This of course is the 'elephant in the room' that no one has talked about, with all of these 'bailouts' for American automakers. Amazingly, even now in this day and age, the process of buying a car is still designed to rip you off. Every step, every process, every moment you are there, and even after you take your new car home, they are trying to take you for as much money as they can. Personally, if the government is going to get into the business of handing my tax dollars to people who are, for all intents and purposes, admitted crooks, then they should be required by law to cease any and all deceptive business practices which up until now have been simply accepted as 'business as usual'. The fact that you have to 'gird yourself for battle' so to speak, just to start the process of buying a car, in the hopes that you won't get ripped off too badly, is just plain wrong.
The process of purchasing a car is about the only industry that still operates on the premise that two customers will come in and buy the same product and pay vastly different amounts depending on how good at negotiating they are. The fact that it is really a big pain in the butt to purchase a car holds back car manufacturers. The fossilized business model of dealer networks, and the way they operate between the manufacturer and the dealer, and then to the dealer to the customer is insane.
