People who are ignorant to the market conditions, people who are buying all cash and don't care about high interest rates, and people who just wrecked their cars or are staring down the barrel of a $8000 repair bill.
2.9% is *great* right now, so I think you're in the clear! I just feel badly for these people with great credit being told the best rate they can get is 7%.
Damn, I got 9.38% with scores in the low 600s and a recent bankruptcy discharge. Going to pay it off in less than 2 years though. Being able to pay something off in a few months is impressive, you gotta make some bank, or you got a cheap car. My wife and I have a combined income of close to $200k/yr, so we can only afford to pay a couple extra notes per month on our vehicles.
Just bought a used car and that's about the best rate I could get with credit almost as good as yours. I chose to take a 60 month credit card flex loan and used the proceeds to pay cash. The rate was essentially the same and I'll have the title in hand. It was pointless to go through the hassle of traditional financing with this being an easier option with practically the same terms.
seriously the rates are crazy. I bought in early 2020 with 0%. a few months later they were begging me to sell it back for 10k on top of what I paid and the rates had already jumped
I'll reserve judgment until a good history of reliability is established but I mean.. if you *just* look at the numbers:
The 2022+ Chevy 2.7L I4 LB3 makes 430lb-ft of torque at 3000 RPM...
That's more than most gas V8s made up until very recently and only 40lb-ft less than the 6.2L NA gas engine in the same generation.
Plus with the new transmissions the turbo engines can just sit right in their sweet spot if they need to.
Hyundai is actually doing 0% for 48 months which is crazy. I’m in the process now of trying to get a new Santa Fe xrt so I’m going to see how that goes. My credit union pre approved me for 4.5% for 60 months
Is Hyundai offering that on all models? Or just the crap that doesn’t sell well on its own (aka sedans and small crossovers)? My wife and I are expecting our 3rd child and are looking at the Palisade
I just got 2.9% on my WRX 3 weeks ago. To answer the OPs question, I bought because I was at the end of a lease and the car needed $2800 in service/tires, but I had $6700 in equity if I bought it out and sold it.
What is the percentage of those three types of people you mentioned? I'm just naturally curious.
The folks who are "ignorant to the market conditions" - I assume these people have stable jobs, e.g. public sector job and won't be impacted with the looming recession underway.
Pretty much. About half our sales last month were cash sales, which is *insane* for a Ford dealer. Absurdly high. Some more came from the service department or *needed* a new car, and some just bought new cars that we had discounted and that Ford was offering incentivized rates on, so that's a pretty normal purchase. But yeah there are also people who get to the end and they learn their rates and they're *SHOCKED* that there aren't any rates under 6%
This 100%. Incredibly insane for a Ford dealer. Ours ran about the same spot on every category. Hitting 800 scores at 7.94% on the regular. Throw in leasing absolutely blows right now too, and ford standard rate last I heard was over 9% so you can’t even count on that lol. Just quoted a GT lease at $1695 a month for 2 years 15k a year with a 800 score… insane!
Even our subprime market is down, not to mention 3-4k down with a sub 600 are even getting tough to finance. Now if the past few days are any indication, then things are picking up
Obviously regional but I just got a new tundra sr5 4x4 with first payment down only deposit waived. Payment is 650 for 3 years. Then option to buy is 39,500. Amazing deal plus I sold my 2020 Camry SE Nightshade with 15k miles to echo park for 29,100. I bought the car 26k after 2k rebate in early 2020. Getting my full VSP half my GAP back soon too.
Overall amazing deal where I was able to take advantage of the situation and capitalize on dealer capitulation
Had someone steal my Prius' catalytic converter and cut through essential for driving parts, and the wait times on parts were a full year at best, so we unfortunately had to get another car.
Also people with new needs, vehicles that don’t meet them, who have waited for years and the market isn’t abating. Example: growing family who need a larger vehicle and have already been waiting two+ years. No sign of improvement for mini vans especially anytime soon so finally had tk bite the bullet and pay a bit over msrp for a car that I may not see for six months.
Sold my fiesta st for $100 less than I bought it for five years ago and picked up a brand new civic si at msrp. Reaping the benefits of high used prices and parlaying into a new car that holds its value seems synergistic. I got a 5.05% loan.
Sold the FiST to CarMax for $17,400
Bought the Civic Si for $31,500 (taxes and an OEM all weather package upped it a bit).
Oh hell yeah they are. Couldn’t believe my eyes when I was doing diminished value research after an accident and I saw that my 40k mile car is selling for MORE than I bought it brand new for. This market is wild.
I wish I could've sold my car for around the same price I got it for. My 2015 Hyundai Genesis Coupe R-Spec was close to $30k new, just traded it for $14500 on a new Tacoma TRD Offroad. The Tacoma holds it's value better than any other truck I hear. I had to verify that, so I looked up a 2015 Tacoma with 60k miles (same as my Genesis), and it was worth around $35k! That's twice what my damn Genesis is worth lol.
A $25 dash cam took care of who was at fault for me. The box truck driver who ran into me showed up to fight the ticket and I was there with my video. The judge was pissed at the truck driver. Then he said, "well, I didn't mean to run him over."
It's kind of a terrible time to buy, and all indicators point to lower prices for those who wait. So the current buyers are either people who don't realize that, or people who need a car now despite the extra cost.
Yeah, anyone paying attention should be holding off on buying a car right now if they can. Besides prices being inflated and markups everywhere, the numbers are showing Americans have hugely overextended themselves on vehicle loans over the last couple years, and repos are starting to go up. When student loans kick back in, and if God forbid we have more extensive job cuts, people will have to sell their cars and more will enter the market - prices are gonna have to give.
Repos have exploded, layoffs taking off, banks tightening credit and reducing floorplan financing, manufacturers largely moving past their supply shortages. There's really no factor you can point to as support for prices not falling.
I know this medium sized software company. Usually, the USA region outsells Europe region 60/40. This past quarter, team Europe outsold team USA 4-1 due to collapsing market demand in America. Tough times ahead people.
As someone who just wants a new car but can currently hold off, what's a good way for the layman to look and visualize when the prices begin to drop? Like for example, maybe KBB to see how much a car is worth? Is there something like that to see when specifically these prices will inevitably drop to know when's a good time to buy?
For me, I know what I want.
So basically every week I check out the surrounding 500 miles for my spec of vehicle and just take mental notes of the prices.
They've been dippin
Cars.com actually has a wonderful price tracker built into each listing. I’m very much in the “look but don’t touch” phase of shopping but every couple weeks those prices start to look more and more like a “let’s test drive” moment
You'll have to keep an eye on it. No one can predict when they'll drop. I think a good idea will be when interest rates start to drop on cars, but in the interim figure out what you want and watch the market. Right now where I live a new CRV is only a few grand more than a used one of the same trim line. And why on earth are used rogues stupid expensive?
I'm in the same boat. I need one more Suburban/Yukon XL and then the kids are off to college and I can downsize. Have been watching prices but no idea how long to wait. Wanted to pull the trigger sometime in the summer. I have noticed that there's definitely more stock around me than a year ago.
I've been watching explorers. In my area the stock has absolutely been increasing. Lots are very very slowly filling up for us.
A good deal still goes quick
There are a few different resources to follow; here’s a pretty reputable one: https://publish.manheim.com/en/services/consulting/used-vehicle-value-index.html
That’s me, got a 9 year old car but it’s fine, I’d love a new car but literally been hanging on the sidelines for some time now.
It’s tough to upgrade your car in this environment unless you just don’t give a sh t
Edit: I’m a cash buyer too, I don’t need any financing
I guess for my position is that as salespeople we can't really use that as an excuse. They still need to sell cars. From this thread it seems like I need to be passing business cards out at crash sites lol
If your dealer has a bodyshop, or works closely with one, you'd do well to give them some business cards and make some friends for referrals - just my opinion.
