In Oakland, the sticker shock of purchasing a car allegedly hit new heights.
A trending car sticker image circulating on social media claimed that the Toyota dealership in Oakland puts on sale a 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime for a whopping amount of more than $96,000, which is about two-fold of its initial MSRP.
With the amount of $40,000 on top of its original price in the market, the “dealer added markup” has gathered rage. The photo said that other “installed options” on the car include ceramic coating, LoJack vehicle protections, as well as paint protection.
The photo first appeared over the weekend on Reddit. The markup was labeled by posters as “beyond the pale” as it accused the dealership of “price gouging”. The photo then made rounds on websites participated by car fans as well as on TikTok.
Jalopnik, a car blog, on Tuesday contacted the salesperson to verify the dealership’s markup. The whopping cost of the SUV has been admitted by the person.
“… You have to come in and sit down and talk over if you’re ready to make the deal,” the salesperson Jalopnik talked to, said.
But on Wednesday morning, the salesperson denied to SFGATE that they have any car or a RAV4 that costs $96, 000.
“We don’t have a car here that’s that expensive,” the person told the media outlet.
When the Oakland dealership’s website was checked on Wednesday morning, the listing of the RAV4 Prime was gone, showing only an error page.
There is no clear connection yet on the alleged markup and the current supply chain crisis which seriously affected the car sector because of the prolonged microchips shortage. Ars Technica, said that another thing that factored in could be the pure fame of the RAV4 Prime – the best-selling Toyota model this year.
