3 ms·

Anecdotal data points here, but four different people I know wanted to buy a new car the past year. Nobody found cars on lots. One guy bought a Tesla literall

Anecdotal data points here, but four different people I know wanted to buy a new car the past year. Nobody found cars on lots. One guy bought a Tesla literally because he could buy a car and felt waiting a few months for delivery was his only real option. Another couple had a minivan shipped all the way from Nebraska. The remaining two haven’t purchased a car. They would rather wait till cars they like come back to lots. These played out over Q2/Q3 2022. Not sure if the situation is different now. The automobile industry did this to themselves. I’m not a Tesla fan, but I see them winning by literally being the only manufacturer who is able to deliver cars to customers these past years. (Yes, there are a ton of caveats and my sample size is small and doesn’t reflect *reality (TM)* etc etc)

joezydeco 4y ago
In other cases there were cars available, but the dealers marked them up so much over MSRP that the prices (+higher interest rates) just put them out of afffordability. And the dealers got cocky by not even bothering to label the price boosts as "ceramic coating" or "rustproofing" or whatever. They literally labeled the price markups as price markups.
ProllyInfamous 4y ago
I'm really glad that when I went to purchase a PHEV (both Toyota and Volvo), each which was allegedly "on-site, guaranteed, we'll show'it-tuh-yuh when you get here," there was no PHEV on-site. Unfortunately, I had (early in the year) made some decisions that I had anticipated offsetting with a PHEV-purchase ($7500 Federal rebate); with the Inflation Reduction Act, any of the vehicles I wanted disappeared from the rebate program (so I did not end up getting this tax incentive — I consider "changing the rules halfway through a tax season" unfair, but that's just IMHO). I am glad to see Volvo change their purchasing system, allowing more options/configurations, and abilities to bypass [mostly] the dealership.

joezydeco 4y ago

In other cases there were cars available, but the dealers marked them up so much over MSRP that the prices (+higher interest rates) just put them out of afffordability. And the dealers got cocky by not even bothering to label the price boosts as "ceramic coating" or "rustproofing" or whatever. They literally labeled the price markups as price markups.

ProllyInfamous 4y ago

I'm really glad that when I went to purchase a PHEV (both Toyota and Volvo), each which was allegedly "on-site, guaranteed, we'll show'it-tuh-yuh when you get here," there was no PHEV on-site. Unfortunately, I had (early in the year) made some decisions that I had anticipated offsetting with a PHEV-purchase ($7500 Federal rebate); with the Inflation Reduction Act, any of the vehicles I wanted disappeared from the rebate program (so I did not end up getting this tax incentive — I consider "changing the rules halfway through a tax season" unfair, but that's just IMHO). I am glad to see Volvo change their purchasing system, allowing more options/configurations, and abilities to bypass [mostly] the dealership.