Obviously sales are plummeting, but I don’t know if that necessarily translates into lower purchase prices for new vehicles.
And if so, now? Or in the future?
Thanks,
mmm
Other than the fact that it’s not a good time for any unnecessary human contact?
GM will be making ventilators but they still should have inventory. Watch TV for ads…LA Times says yes.
"One of the best-kept secrets of car buying is that most dealerships will deliver your new car to you at your home or office. This helps you avoid what could be hours of waiting at a dealership.
How do you arrange at-home delivery? Just ask."
That supposes that you know which car you want, don’t need a test drive, etc. I just saw an AD yesterday for a service like that but I think it was for used cars.
https://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/new-car-home-delivery.html
The LA Times article says
“Dealers are desperate to generate revenue,” said Sheldon Sandler, who runs a car-dealer consulting service in Princeton, N.J. “You can expect extremely good deals from anyone who can deliver you a car.”
Most state DMV’s are closed, no title work, no new cars.
Doesn’t that just mean you can drive on temp tags until they open back up?
It does in Missouri. Everything’s been extended two months.
I’ve seen lots of commercials from the auto brands for at home car shopping, with no-contact delivery of the vehicle and no-contact drop-off at the dealership service department.
Car sales are way down, so it’s possible that you could get a really good deal right now that you would not get in normal times.
The local Subaru dealer apparently keeps a stock of license plates ready for the convenience of buyers.
As far as Is it a good time to to buy, idk, the sales staff were all sent home in fact were told to clear out your desk completely and don’t come back.
I don’t know all the fine print, but Dodge is advertising 84 month interest free loans. If it’s available on a car you want, even if you have to pay MSRP, that’s a hell of a deal.
Does the magic 8 ball say you’re going to keep your job?
If so, sure. If not, no big purchase is a good idea right now.
Yes, I have a very secure job. Good point.
Also, I have it narrowed down to 2 or 3 specific vehicles. I know that most everything can be arranged without in-person contact - which is why I asked - but the test-driving aspect did not occur to me.
mmm
When I bought a new car last year the dealer submitted all the necessary paperwork to the DMV and printed out a temporary tag. No need for me to visit the DMV in person. I suppose there would be a delay in the DMV actually processing your registration, and thus a delay in getting your permanent plates, but hopefully they’ll extend the expiration of the temporary tags to accomodate people in that situation.
A good deal if you think you’ll be keeping the vehicle that long. But I’ve always heard that financing a car for that long can be risky, since you can easily end up in a situation where you own more than the car is worth. If, say, you end up wrecking it a year from now, you might end up having to continue making payments on a car you no longer own, while also making payments on a new car.
Isn’t that what new car replacement value insurance is for?
The problem is that essentially with any new car loan your underwater as soon as you drive off the lot. The longer the loan, the lower the principal payments, the longer you’re underwater. Whcih is also especially bad if you want to trade in your car before you’ve made all payments.
You may be able to do “contactless test drives” too. A friend in our neighborhood needs to replace her car and apparently dealerships around here on board with dropping the car off at your house so you can do a test drive at your own convenience. And all the paperwork, etc. could be done electronically.
Even before this pandemic I’ve been surprised at how casual the test drive process is. Most dealerships when I last bought a car were happy for me to take the car on my own, some even offering to let me keep it for a day or two. I guess getting used to it on that time scale correlates with just wanting to purchase it permanently …
Right. We’re in a position where we’ve paid cash for all our car purchases. But if the purchase price was equal I might under the current circumstances go for the interest free loan and just stash the cash away somewhere safe. That gives you a little more liquidity and options in case your income vanishes.
OP: Do you remember the “Cash for Clunkers” program of 11 years ago?
There is a reasonable possibility Congress will do an incentive type program in this recession. So you might wait so either you can get it or you are sure it is not going to happen.
I agree there’s uncertainty about further incentives, whether from the govt or the manufacturers, as and if a sales drought drags on.
Also, obviously, car pricing is still pretty opaque even if not quite as much as it once was. Some people are pretty on top of whether they are getting a good deal, but even for them there’s generally some doubt at the margin. And a lot of people still aren’t on top of it at all, especially when you bring in loans or leases. Which affects whether it’s necessarily a good idea to buy just because you think the situation ‘should’ yield you a good deal.
I’ve been casually looking for a new truck. One model that interested me is the Chevy Silverado 1500 with the Custom Trail Boss trim. Nice truck, but Chevy doesn’t make the newer safety equipment, such as blind spot monitoring, available on the lower trim levels. In order to get that feature, you need to move up to the LT Trail Boss trim level for a few thousand dollars more. And even that doesn’t get you the blind spot monitoring, you have to add not one but two option packages to get it. So you end up looking at paying about $5-6 thousand more for a safety feature that is probably worth maybe $600 on its own. I was emailing back and forth with a local dealer about this. He asked if I would consider a GMC, he had one on the lot that had everything I wanted and much more. Sticker price $65k, $59k after assorted discounts. He asked what my range was, and I said $40-42k, which was why I was looking at the Chevy with the Custom trim.
So I don’t really need a new truck, but if auto sales go in the tank in a bad way, I may just call back in a couple of weeks and offer the $42k for the GMC. I know that there is a ton of profit on these trucks, but I wonder how low they would go if they get into a cash crunch?
This is really my fundamental question. Will there be significant savings buying in April or May vs. October or November (historical best months to buy)?
I get that nobody knows for sure, just looking for opinions.
mmm