stealership

English

Etymology

Blend of steal +‎ dealership.

Noun

stealership (plural stealerships)

1. (slang, derogatory) A car or motorcycle dealership, seen as charging exorbitant prices and trying to rip off customers.
   • 1998 August 23, Hawgeye, “Intro and question”, in rec.motorcycles.harley‎^[1] (Usenet):

     I am really surprised that the stealership didn't try to make arrangements with you to let them do the 500 mile checkup. There are a lot of other things that should be done at this time.

   • 2004 December 9, MCBRUE, “Dishonest Lexus Service?”, in alt.autos.lexus‎^[2] (Usenet):

     Of course the Mercedes stealerships are so bad now that I won't buy another one of those.

   • 2005, Roby Page, Bike Week at Daytona Beach: Bad Boys and Fancy Toys, Jackson, M.S.: University Press of Mississippi, →ISBN, page 124:

     Thus weathered traditionalists often deride the newcomers as poseurs, and many longtimers feel that the "MoFoCo" and its "stealerships" are unfairly squeezing out many tighter-budgeted loyalists like themselves in favor of yuppie poseurs.

   • 2008, Jackie Huang, “The kindness of strangers on the information superhighway”, in The Johns Hopkins News-Letter, volume 112, number 21, Baltimore, M.A.: Johns Hopkins University, page A11:

     And many took the time to forward it to their friends, e-mail other Web sites or call local news stations -- all in the interest of one main the "stealership" that tried to back their way out of the deal.

   • 2009 March 30, Arif Khokar, “Re: Precognition?”, in rec.autos.driving‎^[3] (Usenet):

     I'm trying to gain more experience working on my own car so I don't have to pay stealership prices for repair work (I've already made that mistake a couple of times :( )

   • [2022 August 30, Greg Rosalsky, “Inside the rise of 'stealerships' and the shady economics of car buying”, in NPR‎^[4], archived from the original on 2023-01-10:

     Not all dealerships engage in this pricing strategy, but many do it aggressively, often with snake oil-style salesmanship, deceptive marketing tactics, hidden fees, and overpriced add-ons, like floor mats, alarm systems, or anti-rust undercoating. Some consumers call the outfits that employ these tactics "stealerships."]