Brand loyalty and basic faithfulness are two qualities that appear to be much less and much less appreciated these days. That’s maybe no a lot more evident than in the case of Jason Smith, a die-difficult Mopar fan who claims he’s no longer the Dodge enthusiast that he after was. Smith contacted Carscoops to share his story, revealing that a dealer needed him to obtain a Charger Super Bee to safe a Demon 170 allocation, and then took it away when he refused to accept a $one hundred,000 markup.

Smith is not just a hardcore Dodge fan by name alone. Back in 2016, he purchased not a single but two items from the brand. That integrated a 100th anniversary Challenger and a RAM 3500 pickup truck. In 2018, he plopped down the money to receive a widebody Hellcat.

In reality, his connection with the dealer in query, Lithia Dodge in Billings, MT, was so close that he was invited to meet the group at the rail yard when the vehicle came in. Smith drove the vehicle off of the freight vehicle himself and then to the dealer for delivery prep. 

More: Dodge Promises Challenger Demon 170 Orders Sold At MSRP (LOL) Will Get Priority Scheduling

Buy A Charger Super Bee And Get First Dibs On A Monster Challenger

Then in 2022, he reached out to his dealer once more in hopes of scoring a 1,000 hp widebody Challenger. Smith says that even though no such factory item existed, his contacts told him that they’d maintain him in the loop.

That’s when the shenanigans began as he tells us that in the fall of 2022, representatives at Lithia told him that if he’d obtain a Dodge Charger Super Bee then he’d get initial dibs on a an upcoming monster muscle vehicle that ended up becoming the Demon 170. That’s correct, Smith had to place down a non-refundable deposit on a Charger Super Bee to get priority access to the Demon. That’s a shady move all by itself thinking about that the only brands recognized for such antics are these in rarified air like Ferrari.

While the nitty gritty of that deal went down in individual, messages among Smith and the dealer show that when Smith brings up that deal, the dealer does not refute it. Smith felt like getting an further vehicle, even a single that he didn’t truly want, would assist him safe his ultimate purpose, the ultimate Dodge muscle vehicle. So he produced a series of payments, $eight,000 in total (recipes beneath) to Lithia to safe that Charger.

Yay! The 1,025HP Challenger. That’ll Be $200k – Thank You Very Much

Dodge then revealed the Demon 170 on March 20th and Smith got excited. The time had lastly come. A factory-constructed 1,025 HP Challenger to go into his collection. The excitement was brief-lived even though. After reaching out to the dealer representative on March 24th, he received the following response.

“Good Morning! Thanks for reaching out. It was nice but fast I just got back from Vegas this am. I might have one available I am going to charge 200k for it, do you want if available?” Understandably, Smith wasn’t satisfied with such a greedy response, specifically thinking about his personal loyalty to this dealer more than the years. 

We’ve noticed his complete exchange with the sales rep in which he says: “I really didn’t want the car I had to order to get a shot at the car (the Demon 170)… If I was informed that I would be asked for $100k over MSRP then I would not have even considered putting money down.” The dealer’s response is comically greedy and the furthest point from consumer-focused. 

In it, the representative, responds that, “Our markup will then be $65k… from the business aspect for the company, not marking it up… is possibly taking profits from our company as a whole.” We would envision that is the final way that automakers want their dealers to treat their clients but Dodge has been silent with regard to condemning these practices. 

We get it, markups occur, and dealers couldn’t charge them if the complete consumer base banded collectively and agreed not to spend any a lot more than MSRP. Still, this goes beyond a wild markup. This dealer, and other folks that behave in a related way threat damaging brand loyalty for the lengthy term more than a chunk of adjust up front.

‘I Will Never Buy Another Dodge Again’

For Smith, it is ruined what was a fantastic connection not just with Lithia Dodge but with Dodge in basic. “I will never buy another Dodge again,” he tells Carscoops. It’s not difficult to see why he’d really feel that way.

A massive component of the draw of a Demon 170 or the rest of the Hellcat household for that matter is the efficiency per dollar issue. When the price tag gets doubled or in some circumstances a lot more than doubled, that worth goes way down. “It takes the fun out of it… for months I’ve been psyched about it,” says Smith. 

We had previously reached out to Dodge about the wild markups on the Demon 170 and they responded with statements that are far weaker than their hard speak at the launch of this vehicle. We have contacted each Dodge and the dealer in query with regards to Smith’s case and will update this report if we obtain a response.

UPDATE: Dodge got back to us to let us know that the consumer has now received his refund. Mr. Smith confirmed that with us as effectively. Dodge also repeated what we’d currently reported about how it says that Demon 170s sold at or beneath MSRP get priority production scheduling.

Document pictures Jason Smith