Times Have changed buying a vehicle

[Suzukiridr14]

Most of us before covid, never ordered a vehicle from a dealer. We went to see what they had on there lot, and picked out something to drive home. To get a good deal, we showed up at the end of the month, when dealers wanted to clear inventory to save on monthy finance costs. Today it's a different story. You have to think ahead what will I need in 6 to 12 months from now to replace what I'm driving. On the up side, todays cars last a lot longer then they did back in the 80's . Just my opinion.

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[Last Truck Ever]

The fact that they last longer (well, some of them anyway) is reportedly what's driving part of the current car crisis. People choosing to hold onto vehicles longer than they ever did before, so in addition to supply chain issues with new ones, used are at a premium. I've personally never passed so many bare-bones new car dealerships in my life before. I'm accustomed to seeing them packed to the gills with vehicles. Now, not so much. Frankly, I think there's going to be a big shake-out amongst dealerships. Not sure how long they can hold on with little stock and sales and commissions hanging in the wind, depending on Ford or whomever to get the ordered vehicles to them.

 

[MLowe05]

We went to see what they had on there lot, and picked out something to drive home. To get a good deal, we showed up at the end of the month, when dealers wanted to clear inventory to save on monthy finance costs.

To be fair, having purchased some 20 cars in the past 15 years, I never did it this way. Maybe it was a domestic thing about go at the end of the month or whatever but that was never really true for the vehicles I was buying. This is my first car from a US automaker. All of the other purchases were done almost completely online. Setting foot in a dealership is not something I do until I'm signing papers. I have zero time for their nonsense sales tactics.

 

[TSAINTS1115]

My family ALWAYS ordered our new cars. That way we got them exactly as we wanted. The only time a car was bought off the lot was if a match happened to be there.
Nowadays with the limited option choices the odds of what you would order are already in stock.

 

[mrbill]

The fact that they last longer (well, some of them anyway) is reportedly what's driving part of the current car crisis. People choosing to hold onto vehicles longer than they ever did before, so in addition to supply chain issues with new ones, used are at a premium. I've personally never passed so many bare-bones new car dealerships in my life before. I'm accustomed to seeing them packed to the gills with vehicles. Now, not so much. Frankly, I think there's going to be a big shake-out amongst dealerships. Not sure how long they can hold on with little stock and sales and commissions hanging in the wind, depending on Ford or whomever to get the ordered vehicles to them.

could not have said it better,im 67 and the lots around our 3 towns I check for stock are, and have been super low, for a while the toyota dealer is our biggest , the new turdras they have are $7,000 over msrp-and they are buying used from everywhere they have or had 10 tesla-3 f150 lighting- 2ram trx-2 santa cruz-6 broncos- and all where WAY over what they stickered for and most all are gone. I never even paid sticker before, the Maverick is the first time we did, (well if we ever really get one) 1st order was 10/21 then we reordered 9/15/22 so who knows, out nissan dealer has a used XL hybrid 9,000 miles car fax shows 3 minor wrecks, and the still have it at a DISCOUNT of $29,995,it stickered for $22,000 and shows scratches and 2 small dents.

 

[onetequilatwo]

The fact that they last longer (well, some of them anyway) is reportedly what's driving part of the current car crisis. People choosing to hold onto vehicles longer than they ever did before, so in addition to supply chain issues with new ones, used are at a premium. I've personally never passed so many bare-bones new car dealerships in my life before. I'm accustomed to seeing them packed to the gills with vehicles. Now, not so much. Frankly, I think there's going to be a big shake-out amongst dealerships. Not sure how long they can hold on with little stock and sales and commissions hanging in the wind, depending on Ford or whomever to get the ordered vehicles to them.

Agree with you @Last Truck Ever. Do think there is added pressure on dealers, especially for the 1.2 million investment for dealers to sell more than 25 EV per year. Did not know about the x-plan when ordering and discovered this forum, got my x-plan pin being a DAV member. Called the dealer just over a month after ordering and said they do accept the x-plan and would not take the pin then but on delivery.

Side bar that you can skip or read. If they changed my order type for the x-plan it would have changed my order date and would not be 10 days out from receiving my Maverick. However, when I got my VIN 3 months ago they had me come in to discuss the x-plan since I did not order with it.

Want good dealers to survive and wanted something. So gave up $728 in x-plan savings but they said they know how to do the price protection and will give me the protected price, financing and $100 for a doc fee. Plus to give me what CarMAX would give for my trade in. We should know in about 2 weeks as ETA is Oct 19-25th. Prefixed the conversation that knew they were not sell as many cars. Want them to be one of the winners and willing to give some back and still save 200-400 on the doc fee and seen some post they are paying $695 for doc fees.

 

[LuxMavHP]

I know many people hate the in-dealer car buying process, but I agree with the OP on missing the "good old days" without the self inflicted political B.S. making pretty much everything unstable. I'm 59 , and never even knew custom ordering online or at the dealership was possible. Admittedly my fault as I should have figured that out at some point over the years. Most of you will think I'm nuts (and you would be correct) but I actually MISS going into the dealerships, picking out a vehicle, pissing them off with my haggling, and the "fun" of saying no to EVERYTHING to the Finance person until they came way down on the few extras I would want. It was NICE to then drive off THAT DAY with a new vehicle. And, as many have stated, I never paid MSRP, and would certainly walk if their was (back then) the generally ridiculous notion of ADM.

