - 4:07PM

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Our local dealer, I95 Toyota in Brunswick Ga wants $18,000.00 over MSRP for Tundra TRD Pros. When the market turns around and it will, they will regret screwing loyal Toyota owners like myself. There are good dealerships out there, and they need to advertise more that they aren't trying to do what this dealership is trying.