I'd agree, the downside is that, "us" the consumers can't change companies that are doing this, UNLESS, we hit em where it hurts, their profits.
The problem is, that just one or two, or twenty people won't effect them enough to change, so, what can we do?
I just keep shopping for the best deal or the comp that WILL price match or offer discounts.
As far as cars go, I think a lot of the blame has to fall on televised classic auto auctions and shows about "ultra rare million doller barn finds".
Now, everyone out there that has a classic vehicle rotting away in their driveway, thinks that because they "saw one similar sell on Barrett Jackson for $ x amount" now thinks that theirs is worth some ludicrous amount.
case-in-point,
I found a shell of a 70 road runner;
quarters were rusted away, floor pans and trunk pans rusted away, no glass, no hood, no trunk, no interior, no drivetrain, no doors, no fenders, no grill, no bumpers, buried up to its drums in dirt, etc., a shell literally!
(i stopped hoping the guy had something else)
The guy immediately starts the "car salesman pitch" about how "rare" it was. It was supposedly "an orig hemi car, special ordered in Germany and then brought back to the U.S.", and because the "European hemis" were "so much more powerful" than the U.S. hemis.... "Chrysler took ownership of the car, because Europeans hemis were illegal in the U.S.", the guy continues that "Chrysler took the ultra powerful and rare European hemi out and put in a 440 6-pack and changed the VIN."
I was laughing because I thought the guy was messing with me... He wasn't.
I took one look at the VIN, and it was a 70 RR, 383, 4spd car, or used to be. So out of curiosity, I ask him "what's your asking price?" Without hesitation he says "$75,000".
I tried to explain to him that its a 383 RR, and theres no such thing as european hemis, etc. the guy literally thought I was trying to lie or cheat him!!!!
But, where do you think he got that figure? Yup, he "saw one sell on B-J...."
Personally, I would have liked to find out where he got the story from!!!