New car prices are finally coming down. But not by much

CNN
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New car prices are finally coming down. A little, anyway.

Cars are still selling, on average, for more than the manufacturers’ sticker prices, but at least they’re closer, according to analysts. And a number of car brands are now selling for below sticker price, something that was once normal but that had become rare over the past year or more.

For the first six months of this year, new car prices averaged $700 over the manufacturer’s suggested retail price, or MSRP, according to Ivan Drury, an analyst with Edmunds.com. Over the past few months, though, prices have fallen to only about $230 over MSRP, on average, according to Edmunds.

Some car brands are still going for much more, though. Land Rover models, on average, still sell for $4,500 over sticker price while Kia models sell for about $1,600 over sticker price. Hondas are selling for about $1,360 over their suggested retail price, on average, according to data from Edmunds.com.

In general, buyers shopping for mainstream, non-luxury vehicles tend to pay more over sticker than luxury car buyers, according to analysts at Cox Automotive. While luxury car buyers, who make up about 17% of the market, still pay higher prices, overall – $66,000 compared to an average of $44,000 for non-luxury brands – they were, at least, paying closer to sticker. The slight difference in price mark-ups may reflect the fact that non-luxury cars, in many cases, have appointments and features similar to those in luxury cars, said Cox spokesman Mark Schirmer. Dealers are now simply demanding that customers pay for what the product actually provides rather than a lower price the manufacturer has dictated. He added that luxury car dealers may place more value on the customer’s experience and, so, be less aggressive on pricing than mainstream dealers.

Overall, Cox’s auto pricing analysts show buyers paying $527 over sticker on average. That’s higher than what Edmunds claims but, again, lower than earlier in the year. (The difference has to do with methods of analysis and specific data sources, according to spokespeople for both companies.)

Dealerships asking customers to pay over sticker price for a car is normally considered unusual, something only done for particularly desirable or hard-to-find models…