Economy still sucked, gas prices were high, and there wasn't a craze for off-road trucks back in 09-10.
Now other companies are trying to catch up, gas is $2~ and the Dow is closing in on 20k.
People are willing to forgo gas efficient vehicles when gas is cheap. You won't see a big demand if gas shot up to 3-4 bucks again. Over MSRP?
^^^^^
This.
If gas was $3.50 / gallon or higher for regular unleaded these trucks would sit quite a bit longer on the lot. It’s kind of like having a belt fed machine gun. It’s a great problem solver and a ton of fun. It’s also a ton of payload to take to the range
Literally and 30 seconds of trigger time is ~ $145.00.
I too felt the smugness of dealers close to me willing to try for mark ups 5k and over. I had a much better deal, in writing and every single one of the ADM dealers scoffed at me - literally, with the kind of confidence that was not the usual sales manager bluster. I’m fortunate that I won’t have to take a half day road trip or flight to get the deal I did but I’m still looking at buying from a dealer almost 2 hours away. I bet I could have bettered my out the door cost by traveling further, but, If I’ve got to fly to get to the dealer, that’s a day away from work or home, plus airfare and the fuel / travel time back. At some point the savings in money I might have had being more hard nosed about negotiating is negated by the investment I make in actually procuring the truck. That said, if you can find a dealer to sell at MSRP and you can fly there for say... under $200 - have the dealer pick you up at the airport and you’re “ready to buy” - cash or financing in hand you are beating a local deal at probably close to 1000-1500 over MSRP even with the travel to / from, depending.
The internet makes this much easier than say 15 years ago. Be patient and smart with your money and you won’t have to pay extreme ADM.
