Last month we reported how a Nissan dealer was trying to sell a 2023 Z with a “$60,000 market adjustment.” That’s a $60k markup for a car that both Car & Driver and Motor Trend placed second to its Toyota Supra rival in their comparisons tests because it wasn’t as much fun to drive.
The magazines’ subjective assessment suggests the Z can’t possibly be “worth” a $60k mark-up, but as with any commodity, the Z’s real value is what someone is prepared to pay for it. Nissan might fix an official $60k price to a 2023 Z with some juicy options, but that’s not the car’s value. If five guys are fighting over the same car and one of them is prepared to pay an extra $60k, then that is the value.
But could you ever be one of those guys, whether buying a Z or any other hot, new in-demand car like the Ford Bronco? The way we see it there are three scenarios when you might choose to give in to a dealer’s outrageous financial demands, and all of them will have people hating on you for different reasons.
Related: Canadian Kia Dealer Asks Customer To Pay $1,800 Markup Despite Worksheet Agreement
In the first you’ve got so much money you don’t care whether you pay $40,000, $60,000 or $160,000. You’ve seen the car you want, you’ve got the cash to make it yours and besides, you’ll have made another $60k by tomorrow evening doing whatever it is that you did to make you so rich in the first place.
In the second, you’re so obsessed with what everyone else thinks about you that you absolutely have to be seen driving the car of the moment and are prepared to pay an irrational amount of money to make it happen. Just remember that today’s must-have new car is tomorrow’s unremarkable and on-every-street-corner used one.
Which leads us to scenario number three, in which you pay way over MSRP, but then flip the car either straight away, or before the novelty value dims and the monetary value dims with it. You might not lose out financially, but the fact that you’ve helped fuel spiraling prices that make cars unaffordable for genuine enthusiasts means you’re not going to be very popular.
But we’ve all become infatuated by one particular car at some point and it’s easy to see why people will do almost anything to put that special ride in their garage. Could you ever imagine paying wildly over MSRP for a car, or would common sense kick in – $130k for a Nissan Z?! WTF! – and hold you back?