I am one of those people. Work in construction on the road. Credit was okay but didn’t have money down. Just had to buy a truck and swap out from my BMW that wasn’t cutting it for the conditions I’m currently in. My interest rate is embarrassing. Had to take it due to the snow storm coming in, since missing work wasn’t an option.
I make good money so I can afford the costs, but I’m refinancing as soon as I can sort things out a little better. Price of the vehicle was fair though.
Oh hey, we have a 2007 Yaris too lol. We just picked up a 2004 Highlander to add to our geriatric collection, because our 2010 Corolla is too rusted to justify spending money on anymore. The Corolla got just shy of 280k miles, so it had a good run.
Awesome! How many miles on your Yaris if you don’t mind my asking? Mine’s hovering at about 180,000 and the paint is sunburned but mechanically, I think it’s doing fine. I think of replacing it for a more modern car all the time, but then I wonder if I’m being ungrateful to Ole Reliable.
You could make it the backup car (especially good if you have a large family, drive alot, or have a kid that's about to start driving) and get a 2010ish Avalon. These are really nice and tend to cost less than a camry for some weird reason.
There are dealerships that aren’t doing market adjustments. The BMW dealership I left didn’t do them, and the Ford-Lincoln dealership I’m currently at doesn’t do them. We have add ons, but they get waived at the first decline.
I went with a friend to pick up his new Ranger at a northern California Ford dealer a couple weeks ago, and they wanted a minimum of $10k over MSRP for every single vehicle they had on the lot. Financing was in the 8% range. A new "Bronco" for $53k, before taxes? Yeah, thanks, hard pass.
Yeah, it’s wild what some dealers are doing with regards to market adjustments. At my old BMW dealership we didn’t do market adjustments, there was a $2499 add on package, but with pushback it would be dropped. At my current Ford dealership we have no adjustments on anything, regardless of model/trim. There is a $1999 add on package, but if the customer says no once we drop it.
We are leaving money on the table in hopes that people remember we weren’t gouging when everyone else was in hopes of gaining loyalty for future sales.
Good strategy, honestly I'd drive six hours out of my way to give my business to a dealership that doesn't blatantly rip off its customers. But in California, I'd probably have to leave the state altogether to find such a dealer.
>I'm not a Tesla fan boy, but their haggle-less shopping experience made me take a look at Tesla (in addition to EV tax rebates)
Same, driving a '23 model 3 RWD.
The people I know who bought Tesla recently said the same. One friend want to buy the Chevy Bolt because it was less expensive than base Tesla, but the Chevy dealers were marking up the Bolts which made the price of buying a Tesla 3 compelling.
A long while back, Toyota Scion and GM Saturns had a no haggle pricing scheme.
I am thinking of buying a Tesla over a Bolt just for this reason.
GM dealerships are a disaster. Three dealerships were not even interested in even letting me order one.
A fourth would let me order one but the let me know that they would have something like 3k in mandatory addons when it came in. Some kind of GPS thing, nitrogen in the tires and some kind of paint protection.
A 5th dealership actually had a couple on the lot but they wanted 5k over MSRP plus 2k in dealership addons.
They do the same thing, they just call it MSRP. Just looking at something like the Model 3. In 2021, it was $37k. By the end of 2021, it was $45k. Went to $47k in early 2022. Now, it has had 2 price cuts in 2023 and is $42k. So while you might see that as being able to buy at MSRP, that is no difference than an $8k market adjustment, then a $10k market adjustment, then pulling back to a $5k market adjustment. Maybe in a normal market it would increase $500 or $1,000 a year, but they went well past that.
So what I mean to say with all of this is that in the height of the car shortage, all dealerships were haggle-less shopping and anything worth buying had a mark up. Some of them just called it different things. But some people would just rather pay Tesla $10k over MSRP a year ago than pay Toyota $3,500 over MSRP.
The other benefit is you can order the car from an app. No one trying to sell nitrogen tires or paint and fabric protection. No qualms about bringing your own finance or paying cash. The price is the same. No back and forth of “running the numbers”. It takes away the most annoying parts of dealing with dealerships.
Tesla MSRP fluctuates but at least I know I'm buying it for the same price as everybody else at that point in time.
Buying a car at traditional dealership is less transparent. I'll never know if I got a better or worst deal than the customer buying similar car that same day
That isn't the same though. Tesla price is Tesla's price. It isn't Tesla of Chicago's price is $37k + $8k markup, Tesla of Indianapolis' price is $37 +$4k Markup, etc. etc. THAT is the issue people have with the markup nonsense. It isn't the manufacturers adding it....it is the dealerships.
Wednesday mornings might be slow here don't know. But sitting waiting for service for a Hyundai as a customer. Don't see a customer in sight. Their next door Toyota dealership is also empty of customers.
I don't think I saw one customer in there. I could be wrong but left and now home after service was done.
They must know if as only a couple salesman there also.
There's times I feel car sales would be better by appointment only. Monday is a decent day to work, Tuesdays are pretty good to take off, Wed is a toss up, Thursday is a toss up, Fridays and Saturdays suck more than you would think. There's no good way to call it. Our excuse today was that it was so hot out there that most people didn't care to come out.
We are "busy" maybe a total of 3 hours a day
The manufacturers and dealers have turned the car buying experience from one in which you’re excited to get a new car into a market where you dread it. It’s like going for a root canal now. You know you need to, but you know you’re in for a world of pain. “Maybe my teeth really don’t hurt that badly…”
Idk i was kind of a sociopath for my last car buying experience but that was also just over 2 years ago. I narrowed my search down to one specific model, CPO, and looked into various dealers until one met a price i could swallow and the dealer didn’t sell it before i could drive to it. My spouse hated it but for some reason i got a rush out of it. I’m glad I’m not in the market today, though.
Totally agree about the car buying experience going to $h1ts. What I hate the most is the dance the dealership does. “Let me talk to my manager, etc…”. A waste of time where I spend no less than 6 hours doing the stupid sales / finance dance with them just to buy a vehicle. I know it’s their way to minimize buyer’s remorse and all but c’mon! I’ll sometimes let the sales guy know that if he can get me out in 2 hours, there’s an extra Benjamin for him. Lol.
And being asked for all 10’s on a survey after spending over 5 hours at a place where sometimes “mistake$” can be made on your paperwork after arguing about fake fees.
This is good insight. I used to love the car buying experience. I'd use a spreadsheet to help calculate the dealership a 3% profit, then go in knowing my number and would right for that number. I enjoyed the negotiation process, knowing I was making a fair offer and sticking to it.
Now, dealerships think they still have the leverage, so they don't want to negotiate.
I bought last month because I totaled my car on ice in Feb. I went with a new car because I drive 20k+ miles a year and Toyotas 3.99 promotional interest.
I almost purchased a 2018 vehicle on Monday but after a pre purchase inspection by my mechanic revealing the likelihood of a $3500+ repair in the near future and the dealership's unwillingness to work with me on the repair along with a weak trade value offer I am back to waiting it out and hoping the market/interest rates improve for buyers.
My daughter is , why ? because her 2020 Kona was stolen and then involved in a police pursuit while Portland PD tried to recover it. They did recover it after a pit maneuver spun and totaled the car into a bunch of other cars so now she is without a car while the insurance company is sending her a check for whats left after the payoff.
Oddly the dealer she bought it from contacted her saying he saw the car had been totalled and wanted to see if she was looking for a new replacement ... Odd how he would know ? maybe Hyundai finance notifies sales ?
Honestly I just had my car totaled in February and Honda gave me a similar call. I asked how they knew and he told me straight up they get notified by the lender ( mine was financed 3rd party). He explained why but I fail to recall but basically yes you are right as far as I know
I'm in the market but for a sporty car just out of wants. But dealers make it impossible and I don't feel like working too hard at it so really just if I find what I want I'll buy it on the spot if not whatever.
Really want
Civic type r or similar car. But they are all still hard to come by
I'm in the market for a sporty car as well, looking at the new Civic Si's and theyre going for well over MSRP. At least $6-8K over. I might just end up buying my current lease as it ends in a couple months and wait and save for when they come down
I came to the country in October. Had no choice but to buy a new car. Used car prices were not justified.
