It’s time to sell your car or truck [Opinion]

If you have a used car or truck for sale, jump at the chance [Opinion]

If you want to sell a used car or truck, now is the time. A local dealership recently offered to buy back a 2 year old Chevrolet truck with only 20,000 miles for $ 80,000. That’s $ 10,000 more than what the owner paid for the truck two years ago!

A Cadillac dealership has their sales team calling customers to see if they want to sell the car they bought from their family dealership. He says it is the source of many used cars on his lot and the buybacks are working well. Many new and used car dealers tell us “You’ll never get a better deal than today’s buybacks.”

Auto auctions across the country are fetching record wholesale purchase prices at their dealer-only wholesale auctions. These higher prices are also due to the fact that far fewer cars or trucks go up for auction. This is the result of the dealers keeping the car or truck you traded in.

While now is a great time to sell that car you’re not using, it’s a terrible time to buy a new or used car. First of all, the chip crisis prompted manufacturers to produce their most popular models that pay the most money. So when you walk into new car dealership lot and want a new Chevy Tahoe, expect to pay a higher price. In years past, you’ve probably paid the sticker price and also got big discounts for buying an SUV. If you can find this premium SUV, expect to pay way more than the suggested retail price.

Why, you might ask. Simple as the law of supply and demand. New car dealers had 300 new cars in stock in 2019 and are fortunate enough to only have 30 new cars now. Since there are fewer new cars available, you’ll pay a lot more to buy a new car now. In fact, a General Motors new car franchisee recently said, “If you don’t have to buy a new car now, don’t.” This is good advice!

Remember, your local used car lots are also short cars. Expect to find higher prices on popular cars like Civics, Accords, Focus, and Pickups. Again, the higher prices are due to reduced supply and another factor. This factor causes rental fleet buyers to come up for auction and raise the bids for clean and used cars. Car rental companies also sell cars. Since they sold so many cars when the pandemic hit, they don’t have an inventory. You also pay three times the amount you paid before just to rent a car from the big car rental companies.

As this Cadillac dealership told me, “We can’t have enough cars and SUVs on our land until the chip shortage crisis is over. Meanwhile, GM posts record profits! It has also been said by new car dealers that factories only produce the most profitable cars and trucks. Cheaper cars are simply not available to dealerships.

Having trouble selling cars and trucks is a huge blow to the local, regional and any state economy. The sales taxes generated are a massive infusion into the general fund of a city or county. They help pay for police and fire departments as well as other lesser-known services. Car dealerships are also big donors to local charities and donations could be down as well.

Americans need a healthy auto industry. It is a major source for our GDP and a major employment force for direct and indirect jobs.

Dealer Advice “If you can wait to buy a car, do it. If you can’t or don’t wait, you’ll pay more. Sell ​​your used car or truck? This is an other story. Now is a great time to sell that used car or truck because the prices for this vehicle are the best sellers ever seen. »Fasten your seat belt and drive safely and have a great holiday season.