every few years there is a new study on dealerships, and all of them that i have read cites that a typical car transaction, the dealership costs the consumer about 2 to 5 thousand dollars that they otherwise would not have to pay.
its almost like adding a third party profit motive to the supply chain adds cost to the consumer and adds no value for them! guess that ones free cause i didnt need to go to business school to know capitalism 101. its seriously a no-brainer.
here is one such example, but if you google there are many, giving out a range of of costs:
https://consumerfed.org/press_release/anti-competitive-state-laws-cost-new-car-buyers-more-than-20-billion-per-year/