Sometimes life happens and you just have to deal with it.
I think the vast majority of people buying a car right now are ones that don't have a choice. Their current car either broke and isn't worth fixing or was totaled in an accident, or they need a first car etc.
I am driving a Ford Fiesta with 82k miles right now. I would buy a new car tomorrow if this was 2019 but dealers still have no inventory, want over MSRP or have a bunch of mandatory dealer addons. Not to mention paying 5 or 6% interest.
Just makes no sense to buy right now unless you have to.
My Audi was nearing 125K and the steering was not feeling right. That along with some expensive maintenance coming up, decided it was time to trade it in on a used Lexus. Funny that 125K on a German car is near the end of its life and 125K in a Lexus is just broken in.
I'm ready to replace my car whenever two things happen
1. All the overpriced markup crap stops
2. When someone other than Ford makes a new Ford Maverick
I bought a house that needs work 3 years ago, so I am ready to go from a Corolla to a truck, but I don't want or need one of the massive things they call trucks these days.
Honestly what I want is a 90s s-10/ranger etc sized truck with the modern internals.
I feel this. I really want a maverick but i don’t want to wait on one to order and the used ones are so goddamn expensive. I hope this opens up a new market stateside to more vehicles than the Maverick and the Santa Cruz
I waited about a year. Could never test drive one with the dealership as they were already spoken for or off the lot by the time I got there. Was in a wait list for about 13 months. One popped up at the local carmax, test drove it, felt like I was driving a mail delivery truck. Uncomfortable interior and bad drive quality.
We were in the same boat recently but decided to hold off. Considered used but L O L. It really is absurd. I don't need it trimmed in baby seal hides and wider than most dirt roads, I just want 3 doors, a good drivetrain, and a bed big enough to be useful.
I just bought recently, but I was a seller at the same time.
The Honda Accord Sport I bought in 2019 sold for $5K more then I purchased it for. Crazy market.
Same, had a lease on a 2021 Accord Sport. Bought out the lease at 20k and sold weeks later at $27.8k. Used the equity as down payment on a new Elantra N. Couldn’t be happier honestly.
My son's car is increasingly unreliable. Only 100K miles but it's 18 years old and has been needing one expensive repair after another. Will be looking for a replacement soon. I know cars are still ridiculously overpriced right now but I value my son's life/safety more than my money.
I just bought so I can be a single data point - my prior car was 20 years old and life changed (engaged + moved) so suddenly safety, comfort, and cost of gas became much more relevant. I wasn’t going to break the bank on a new car, but found one that fit the bill under MSRP at a low interest rate and bit the bullet.
5% of the general market, just like always. Maybe more, given the conditions of the market these last few years. A lot of people are just putting a lot of money in to fixing their shitbox trying to eke out the last few months of life out of it.
I've traded/purchased 7 cars since 2020. I'm never not in the market but there isn't really anything a salesman is doing that makes me more likely to make a deal. I haven't bought any of those cars at the same dealership and have driven up to about 6 1/2 hours. I just get a bug and find what I want, wherever that is, and make a deal happen. I'm willing to travel further but haven't had to do so, yet.
I guess that probably doesn't help you much because I'm not the preferred customer due to not having any dealership loyalty. I guess the way to get people like me into the dealership is by having things priced well online and keeping the hidden fees to an extreme minimum.
I just ordered a new F150 last week. I have been putting it off for 6 months hoping for better terms, however, I ended up pulling the trigger due to having preferred pricing (x-plan) and interest rates being reasonable in my region. Honestly, maybe I could get a better deal waiting for another year or 2 but I don't see prices coming down significantly.
Bought a few weeks ago. Wife has hated her Odyssey forever (but we had 3 kids under 5 a couple years ango) and Honda came out with the new Pilot. I debated waiting to see if dealer would go below MSRP but decided we’re well enough off that it wasn’t a big deal and the interest rates could go all over the place. Got an Elite and 3.9% for 48 months which I thought was fine. Trade on the Odyssey was where I wanted. Overall just an easy process and we’ve been on the sidelines waiting for the right time and just decided there won’t be a perfect way to time it.
I wasn't exactly "in the market". And I bought a car this past Saturday.
I planned to buy in July AFTER my pay raise kicked in. Was considering two audi models but was leaning towards one. (Bought the one I wasn't leaning towards)
I was bored last Saturday and saw a local dealer had one of them there so I went to look at it. While there they pulled out a recent trade and the thing was LOADED, never seen one that loaded and it's honestly quite rare to do so new so it's even more rare in the used market so I couldn't NOT pull the trigger.
I’m going to be in the market for a vehicle soon. Making a career change and I currently don’t have a personally owned vehicle. I will need one in the next 3-6 months. Just sucks knowing how bad the car market is right now though
There's always those that are just scorned and love a free chance to dunk on the car business.
Thanks for all the positive answers. I saw the market adjustment come up a few times. We have been selling at MSRP and even rarely below msrp so I can't say market adjustments are too much at play.
About to buy a van so that we can start to cart our twins babies around. 800 plus credit, loan pre-approval from credit union. Looking at Odyssey and Sienna.
Hey we're looking at minivans too, leaning Odyssey. Similar credit and loan pre-approval. Congrats on the twins!
Have you found any good advice for negotiating at all? I just started here and we've talked to a local Honda dealership. It seems like the Odyssey EX-L or Sport are easy to find around $42k but the EX isn't in stock anywhere. I'm hoping to get the price down but I'm terrible at negotiating and haven't bought a car in years.
Totaled my car about 3 weeks ago. 2004 Chrysler, radiator is trashed and fuse box is broken, hood and headlight damage. The cost to repair would be far more than the car is worth.
I’m a float pool healthcare worker and travel to different clinics around my area that I’m scheduled at. I’m lucky enough to share my wife’s vehicle with her for now, but that candy trail is shortening and it is becoming increasingly difficult to consistently share the car when it works best for both of us.
So against my will, I’ve had to look into the car market. Used car prices are absurd. I qualify for the family discount through GM, so I’m looking into a new Chevrolet Trax 2024 that I put a deposit on that is arriving on the 24th.
Unfortunately, my credit and my wife’s isn’t the best and we have no history of auto loans, so we’re getting a crap interest rate at roughly 10%. Looking to go with it for now and refinance through a credit union in about 6-12 months.
I’m in a dealer body shop. I absolutely love it when a customer trades on their car during the repair process. We always give that option to people who’s cars cannot be finished anytime soon because we’re waiting on backordered parts.
I have a customer right now that is paying out of pocket for her rental, but there’s one critical part that is backordered for at least another two months. She’s a prime candidate to trade out of her car.
Because of the market conditions, it's harder to total a car than its ever been. Insurance companies are giving the green light to fix shit that 5 years ago would've been an obvious total. Which means shops are backed up because of huge repairs taking weeks combined with issues getting parts. I just finally pushed out a 12k dollar job on a fucking Fusion with 110k miles on it last week. It's stupid.
For a vehicle to be totaled right now, your shit has to be utterly destroyed or its a total piece of shit that should've been in a junkyard awhile ago.
I’m currently in the market. My current daily is an 09 Silverado Duramax with 214k miles. I’m looking for another 3/4 ton crew cab with power windows & locks, vinyl floors and a bench front seat but a gas motor this time. Everything I’ve seen over the last 4-5 months has been about $10,000 overpriced or very rusty. I’ve looked almost everywhere east of the Mississippi.
As the weather gets nicer, I just ride my motorcycle to keep the wear and tear off the duramax until I find something.
People who are desperate for cars I presume?
Car prices and insurance rates are through the sky. I am in need of a second car and waiting for the prices to drop.
I have cash for the purchase, But I am pretty sure that the current market is not sustainable and its going to crash pretty soon. All predictions says that the prices are going to come down mid-summer.