 

[Rivers90]

There has been shortages of lots of things, not just cars.

It may take a few years but it should end at some point. Unless another pandemic or the government wants to keep inflation high.

The auto makers are not really to blame for these things.

For lots of people buying cars was never fun. The shady used car salesman had a bad reputation for a reason.

 

[Bob The Builder]

When COVID hit the automotive industry cut orders for semiconductors 40% over two business quarters. That was a huge cut. Chip manufacturers needed to find new sources and fast and in many instances needed to retool in order to stay viable and keep shareholders happy.

Hindsight being 20/20 the automakers could have stockpiled some chips for better days but that is really a different discussion for another day.

The fact of the matter is, constructing new wafer fabs can take at least 2 years if not more. We are not out of the woods yet by a long shot. Just within the last few months the Maverick as lost AM, wifi hotspot, HVAC temp display and now rumours of only one key fob with keyless entry. See a trend here?

 

[KSC Grey Ghost]

Think about it waiting 6 months to a year to get a New vehicle one hell of a lot of things can change in that time period. Things can totally change in your life over that time period not to mention look how fast technology changes in one year cell phones computers TVs if you have to wait one year for a vehicle you're getting old technology. I really don't know about this new system not to mention if you wait one year for vehicle it's time for the next year's vehicle to come out so in essence the

vehicle is one year old already I can I just don't know??

 

[Scott Asheville]

Watch any OEM interview, or watch any reputable auto channel, and you'll quickly realize the auto industry is in a transformation so fast and violent and huge that some won't survive. It's all happening at once, and nobody knows how it will end. BEVs. Autonomous. Subscriptions. Transportation as a Service.

 

[dhill59]

When COVID hit the automotive industry cut orders for semiconductors 40% over two business quarters. That was a huge cut. Chip manufacturers needed to find new sources and fast and in many instances needed to retool in order to stay viable and keep shareholders happy.

Hindsight being 20/20 the automakers could have stockpiled some chips for better days but that is really a different discussion for another day.

The fact of the matter is, constructing new wafer fabs can take at least 2 years if not more. We are not out of the woods yet by a long shot. Just within the last few months the Maverick as lost AM, wifi hotspot, HVAC temp display and now rumours of only one key fob with keyless entry. See a trend here?

I disagree that the chip shortage is as bad as the automotive manufacturers are claiming. Go into any big box store and you'll find thousands of electronic devices (TV's, computers, phones, and audio equipment) on SALE for less than MSRP - and they all have chips in them.

Years ago I worked for a domestic manufacturer of automotive airbags. We lost a contract to Takata on pennies per airbag. I'd be willing to wager things are not much different now - just that the chip manufacturers are not sticking it to the automotive industry now.

Greetings from the state where only paying $6.00 for a gallon of gas is considered a bargain.

 

[Bob The Builder]

I disagree that the chip shortage is as bad as the automotive manufacturers are claiming. Go into any big box store and you'll find thousands of electronic devices (TV's, computers, phones, and audio equipment) on SALE for less than MSRP - and they all have chips in them.

Years ago I worked for a domestic manufacturer of automotive airbags. We lost a contract to Takata on pennies per airbag. I'd be willing to wager things are not much different now - just that the chip manufacturers are not sticking it to the automotive industry now.

Greetings from the state where only paying $6.00 for a gallon of gas is considered a bargain.

You bring up interesting points. I will say before I decided to get a Maverick I was shopping around for a nice double Din radio for my truck. 7" screen with Carplay. Nothing fancy like the Alpine stuff or anything like that. Crutchfield basically had nothing except the really cheap stuff and the high end stuff, basically the low sellers. I waited months for a Sony that was backordered that come in, in dribs and drabs and never got my hands on one. Who knows really.

Ouch on that 6 bucks a gallon petrol. Climbing toward 4 here not to rub it in. LOL.

 

[B2000]

When COVID hit the automotive industry cut orders for semiconductors 40% over two business quarters. That was a huge cut. Chip manufacturers needed to find new sources and fast and in many instances needed to retool in order to stay viable and keep shareholders happy.

Hindsight being 20/20 the automakers could have stockpiled some chips for better days but that is really a different discussion for another day.

The fact of the matter is, constructing new wafer fabs can take at least 2 years if not more. We are not out of the woods yet by a long shot. Just within the last few months the Maverick as lost AM, wifi hotspot, HVAC temp display and now rumours of only one key fob with keyless entry. See a trend here?

I have a friend who was in the auto biz for 30+ years at the corporate level and he would confirm about the chips. The auto manufacturers cancelled and cut back and the chip guys moved on to other industries that were buying. When the car guys wanted chips they (and we) were out of luck. Chips used in vehicles are specific to that vehicle or a few from that manufacturer and a specific function so manufacturers are not going to buy millions of each like a TV or toaster manufacturer would.

He says car inventory should improve by the end of next year and he fully expects that dealers will have lots full of cars again at some point and manufacturers will have to go back to paying dealers incentives to get cars sold. The typical incentive dollars usually worked out to about $3000/vehicle which was paid in advertising dollars, extra commissions, finance rate buydowns, etc. Manufacturers and dealers have never made so much on car sales as they are now.

 

[commadorebob]

When you slam the brakes on the economy, it takes time to recover. History is going to call the 2020s a lost decade economically simply just trying to restart from the pandemic shutdowns. Opportunities for those savvy enough to see them but brutal to those that aren't managed properly.

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