It’s pretty much inevitable at this point, right? A new model, be it performance or special edition or whatever, gets released by an automaker. We’re told an MSRP, only for that to get thrown out the window once that model gets to dealers. Dealers are eager to drain every dime they can out of those customers who are willing to overpay.
Those markups have started on the Ram TRX.
My look into this started with a Reddit user by the name of Zeecok posting in r/askcarsales. Zeecok, a Ram salesperson, posted that his dealer just got in 10 TRXs. Each one has a $25,000 markup. The Launch Editions? A $50,000 premium. And all the prices are non-negotiable of course. What’s crazy is that people are buying them, and the sales folks are making some hefty commissions. He says:
“One sales guy sold two units for $100,000 in total gross. I have an appointment with a gentleman today on a launch edition. This month is looking to be a big one.”
Remember the TRX has a starting MSRP of $70,095. The Launch Edition, a separate package, adds $12,150. Loaded out, a TRX is $92,405. So to see if this greediness was widespread, I did a search.
A simple inventory search on the Ram site wouldn’t give me all the answers. So I used a combo of car buying sites like CarGurus and Autotrader. Locally, I found 13 TRXs for sale. One dealer, Huntington Beach Ram, had four in its inventory. Two of them are listed for $110,975. One is at $111,470. The one that takes the cake is the Launch Edition. They have it listed for $143,145.
Many dealers have just gotten the trucks in or want to make up their own price, so many listings have the typical “Contact us” in place of the price. The ones I was able to get in contact with were vague. Many times I could never get a clear answer on what the price was: “Let me speak to my manager and get back to you.” Or, “I’ll check on that for you. In the meantime, when can you come in to check out the TRX?”
Some dealers have a semblance of good sense. Out of the 193 Ram TRXs I found for sale in the country, around 103 are listed at $72,000 to $96,000. This is at least within the range of the MSRP. All other TRXs are over six figures. The going markup rate seems to be $50,000 for the Launch Edition with the standard TRX markup typically falling between $10,000 and $20,000.
The TRX will most likely hold its value simply by nature of being outrageous as hell. It’s a 707-horsepower off-road beast that gets 10 mpg in the city and sounds like a monster. It’s also powered by one of the last huge V8’s as we head into a smaller displacement, greener future.
But that doesn’t excuse greed. And as always, these things will continue to happen as long as there are people with enough money to enable this greed.