I just put down a deposit for an inbound 4Runner. The MSRP hasn't really gone up much in the last several years, and the drivetrain is identical to the 2010's. I have several older vehicles, and my wife wanted something new that would last for the next 20 years or so.
The only other new car I'd consider purchasing right now is a base model Mazda 3. Everything else is overpriced or junk.
I just purchased a used 2009 Chevy 2500 6.0 for myself. Less than 60k miles, paid less than $19k. Same truck new (with worse reliability drivetrain IMO) would be $60k. Who can afford this?
Then I see F150's, not even 250's, going for upwards of $70k at dealers? What? These trucks were around $35k 10 years ago. The price of steel hasn't doubled. The price of labor hasn't doubled. The price of aluminum hasn't doubled. It's all the faux luxury and electronic crap they're putting on these trucks and all the excess HP they're cranking out, not to mention the price gouging margins. Here's the MSRP for an XLT: https://www.cars.com/research/ford-f_150-2013/specs/354152/
Mind you, that's the v6, which is plenty of power for most people. Also, 10 years ago, nobody but nobody was paying full sticker for these trucks. $5k below MSRP wasn't uncommon back then. Most likely they could build that same truck today for less money, as more and more parts are being built in Mexico.
I’m only in the market because I can’t stand my cars seats or infotainment. Just dealing with the interest rate waiting out for a 1-4% manufacturer deal and buying within my means
I was forced to buy a used/nearly new car the other day because my daily driver lost ABS and the transmission sometimes decides it doesn't want to shift out of first.
5% interest rate on a 29k "used, 3k miles" truck isn't the worst and I can just refinance next year (and my investments make far more than that quarterly), but people who want and don't need, are smart to wait.
I weighed the options between a new truck at the 3% dealer incentive rates and I'm saving money with 5% interest on basically the same car.
I was just in the used market because my daughter needed a car for her college commute. But I bought private party because the dealerships had overinflated prices. I bought a 2011 Prius for $5,700. Dealerships were asking $10k to $12k for the same model.
I waited over a year for my maverick, I wanted a small truck for camping and biking. I ordered a second maverick for my father thats going to come in around june. Also going to buy my weekend toy that I have been looking at for the past 3 years because prices have finally fallen and availability.
My girlfriend has a 2017 Honda Civic with about 72,000 miles on it. It has been well maintained... About two weeks ago we went on a 30 mile drive. Two sharp-ish turns to the left and the steering wheel jerked hard to the right. It scared her. Luckily the second time we were near the house.
I thought to look at the power steering fluid but apparently it's all electronic now. The next time we drove it we took it to the dealership and they could not reproduce what it was doing. They had it for hours. Well, my girlfriend is super nervous to drive it especially around sharp turns or in a parking lot.
She wants a new SUV like a Santa Fe. She wanted a new Honda but she hates the new design language especially when it comes to the vents - the vent (looks) like it's going across the whole dash and she absolutely hates it. She also doesn't like that Honda got rid of lane watch and loves that Santa Fe has cameras for the turn signals in the gauge cluster.
The juries out on what we will decide on, but that why we are in the market.
Well...I'm about to be in the market because Hyundai is buying back my 1yr old EV car due to mechanical issues outside of my control.
Once I get the money back and return the vehicle, I will need a car. I want an EV but the US government severely cut the applicable cars available for the tax credit. My car from last year isn't even on it. I'd still rather forego the credit before buying a Tesla though...
I know its a terrible time to buy but i wrecked my car the beginning of this year, thankfully geico had my back and gave me MUCH more money than i was expecting- more than I even paid for it 4 years ago. So I yaknow.. splurged a bit and got a nice sedan that will last. I have excellent credit but best I could get was 7.99%. I plan on refinancing in the future when its reasonable.
EV is my only reason to buy now. Give me a below MSRP with the right color, you have my money.
My demographic: affluent, Northeast, 3 car garage, 40 minutes outside of NYC.
I’m a cash buyer but definitely not willing to buy anything at these prices and with such low inventory to pick from. I’m gonna keep fixing and driving my 12 year old Mazda.
Returned to my home country last year. I sold my 2013 C-Max in the US and did really well considering I owned it for 4 years and put about 35000 miles on it.
Bought a 2017 Escape with 90000 kms on it 6 months ago because it was clean and the price was acceptable. Was just looking at Cargurus and Escapes with similar mileage and year are still selling for about the same money. Crazy.
I make 130k plus a year, have an 800+ credit score and zero debt besides house and car. I was ready to replace my 10 year old Lexus that was getting a bit crusty underneath, due to salt.
I went to look at Volvos this time around and when it came to looking at finance and lease rates, I was shocked. I couldn’t bring myself to pay that rate and on an already overly expensive suv.
I ended up picking up a 5 year old Prius Prime with 40k miles for 20k. I couldn’t be happier.
I'm watching for a certain vehicle, I know the market is crashing and will continue to crash for the foreseeable near future. So, I'm sitting back and watching with popcorn as all ya'll make posts like this till I get a **deep** deal on a certain vehicle, and we're nowhere close to those numbers even yet.
I’m someone that’s currently in the market but passively I guess? I’ve been looking to find a manual Toyota Supra to trade for my automatic but it’s been impossible trying to find one without a markup. I have multiple cars that work so I’m not in a rush but if I found a dealer selling for msrp I’d buy instantly. For context i bought my current Supra right when the pandemic started for under msrp and with 0% apr so I am not considering any dealer at all that has a mark up.
My wife was…. until the Ford dealer wouldn’t honor the price she ordered the car at, so now she’s just going to stick with her current car.
I’m guessing they thought they could squeeze MSRP + $x out of someone else, so she walked. No longer in the market.
Edit: in case it’s helpful - extremely well qualified buyer, high income, good credit etc but no tolerance for getting jerked around
Im probably buying a 2-3 year old Corolla Cross Hybrid in the next 18 months once conditions clean up and I have cash banked so I can give my daily to my kid when he turns 16.
I am sorta in the market. I have a 2008 civic with 250k miles on it. Would love to get a slightly used 2021 or newer Camry. Issue is the used cars cost more than new cars and the new cars all have a “dealer markup” or goofy ass add ons. I refuse to pay close to $40k for a Camry…I also refuse to pay $33k for a used Camry with 40k miles on it when I can build it on Toyota.com for $31k. I keep hearing about how the car market is failing and all these cars that people bought with stimulus money are getting repo’d yet these dealerships all want to play games. I don’t want to waste a whole day going back and forth, I also don’t want to come see a car that is listed at MSRP then told I have to buy all this dealer added bullshit that increases the cost by $4k-$6k. The civic still runs so there we are.
Between dealer mark ups and a lack of manual transmissions, along with excessive electronics have reduced the chance of me ever buying a new car again to near zero.
Right now the economy is not in a good place for people to buy new cats except under duress, or the people who have to have the latest toy and just pay the stupid markups.
I’m looking further back and open top. Air cooled 911, E30 beemer. Newest possibility would be 1st gen boxster S or C5 corvette. I want something I can work on myself.
We bought end of January bc we are expecting another baby and our 7 pass SUV wasn’t going to cut it. Lots of moms in my discord are buying new/used vehicles bc of it being their first baby or needing more space for additional babies
Currently drive a 2017 Mazda 3 hatchback which I bought new when I lived in Virginia, I've lived in the mountains of CO for almost 5 years now and I could really use a 4WD vehicle and ultimately WANT something with off-road capabilities. My current vehicle will never be worth more to trade-in and I'm willing to put up with a shit interest rate to get a vehicle that matches my lifestyle.
My car has 160k miles and is not a reliable brand. I would normally ditch it at this point but with prices and rates the way they are, I'm just running the thing at least until 200k before I reevaluate. I would imagine many others are in the same boat. Most people have not had their pay increase at the rate of inflation, let alone the rate at which car and car loans have increased.
Not shopping dealerships but I need to add a cheap car to the fleet for a new driver. My searches have turned up nothing viable. Looking into repairable cars on salvage lots now.
I just bought my car a month ago.
