Stories about cars selling for above MSRP are increasingly common these days – and sometimes the markups are simply too high.

For years, the Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price of a new car was purely a baseline figure from which you’d work downwards as discounts were applied. But a chronic shortage of cars due to supply issues caused by the dearth of semiconductors needed to build them, means dealers are getting more bullish with their prices.

That might mean sticking to the MSRP rather than offering discounts, or it might mean actually inflating prices above what the automaker thinks a car should sell for. And while some carmakers frown on dealers cranking up prices, others, like GM, don’t seem so bothered.

As citizens of a capitalist society, we’re familiar with the concept of supply and demand. It’s annoying to be quoted above MSRP for a new car, but you can see the dealer’s viewpoint. Car factories are producing fewer cars, which means dealers are getting smaller allocations. They have bills to pay, so they need to make more on the reduced number of cars they are allocated to make the same amount of dough overall.

Related: For $1.2 Million Over MSRP, You Can Own A McLaren Speedtail With $370k Worth Of Options

https://youtu.be/4fsaH1lJ3FU

Just Be Honest

Much more annoying is when the dealer isn’t transparent about the situation, only revealing his markup at the end of the buying process, as one would-be Ram 1500 TRX buyer claims happened to him.

Canada-based Reddit user The_Exia, who Carscoops readers with a sideline hustle as card counters might recognize as the guy who swapped his C8 Corvette for a Civic Type R, recently detailed his dissatisfaction with a dealer over his attempts to buy a new 707 hp Hellcat-powered truck.

Having spotted a Ram 1500 TRX advertised at his local Ram retailer he claims he inquired about it, but was told the truck hadn’t yet arrived. It wasn’t the color he really wanted anyway, so after driving a used one from the lot for an hour to check whether truck life was for him, he decided to order a new TRX.

After going through the order process to build his perfect Ram and putting down a deposit, the Redditor says he was asked to bring his part-exchange vehicle down for appraisal. That went off without a hitch, and four hours after starting the buying process, everything was looking hunky dory. But not for long.

Here Comes The Markup

“After all this I now have an order sheet in my hand, I’ve signed off on the options, I have an appraisal and the sales manager comes out and tells me that there will be a 15k markup on the ordered truck,” he explains.

According to the Redditor, he was told that the markup was being applied because he could flip the truck for more than he paid for it and the dealership could lose future allocation as a result.

Related: First Production 2021 Ram 1500 TRX Sells For Rolls-Royce Cullinan Money At Auction

We don’t know the name of the dealer so can’t check the veracity of the story. But comments from other Reddit users suggest it’s not an uncommon situation.

“I spec’d a [Shelby] GT500 with a salesperson who told me they would sell me the car at MSRP,” reads one comment. “At the end of negotiations they explained that I would need to BID ON THE ALLOCATION, and that ‘$20k would probably do it.’”

Another suggests The_Exia contact some other dealers and make it clear form the off that he wants to pay MSRP, to which the poster replies that he found one 90 minutes away willing to play ball.

What do you think? Should dealers be allowed to capitalize on the shortage of new cars and base their prices purely on the laws of supply and demand – or, in some cases, whatever they can get away with? Or should the automakers be clamping down hard on their dealers to make sure they stick to the prices they recommend for the cars they build? Leave a comment and let us know.