For the past quarter, Sonic focused on moving its dealerships to its "True Price" structure. This new pricing system aimed to eliminate price haggling.

"What we're not going to do is negotiate $1,000 to $2,000 on a car. That's stopping," Jess Dyke, Sonic's executive vice president of operations said. "It's been a hell of a trick." Back-and-forth negotiations for a price, the company executives said, broke customer trust.

The True Price program set US$300 as the lowest acceptable price for every transaction. This limited the negotiating band. The program finalized the program's rollout to all stores during the first quarter.

According to a statement of Dyke as reported by Automotive News, most of the company's stores were having problems with the new pricing system. Out of the total 103 stores of the company, almost one third were having difficulties with the True Price program.

"I wish there was a button we could push and say, 'OK, here's what we're doing this year,'" added Dyke. "But there isn't."