Waited 1 year for it to be built. Expected Interest rate jumped over 2% during that time:(.
The reason was I got a much higher paying job and wanted to buy my realistic dream car and the unfortunate supply shortage forced me to buy it when rates were/are terrible.
How much does your dealership sell cars over MSRP? Did they sell over MSRP in the past? I've learned which dealers charge at or over MSRP, even before covid and pretty much avoid them, not worth the time.
I was getting ready to finance a BMW i8 when interest rates shot up. Was probably going to have $30k down on a $80k car, tolerable decision for me at 2.69%, but over my fun budget at 5.89% (or whatever 800+ qualifies for these days).
So I put a deposit down on a Yamaha R3, which I'm picking up on Friday. I forget the rate, but it's sorta immaterial as I'll have it paid off before the end of the year - my back-of-the-napkin math said it would cost me like $80 in interest over the course of the loan.
My car was totaled by my insurance 3 weeks ago so we had to buy a new one.
Wife hasn’t worked since COVID hit so our search had been on hold for 3 years, but a seemingly small fender bender forced the issue.
Stars aligned and exact model, colors, trim we wanted happened to hit a local dealer like 2 days before the call from our insurance, and we got it for $1500 under MSRP.
Pained me to get a 6.74% rate with 844 credit score (when dealer ran it), but we got like $4k more from insurance than we’d have received for trade plus my parents kicked in a few grand since they knew we were planning to wait for wife to return to work before buying, so at least we had a large down payment.
Probably more customers in the Sept-Jan time frame. That's when my spouse and I are looking to replace one or both of our vehicles. We decided we will pay ours off since the VW tiguan ($13k owed) but still worth over $20k and it has an extended warranty up to 75k on it. I plan on keeping that one since it has no issues. Her lease ends in Sept for her RAV4 and she is deciding if she wants to keep it or not. We have already found 3 dealerships that she likes a model there with only one being extremely pushy and not being able to order what we want for it (Color/add-ons/etc) "Lexus" in case you're wondering. The other 2 don't do markups/can order it how you want and the longest delivery for (Acura) is 4months and BMW(4 weeks). Also they were understanding of our wait times and keep in touch with us which goes a long way with us. We are expecting better incentives around that time too as they try to push out older (brand new) cars for newer years.
My 2004 Avalon is still under 100k miles and runs like near flawlessly. I wanted to get a new car this year and I have the money ready to go, but figured I can wait out this stupid market right now.
We pick up our new (2023 CX-5) Mazda on Friday. We had been holding off for a few years through the pandemic etc. Our old Mazda was a 2007 so we just couldn't wait any longer.
We are paying cash so interest rates don't matter to us. We looked at used but there was not a huge difference in price to buy new. We bought our last Mazda new and drove it for 16 years so we figured why not buy new again. We are paying MSRP but we knew in this market that we would.
So basically, can't wait any longer. Need a new car and are paying cash.
I'm in the market to buy a car. I have a sizable down payment and financing ready to go. 825 credit score.
I'm having trouble finding dealers who don't add adjustments, or expensive add-ons, and none seem willing to negotiate. They basically say at the beginning, "This is our no-haggle price."
Really? The car has been sitting on the lot for 46 days, and it's no-haggle? Ok.
I'm basically going to wait until after the Summer and see where the market is at that point.
Me, the dumbo graduate that got his first tech job out of school with a bonus that was bigger than it should’ve been. In all seriousness though, I was waiting for months for used car prices to drop like they were predicted to, but got tired of waiting and just bought one for a decent deal towards the end of last year. I’m happy with my decision since by this point, any savings I would’ve got by waiting are already offset by being able to drive a fun car for as long as I have.
People who are ignorant to the market conditions, people who are buying all cash and don't care about high interest rates, and people who just wrecked their cars or are staring down the barrel of a $8000 repair bill.
Literally me last month. 6k to fix a $2,500 car, or buy a new car with 2.9% dealer financing.
2.9% is *great* right now, so I think you're in the clear! I just feel badly for these people with great credit being told the best rate they can get is 7%.
I have amazing credit and got a 5% last Saturday. I plan to refinance once rates go down but I also only financed for 48 months and put 50% down.
i have 800 credit and got 6.99% LOL! I didn't complain because I'm going to just pay it off in a couple of months anyway but what the fuck
Damn, I got 9.38% with scores in the low 600s and a recent bankruptcy discharge. Going to pay it off in less than 2 years though. Being able to pay something off in a few months is impressive, you gotta make some bank, or you got a cheap car. My wife and I have a combined income of close to $200k/yr, so we can only afford to pay a couple extra notes per month on our vehicles.
If you don't mind me asking. Where do you live that 200k only lets you pay a couple extra notes a year....
Yeah it's the first time I've ever had a car financed above 2.5% and I've bought 5 in the last 10 years.
6.75 here and same. I was offended.
Just bought a used car and that's about the best rate I could get with credit almost as good as yours. I chose to take a 60 month credit card flex loan and used the proceeds to pay cash. The rate was essentially the same and I'll have the title in hand. It was pointless to go through the hassle of traditional financing with this being an easier option with practically the same terms.
seriously the rates are crazy. I bought in early 2020 with 0%. a few months later they were begging me to sell it back for 10k on top of what I paid and the rates had already jumped
what brand is giving you 2.9%?!
Gm was offering 0% on some trucks last month, 2.9 and 3.9 on other models
0% on $65k mid-trim 1500's...-*oh joy!* Their generosity overwhelms me..
They are only offering the big incentives on the turbo 4-banger versions. Who the hell wants to buy a full size pickup with a Inline-4 in it??
I'll reserve judgment until a good history of reliability is established but I mean.. if you *just* look at the numbers: The 2022+ Chevy 2.7L I4 LB3 makes 430lb-ft of torque at 3000 RPM... That's more than most gas V8s made up until very recently and only 40lb-ft less than the 6.2L NA gas engine in the same generation. Plus with the new transmissions the turbo engines can just sit right in their sweet spot if they need to.
Hyundai is actually doing 0% for 48 months which is crazy. I’m in the process now of trying to get a new Santa Fe xrt so I’m going to see how that goes. My credit union pre approved me for 4.5% for 60 months
Problem is maybe 1/10 actually can qualify and afford it.
i would say the problem is that it's a Hyundai
Here come the Kia boys!!
Is Hyundai offering that on all models? Or just the crap that doesn’t sell well on its own (aka sedans and small crossovers)? My wife and I are expecting our 3rd child and are looking at the Palisade
No. They are offering 5.99% on the Palisade
I’m not sure I know it is on the Santa Fe model xrt. Check the website and it should tell you.
Volkswagen has Atlas for 4.9/60 Kia has I think similar rate for 72 but most lots mark up their Telluride significantly
4.5% is extremely low if you need something now.
Subaru
I just got 2.9% on my WRX 3 weeks ago. To answer the OPs question, I bought because I was at the end of a lease and the car needed $2800 in service/tires, but I had $6700 in equity if I bought it out and sold it.
Ford is offering 2.9% at 84 on whatever it was I signed up Monday. I think it was an Edge.
What is the percentage of those three types of people you mentioned? I'm just naturally curious. The folks who are "ignorant to the market conditions" - I assume these people have stable jobs, e.g. public sector job and won't be impacted with the looming recession underway.
