Thanks to the age-old stereotype of the shonky used car salesman, car Dealers have a tough time convincing the general public they are in fact on the up-and-up. And it doesn’t help when a major news publication clouds the issue with confusion over advertised drive-away pricing.

A major media outlet recently devoted an article to accusing auto brands of  “playing games with consumers” regarding the drive-away price of their vehicles.

According to the story, the Ford website had the Focus with a recommended retail price of $23,390. Via the ‘Build and Price’ section, you discover that the drive-away price for a Focus Trend manual is $27,176.

The author then points out that under the ‘Latest Offers’ tab, you find the manual on sale for $24,990 drive-away.  This is where the supposed “games” come in. According to the author, the ACCC should step in to “cut the confusion”.

AADA fails to see the issue here. ‘Latest Offers’ means just that: specials. The ‘Build and Price’ section details what the car usually costs, and ‘Latest Offers’ shows what you can save on particular vehicles at a particular time.

Surely the article is not suggesting that Dealers would hold someone to the higher price if they failed to notice the ‘Latest Offer’ deal? That would never happen.
Surely car-makers don’t have to change the entire website every time they have a model on special? That’s literally what the ‘Latest Offers’ tab is for!

The article implies that the auto industry is against publishing drive-away prices, but that’s not true. AADA and Dealers are totally supportive of it, and we thought it was important to clear that up.