In the auto business everyone’s trying to be the next Toyota. The next car brand the surges to the top and appears to completely bullet-proof. Well, the next Toyota might end up being Hyundai. For the last 3 months Hyundai sales have bucked the auto industry trend of decreasing sales. Something the big guys like Honda and Toyota could not do. The only question left for Hyundai to answer is can they keep this up? Well their product is not just affordable, but very well made and that’s the real key. No they just need to continue increasing sales and they will be on their way to becoming a force in the auto industry.
Car dealers are coming off a very soft month for sales (October 2009) so buying a car early in the month should provide you with better than normal negotiating opportunities. Your local car dealer is DESPERATE to sell cars! Go in with my car buying program (available at www.autoinsidertips.om) and you’ll have the salesperson eating out of your hand!
Please be very careful of a car scam that involves used cars and Ebay. The set-up is you find a car that’s a great deal and when you contact the owner he tells you he will sell it to you through Ebay Motors. Then you find out that the vehicle is no longer listed on Ebay so they tell you that you can not purchase it there. At the same time the seller sends you an invoice via email and tells you to make payment via a money gram to an agent that has been assigned to you. This is a scam and you need to run, not walk away from this!
If you are shopping for a new car now do not be surprised if you find picking pretty slim at your local car dealerships. The combination of Cash for Clunkers and the factory shutdowns of last spring/summer has left car dealers with very little inventory. Now car dealers are faced with a conundrum: do they sell a car at any price because of the severe lack of customers or do they try and hold some profit because they only have a few cars on their lots?
It’s a hard problem. If you are shopping for a car now and you are not too concerned about things like the car’s color, sound system or other available options you can get a tremendous deal now because some dealers will wheel and deal to move a car because they need to generate cash flow. So shop smart and you’ll save big!
I recently read a story about a car dealership in Albuquerque, NM, Zangara Dodge and the owner of this dealership was described as running a car dealer ‘Ponzi Scheme’. The New Mexico Attorney General is collecting information to attempt to convict Ken Zanaga, Zangara Dodge’s owner. His lots are empty and I doubt if he will ever be able to sell cars again, but the full extent of the damage he has caused is still not known.
The ‘Ponzi Scheme’ Mr. Zangara was involved in is the age-old dealer scam of not paying off a customer’s trade-in. Regular readers of this blog know that this is a dealer scam that I have begged you to be wary of for a long, long time. Now that it may become known as the auto dealer ponzi scheme I hope people will learn about this common scam and be smart enough to make sure that their trade-in’s bank is paid off after they buy a car.
Last month something happened that just a few years ago seemed impossible: for the month of January there were more cars sold in China as compared to the United States. For one month China represented the biggest car market on the planet. We can go a long way to fixing our economic troubles if the Big 3 can get their act together and find out how to tap into this growing and potentially enormously lucrative market. The auto industry needs to see opportunity through a world wide vantage point. So what if US sales are down 40% if Chinese sales can be up 40% and since we are starting from 0 that’s not an enormous task.
Auto sales for November will show a drop in sales for the 17th out of the last 18 months. Every manufacturer saw a HUGE drop in sales, when was the last time Toyota experienced a 30% sales decline? This will force auto manufacturers to continue the big incentives they are offering, and some will make them even more appealing. So if you are considering buying a car in December expect and demand an incredibly low price!
No, you didn’t read that wrong. This is a real offer that an on-line car broker in England is offering; you can buy two new 2.4 Auto Saloons for £20,000. For my American readers, these are Dodge Avenger 2.4 litre SXT auto models worth £18,200 each. This car is well equipped with alloy wheels, satellite navigation and leather seats. So why is someone offering such a huge discount? Simple, the car is a decent vehicle but it is poorly positioned in its’ market. It is not built as well as the competition, the Skoba Superb and the Kia Magentis. Additionally, the Shoba and the Kia get better gas mileage. There is little to no interest in ght 2.4 Auto Saloon so like many other retailers the online broker is sweetening the deal to move inventory.
So how long will it be before this happens in America? Not long in my opinion. The Big 3 are drowning in inventory and they must find a way to move metal. If a manufacturer took a $20,000 car and sold two of them for $30,000 I think it would attract a huge amount of attention and sales. It would intently be a story in every paper in the country. And I think it would be well received, people can’t resist a bargain and that my friend would be a bargain!
Gresham’s Auto Link in Oregon has an ‘out-of-business’ sign in their window. Unfortunately, dozens and dozens of people are out thousands of dollars each because they fell victim to two of the most common auto dealer crimes committed today: failure to disperse auto consignment sales revenue and title fraud.
This new and used car lot has a long history dating back to 2005 of these types of crimes. But in recent months they seem to be occurring at a break-neck speed, a sure sign that the out-of-business sign is about to go up. If you are a regular reader of my blog you know that I do not recommend selling your vehicle through a dealership on consignment. It’s just too easy to lose all your money, especially in these tough economic times. And when it comes to your vehicle’s title you need to make sure your trade-in gets paid off in a timely manner. And when you take delivery of a car you need to have the title, if you do not have a bank holding your note. These need to be hard and fast rules and by following them you can protect yourself from the most common auto dealer crimes!
October 2008 will not be remembered as a good month for car dealers. Whether you sell an import or a domestic brand it was a tough month. Whether you sell economy models or high-end cars, October 2008 was a tough month. The final figures are not it yet, but the month was horrible due to the economic troubles that are affecting the entire world.
How bad was last month? I’ve read were some people in the auto industry described October as a month in which they looked back on the good-old-days of September 2008. And for those of you who do not know it, September 2008 was a terrible month! So as bad as September was, October was worse!
Companies like Honda and Toyota are seeing sales slumps that previously only happened to the Big 3 from Detroit. So what does November hold for us? Well, gas prices are down and the incentives should stay strong for SUVs and trucks so if you are the market for these types of vehicles this month, you should be able to get an incredible deal! Now if you are shopping for a car, you can certainly expect great deals from the Big 3. It remains to be seen what the imports will do. As I learn about their incentives and offers for this month I will post them here on my blog. Regardless of your vehicle of choice, if you are shopping for a new vehicle this month you should be able to get a great deal!