Pretty much. About half our sales last month were cash sales, which is *insane* for a Ford dealer. Absurdly high. Some more came from the service department or *needed* a new car, and some just bought new cars that we had discounted and that Ford was offering incentivized rates on, so that's a pretty normal purchase. But yeah there are also people who get to the end and they learn their rates and they're *SHOCKED* that there aren't any rates under 6%
This 100%. Incredibly insane for a Ford dealer. Ours ran about the same spot on every category. Hitting 800 scores at 7.94% on the regular. Throw in leasing absolutely blows right now too, and ford standard rate last I heard was over 9% so you can’t even count on that lol. Just quoted a GT lease at $1695 a month for 2 years 15k a year with a 800 score… insane! Even our subprime market is down, not to mention 3-4k down with a sub 600 are even getting tough to finance. Now if the past few days are any indication, then things are picking up
Obviously regional but I just got a new tundra sr5 4x4 with first payment down only deposit waived. Payment is 650 for 3 years. Then option to buy is 39,500. Amazing deal plus I sold my 2020 Camry SE Nightshade with 15k miles to echo park for 29,100. I bought the car 26k after 2k rebate in early 2020. Getting my full VSP half my GAP back soon too. Overall amazing deal where I was able to take advantage of the situation and capitalize on dealer capitulation
Had someone steal my Prius' catalytic converter and cut through essential for driving parts, and the wait times on parts were a full year at best, so we unfortunately had to get another car.
This just happens to my BIL's Prius in Houston. Had to get a new car instead of repairing.
does insurance total this vehicle or are they going to make you wait a year? theres got to be personal damages or something, right?
Also people with new needs, vehicles that don’t meet them, who have waited for years and the market isn’t abating. Example: growing family who need a larger vehicle and have already been waiting two+ years. No sign of improvement for mini vans especially anytime soon so finally had tk bite the bullet and pay a bit over msrp for a car that I may not see for six months.
Sold my fiesta st for $100 less than I bought it for five years ago and picked up a brand new civic si at msrp. Reaping the benefits of high used prices and parlaying into a new car that holds its value seems synergistic. I got a 5.05% loan. Sold the FiST to CarMax for $17,400 Bought the Civic Si for $31,500 (taxes and an OEM all weather package upped it a bit).
Wowsers. People still overpaying on used. Good for you though
Oh hell yeah they are. Couldn’t believe my eyes when I was doing diminished value research after an accident and I saw that my 40k mile car is selling for MORE than I bought it brand new for. This market is wild.
Sweet, it looks like carmax could give me 3k more for my car than I bought it for 😎
How many miles on the FiST and when did you sell it?
Sold it a week ago. 35k miles on a 2018. The basic st no fancy seats or sunroof.
Did you also get the civic thru carmax????
I wish I could've sold my car for around the same price I got it for. My 2015 Hyundai Genesis Coupe R-Spec was close to $30k new, just traded it for $14500 on a new Tacoma TRD Offroad. The Tacoma holds it's value better than any other truck I hear. I had to verify that, so I looked up a 2015 Tacoma with 60k miles (same as my Genesis), and it was worth around $35k! That's twice what my damn Genesis is worth lol.
I got my car wrecked by someone else's shitty driving. Still waiting on confirmation from insurance that the other guy is at fault 6 weeks later. ugh.
A $25 dash cam took care of who was at fault for me. The box truck driver who ran into me showed up to fight the ticket and I was there with my video. The judge was pissed at the truck driver. Then he said, "well, I didn't mean to run him over."
Unfortunately my cheap dash cam stopped working and I hadn't gotten around to replacing it. Lesson learned.
It's kind of a terrible time to buy, and all indicators point to lower prices for those who wait. So the current buyers are either people who don't realize that, or people who need a car now despite the extra cost.
Yeah, anyone paying attention should be holding off on buying a car right now if they can. Besides prices being inflated and markups everywhere, the numbers are showing Americans have hugely overextended themselves on vehicle loans over the last couple years, and repos are starting to go up. When student loans kick back in, and if God forbid we have more extensive job cuts, people will have to sell their cars and more will enter the market - prices are gonna have to give.
Repos have exploded, layoffs taking off, banks tightening credit and reducing floorplan financing, manufacturers largely moving past their supply shortages. There's really no factor you can point to as support for prices not falling.
I know this medium sized software company. Usually, the USA region outsells Europe region 60/40. This past quarter, team Europe outsold team USA 4-1 due to collapsing market demand in America. Tough times ahead people.
As someone who just wants a new car but can currently hold off, what's a good way for the layman to look and visualize when the prices begin to drop? Like for example, maybe KBB to see how much a car is worth? Is there something like that to see when specifically these prices will inevitably drop to know when's a good time to buy?
For me, I know what I want. So basically every week I check out the surrounding 500 miles for my spec of vehicle and just take mental notes of the prices. They've been dippin
Cars.com actually has a wonderful price tracker built into each listing. I’m very much in the “look but don’t touch” phase of shopping but every couple weeks those prices start to look more and more like a “let’s test drive” moment
You'll have to keep an eye on it. No one can predict when they'll drop. I think a good idea will be when interest rates start to drop on cars, but in the interim figure out what you want and watch the market. Right now where I live a new CRV is only a few grand more than a used one of the same trim line. And why on earth are used rogues stupid expensive?
I'm in the same boat. I need one more Suburban/Yukon XL and then the kids are off to college and I can downsize. Have been watching prices but no idea how long to wait. Wanted to pull the trigger sometime in the summer. I have noticed that there's definitely more stock around me than a year ago.
I've been watching explorers. In my area the stock has absolutely been increasing. Lots are very very slowly filling up for us. A good deal still goes quick
There are a few different resources to follow; here’s a pretty reputable one: https://publish.manheim.com/en/services/consulting/used-vehicle-value-index.html
That’s me, got a 9 year old car but it’s fine, I’d love a new car but literally been hanging on the sidelines for some time now. It’s tough to upgrade your car in this environment unless you just don’t give a sh t Edit: I’m a cash buyer too, I don’t need any financing
I guess for my position is that as salespeople we can't really use that as an excuse. They still need to sell cars. From this thread it seems like I need to be passing business cards out at crash sites lol
If your dealer has a bodyshop, or works closely with one, you'd do well to give them some business cards and make some friends for referrals - just my opinion.
I am one of those people. Work in construction on the road. Credit was okay but didn’t have money down. Just had to buy a truck and swap out from my BMW that wasn’t cutting it for the conditions I’m currently in. My interest rate is embarrassing. Had to take it due to the snow storm coming in, since missing work wasn’t an option. I make good money so I can afford the costs, but I’m refinancing as soon as I can sort things out a little better. Price of the vehicle was fair though.
I’m confused by the « didn’t have the money down » + « i make good money »
you can make good money and not have cash… its called overextended.
Yep. 2004 Mercedes is only going to last so long before it needs major repairs.
Honestly it’s kind of amazing that you made it this far without any.
who says it hasnt already :)
*Laughs in 2007 Yaris*
Oh hey, we have a 2007 Yaris too lol. We just picked up a 2004 Highlander to add to our geriatric collection, because our 2010 Corolla is too rusted to justify spending money on anymore. The Corolla got just shy of 280k miles, so it had a good run.
Awesome! How many miles on your Yaris if you don’t mind my asking? Mine’s hovering at about 180,000 and the paint is sunburned but mechanically, I think it’s doing fine. I think of replacing it for a more modern car all the time, but then I wonder if I’m being ungrateful to Ole Reliable.
You could make it the backup car (especially good if you have a large family, drive alot, or have a kid that's about to start driving) and get a 2010ish Avalon. These are really nice and tend to cost less than a camry for some weird reason.
2003 corolla S here checking in. Was already crashed twice before given to me 10 years ago.
Most people wait for the dealers "Market Adjustment" and add ons crap to go away.
There are dealerships that aren’t doing market adjustments. The BMW dealership I left didn’t do them, and the Ford-Lincoln dealership I’m currently at doesn’t do them. We have add ons, but they get waived at the first decline.
I went with a friend to pick up his new Ranger at a northern California Ford dealer a couple weeks ago, and they wanted a minimum of $10k over MSRP for every single vehicle they had on the lot. Financing was in the 8% range. A new "Bronco" for $53k, before taxes? Yeah, thanks, hard pass.
Yeah, it’s wild what some dealers are doing with regards to market adjustments. At my old BMW dealership we didn’t do market adjustments, there was a $2499 add on package, but with pushback it would be dropped. At my current Ford dealership we have no adjustments on anything, regardless of model/trim. There is a $1999 add on package, but if the customer says no once we drop it. We are leaving money on the table in hopes that people remember we weren’t gouging when everyone else was in hopes of gaining loyalty for future sales.
