# COVID-Era Price Gouging Is Coming Back to Bite Car Dealers—Right on Schedule

> During the peak of the COVID supply shortage, dealers greedily raked in money hand over fist as customers who needed cars were faced with two choices: overpay or live without transportation.

- **Source:** [Thedrive](https://www.thedrive.com/news/covid-era-price-gouging-is-coming-back-to-bite-car-dealers-right-on-schedule?utm_source=gearopen.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=feed&utm_content=6a5fbacd4c3dea13d3b887c5)
- **Published:** 2026-07-21
- **Category:** Cars
- **Tags:** #covid #customers #dealers #bite #coming #gouging #loans #price
- **Canonical:** http://localhost:4321/a/6a5fbacd4c3dea13d3b887c5

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_GearOpen's distilled summary. The full original article is published at Thedrive (source link above); GearOpen does not republish the source's full text._