Two Nissan dealerships in Arizona were found to have advertised affordable vehicles to customers but then pressured buyers into purchasing extra equipment and services such as nitrogen filling, window tinting, and paint protection. The penalties reflected this misconduct.
One dealership was fined $50,000 and ordered to pay an additional $305,000 in compensation for non-monetary damages to buyers, while the other faced a total of $125,000 in penalties. The question remains: what does this mean for consumers and the market?
Expert opinion
Maxim Kadakov, editor-in-chief of the magazine “Behind the Wheel,” weighs in:
— The practice persists: extra equipment, additional services, and inflated add-ons, even when car prices appear to be capped. With exchange rates stabilizing, it’s puzzling that sticker prices on new vehicles don’t drop accordingly. In our market, a parallel can be drawn with fuel: when crude prices move, the price at the pump does not always mirror those shifts immediately. Sometimes it stays high or only inches down, and sometimes it climbs again. This is the pattern buyers frequently observe in automotive pricing as well.
Two conditions shape this dynamic. First, a stable currency exchange rate is needed. Rates can swing wildly from month to month, making it impossible to predict price movements with certainty. For a period of several months, if a currency holds a given level, discussions of dependency between currency value and car prices become possible, though not instantly conclusive.
The second condition is the availability of cars. When models are scarce, prices for the remaining inventory tend to hover near the ceiling—often with wide margins. It seems impractical to push prices to ridiculous levels. For instance, asking $5 million for a compact model or $15 million for a mainstream sedan would be untenable. In the coming months, the market may seek a price point where buyers can still see a deal in reach. Some manufacturers have already adjusted; for example, a brand reduced the range-wide prices, which helped spur initial demand, followed by selective discounts to entice buyers back.
In Kadakov’s view, consumers should negotiate firmly and stay true to their stance. That approach, he suggests, can influence pricing dynamics, even if only to a limited extent, but it remains a practical route for shoppers navigating a volatile market.
Photo: Depositphotos
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