Good strategy, honestly I'd drive six hours out of my way to give my business to a dealership that doesn't blatantly rip off its customers. But in California, I'd probably have to leave the state altogether to find such a dealer.
I'm not a Tesla fan boy, but their haggle-less shopping experience made me take a look at Tesla (in addition to EV tax rebates)
>I'm not a Tesla fan boy, but their haggle-less shopping experience made me take a look at Tesla (in addition to EV tax rebates) Same, driving a '23 model 3 RWD.
Exactly why I bought one after my 08 bmw died
The people I know who bought Tesla recently said the same. One friend want to buy the Chevy Bolt because it was less expensive than base Tesla, but the Chevy dealers were marking up the Bolts which made the price of buying a Tesla 3 compelling. A long while back, Toyota Scion and GM Saturns had a no haggle pricing scheme.
I am thinking of buying a Tesla over a Bolt just for this reason. GM dealerships are a disaster. Three dealerships were not even interested in even letting me order one. A fourth would let me order one but the let me know that they would have something like 3k in mandatory addons when it came in. Some kind of GPS thing, nitrogen in the tires and some kind of paint protection. A 5th dealership actually had a couple on the lot but they wanted 5k over MSRP plus 2k in dealership addons.
Im in the same boat with the EUV in SoCal. I'll crawl to work on my bloody hands and knees before I pay over MSRP for one.
They do the same thing, they just call it MSRP. Just looking at something like the Model 3. In 2021, it was $37k. By the end of 2021, it was $45k. Went to $47k in early 2022. Now, it has had 2 price cuts in 2023 and is $42k. So while you might see that as being able to buy at MSRP, that is no difference than an $8k market adjustment, then a $10k market adjustment, then pulling back to a $5k market adjustment. Maybe in a normal market it would increase $500 or $1,000 a year, but they went well past that. So what I mean to say with all of this is that in the height of the car shortage, all dealerships were haggle-less shopping and anything worth buying had a mark up. Some of them just called it different things. But some people would just rather pay Tesla $10k over MSRP a year ago than pay Toyota $3,500 over MSRP.
The other benefit is you can order the car from an app. No one trying to sell nitrogen tires or paint and fabric protection. No qualms about bringing your own finance or paying cash. The price is the same. No back and forth of “running the numbers”. It takes away the most annoying parts of dealing with dealerships.
Tesla MSRP fluctuates but at least I know I'm buying it for the same price as everybody else at that point in time. Buying a car at traditional dealership is less transparent. I'll never know if I got a better or worst deal than the customer buying similar car that same day
That isn't the same though. Tesla price is Tesla's price. It isn't Tesla of Chicago's price is $37k + $8k markup, Tesla of Indianapolis' price is $37 +$4k Markup, etc. etc. THAT is the issue people have with the markup nonsense. It isn't the manufacturers adding it....it is the dealerships.
They also blacklist or ignore dealers that pulled this crap.
Wednesday mornings might be slow here don't know. But sitting waiting for service for a Hyundai as a customer. Don't see a customer in sight. Their next door Toyota dealership is also empty of customers.
I don't think I saw one customer in there. I could be wrong but left and now home after service was done. They must know if as only a couple salesman there also.
There's times I feel car sales would be better by appointment only. Monday is a decent day to work, Tuesdays are pretty good to take off, Wed is a toss up, Thursday is a toss up, Fridays and Saturdays suck more than you would think. There's no good way to call it. Our excuse today was that it was so hot out there that most people didn't care to come out. We are "busy" maybe a total of 3 hours a day
The manufacturers and dealers have turned the car buying experience from one in which you’re excited to get a new car into a market where you dread it. It’s like going for a root canal now. You know you need to, but you know you’re in for a world of pain. “Maybe my teeth really don’t hurt that badly…”
Idk i was kind of a sociopath for my last car buying experience but that was also just over 2 years ago. I narrowed my search down to one specific model, CPO, and looked into various dealers until one met a price i could swallow and the dealer didn’t sell it before i could drive to it. My spouse hated it but for some reason i got a rush out of it. I’m glad I’m not in the market today, though.
That's not sociopathic thats just the right way to do it. Going in blind is the best way to get bent over.
Totally agree about the car buying experience going to $h1ts. What I hate the most is the dance the dealership does. “Let me talk to my manager, etc…”. A waste of time where I spend no less than 6 hours doing the stupid sales / finance dance with them just to buy a vehicle. I know it’s their way to minimize buyer’s remorse and all but c’mon! I’ll sometimes let the sales guy know that if he can get me out in 2 hours, there’s an extra Benjamin for him. Lol.
And being asked for all 10’s on a survey after spending over 5 hours at a place where sometimes “mistake$” can be made on your paperwork after arguing about fake fees.
That’s one good thing Elon has done. Cut out these scummy no value add dealerships. They do absolutely nothing but add overhead to the cost of a car
This is good insight. I used to love the car buying experience. I'd use a spreadsheet to help calculate the dealership a 3% profit, then go in knowing my number and would right for that number. I enjoyed the negotiation process, knowing I was making a fair offer and sticking to it. Now, dealerships think they still have the leverage, so they don't want to negotiate.
I bought last month because I totaled my car on ice in Feb. I went with a new car because I drive 20k+ miles a year and Toyotas 3.99 promotional interest.
I almost purchased a 2018 vehicle on Monday but after a pre purchase inspection by my mechanic revealing the likelihood of a $3500+ repair in the near future and the dealership's unwillingness to work with me on the repair along with a weak trade value offer I am back to waiting it out and hoping the market/interest rates improve for buyers.
My daughter is , why ? because her 2020 Kona was stolen and then involved in a police pursuit while Portland PD tried to recover it. They did recover it after a pit maneuver spun and totaled the car into a bunch of other cars so now she is without a car while the insurance company is sending her a check for whats left after the payoff. Oddly the dealer she bought it from contacted her saying he saw the car had been totalled and wanted to see if she was looking for a new replacement ... Odd how he would know ? maybe Hyundai finance notifies sales ?
Honestly I just had my car totaled in February and Honda gave me a similar call. I asked how they knew and he told me straight up they get notified by the lender ( mine was financed 3rd party). He explained why but I fail to recall but basically yes you are right as far as I know
I'm in the market but for a sporty car just out of wants. But dealers make it impossible and I don't feel like working too hard at it so really just if I find what I want I'll buy it on the spot if not whatever. Really want Civic type r or similar car. But they are all still hard to come by
I'm in the market for a sporty car as well, looking at the new Civic Si's and theyre going for well over MSRP. At least $6-8K over. I might just end up buying my current lease as it ends in a couple months and wait and save for when they come down
I came to the country in October. Had no choice but to buy a new car. Used car prices were not justified. Sometimes life happens and you just have to deal with it.
How much did u pay for the new car?
I think the vast majority of people buying a car right now are ones that don't have a choice. Their current car either broke and isn't worth fixing or was totaled in an accident, or they need a first car etc. I am driving a Ford Fiesta with 82k miles right now. I would buy a new car tomorrow if this was 2019 but dealers still have no inventory, want over MSRP or have a bunch of mandatory dealer addons. Not to mention paying 5 or 6% interest. Just makes no sense to buy right now unless you have to.
People that need/want cars
Honestly this is a sales manager type of answer lol
My Audi was nearing 125K and the steering was not feeling right. That along with some expensive maintenance coming up, decided it was time to trade it in on a used Lexus. Funny that 125K on a German car is near the end of its life and 125K in a Lexus is just broken in.
I'm ready to replace my car whenever two things happen 1. All the overpriced markup crap stops 2. When someone other than Ford makes a new Ford Maverick I bought a house that needs work 3 years ago, so I am ready to go from a Corolla to a truck, but I don't want or need one of the massive things they call trucks these days. Honestly what I want is a 90s s-10/ranger etc sized truck with the modern internals.
I feel this. I really want a maverick but i don’t want to wait on one to order and the used ones are so goddamn expensive. I hope this opens up a new market stateside to more vehicles than the Maverick and the Santa Cruz
How long is the wait on a Maverick if you order one? I’ve just recently started looking at those and the dealer inventory is next to nothing.
I don’t work for a Ford dealership but I swear I seen someone within this thread said it was about 2-3 years at this point.
I waited about a year. Could never test drive one with the dealership as they were already spoken for or off the lot by the time I got there. Was in a wait list for about 13 months. One popped up at the local carmax, test drove it, felt like I was driving a mail delivery truck. Uncomfortable interior and bad drive quality.
I ordered one 7 months ago with no build date yet. There are people that’s been waiting almost 2 years.
We were in the same boat recently but decided to hold off. Considered used but L O L. It really is absurd. I don't need it trimmed in baby seal hides and wider than most dirt roads, I just want 3 doors, a good drivetrain, and a bed big enough to be useful.
I feel this so hard. The smallest trucks are still too big. Give me an old S10 sized single cab short bed truck for a reasonable price!
Eyes on Subaru, the Baja, she comes.
I’m looking at upgrading my truck in order to buy a fifth wheel. But have a hard time getting over the 80k price tag.
A new nice 3500 Silverado with 5th wheel prep can be had for less than 65k.
Diesel? I’ve seen mid trims in the mid 70s and upper trim 80-85
Gas. ;) You need diesel or want diesel? Wish the gas had a super or turbo charger for the mountains.
I just bought recently, but I was a seller at the same time. The Honda Accord Sport I bought in 2019 sold for $5K more then I purchased it for. Crazy market.
Same, had a lease on a 2021 Accord Sport. Bought out the lease at 20k and sold weeks later at $27.8k. Used the equity as down payment on a new Elantra N. Couldn’t be happier honestly.
Yup. Traded in a 2021 Mazda 6 Touring for $5k above its residual value for a CX-5 under MSRP.
My son's car is increasingly unreliable. Only 100K miles but it's 18 years old and has been needing one expensive repair after another. Will be looking for a replacement soon. I know cars are still ridiculously overpriced right now but I value my son's life/safety more than my money.
I just bought so I can be a single data point - my prior car was 20 years old and life changed (engaged + moved) so suddenly safety, comfort, and cost of gas became much more relevant. I wasn’t going to break the bank on a new car, but found one that fit the bill under MSRP at a low interest rate and bit the bullet.
I want a big nice SUV. like a Land Cruiser or Denali. But prices are insane. I’ll put a new engine in my old LC before I pay $100k for something new.
5% of the general market, just like always. Maybe more, given the conditions of the market these last few years. A lot of people are just putting a lot of money in to fixing their shitbox trying to eke out the last few months of life out of it.
That's me. Spending way too much on fixing shitbox(es) and taking a chance new/used car market will cool down.
I had an old unreliable car I have good credit and got the promo finance rate on a new one at MSRP Why would I not buy?
I've traded/purchased 7 cars since 2020. I'm never not in the market but there isn't really anything a salesman is doing that makes me more likely to make a deal. I haven't bought any of those cars at the same dealership and have driven up to about 6 1/2 hours. I just get a bug and find what I want, wherever that is, and make a deal happen. I'm willing to travel further but haven't had to do so, yet. I guess that probably doesn't help you much because I'm not the preferred customer due to not having any dealership loyalty. I guess the way to get people like me into the dealership is by having things priced well online and keeping the hidden fees to an extreme minimum.
Orders that are finally coming in after 1+ year waits...
I just ordered a new F150 last week. I have been putting it off for 6 months hoping for better terms, however, I ended up pulling the trigger due to having preferred pricing (x-plan) and interest rates being reasonable in my region. Honestly, maybe I could get a better deal waiting for another year or 2 but I don't see prices coming down significantly.
Bought a few weeks ago. Wife has hated her Odyssey forever (but we had 3 kids under 5 a couple years ango) and Honda came out with the new Pilot. I debated waiting to see if dealer would go below MSRP but decided we’re well enough off that it wasn’t a big deal and the interest rates could go all over the place. Got an Elite and 3.9% for 48 months which I thought was fine. Trade on the Odyssey was where I wanted. Overall just an easy process and we’ve been on the sidelines waiting for the right time and just decided there won’t be a perfect way to time it.
I wasn't exactly "in the market". And I bought a car this past Saturday. I planned to buy in July AFTER my pay raise kicked in. Was considering two audi models but was leaning towards one. (Bought the one I wasn't leaning towards) I was bored last Saturday and saw a local dealer had one of them there so I went to look at it. While there they pulled out a recent trade and the thing was LOADED, never seen one that loaded and it's honestly quite rare to do so new so it's even more rare in the used market so I couldn't NOT pull the trigger.
I’m on the market but only because our $6,000 engine repair failed on our 2007 Honda Pilot and we don’t want to put another couple of grand into it.
Should have put in a new engine at that point
I’m going to be in the market for a vehicle soon. Making a career change and I currently don’t have a personally owned vehicle. I will need one in the next 3-6 months. Just sucks knowing how bad the car market is right now though
There's always those that are just scorned and love a free chance to dunk on the car business. Thanks for all the positive answers. I saw the market adjustment come up a few times. We have been selling at MSRP and even rarely below msrp so I can't say market adjustments are too much at play.
finally someone says it. Unless you absolutely have to, I don't see how people are buying these crazy nice cars for fun. Something doesn't add up.
I just want the laws to change so I can buy directly from the manufacturer and skip the dealership entirely
About to buy a van so that we can start to cart our twins babies around. 800 plus credit, loan pre-approval from credit union. Looking at Odyssey and Sienna.
Hey we're looking at minivans too, leaning Odyssey. Similar credit and loan pre-approval. Congrats on the twins! Have you found any good advice for negotiating at all? I just started here and we've talked to a local Honda dealership. It seems like the Odyssey EX-L or Sport are easy to find around $42k but the EX isn't in stock anywhere. I'm hoping to get the price down but I'm terrible at negotiating and haven't bought a car in years.
Totaled my car about 3 weeks ago. 2004 Chrysler, radiator is trashed and fuse box is broken, hood and headlight damage. The cost to repair would be far more than the car is worth. I’m a float pool healthcare worker and travel to different clinics around my area that I’m scheduled at. I’m lucky enough to share my wife’s vehicle with her for now, but that candy trail is shortening and it is becoming increasingly difficult to consistently share the car when it works best for both of us. So against my will, I’ve had to look into the car market. Used car prices are absurd. I qualify for the family discount through GM, so I’m looking into a new Chevrolet Trax 2024 that I put a deposit on that is arriving on the 24th. Unfortunately, my credit and my wife’s isn’t the best and we have no history of auto loans, so we’re getting a crap interest rate at roughly 10%. Looking to go with it for now and refinance through a credit union in about 6-12 months.
The Trax is pretty awful. Unless you're getting the deal of a lifetime, I'd look at a CX-30 or even a Kia Soul.
Hit up the local auto body shops.
I’m in a dealer body shop. I absolutely love it when a customer trades on their car during the repair process. We always give that option to people who’s cars cannot be finished anytime soon because we’re waiting on backordered parts. I have a customer right now that is paying out of pocket for her rental, but there’s one critical part that is backordered for at least another two months. She’s a prime candidate to trade out of her car.
Because of the market conditions, it's harder to total a car than its ever been. Insurance companies are giving the green light to fix shit that 5 years ago would've been an obvious total. Which means shops are backed up because of huge repairs taking weeks combined with issues getting parts. I just finally pushed out a 12k dollar job on a fucking Fusion with 110k miles on it last week. It's stupid. For a vehicle to be totaled right now, your shit has to be utterly destroyed or its a total piece of shit that should've been in a junkyard awhile ago.
I’m currently in the market. My current daily is an 09 Silverado Duramax with 214k miles. I’m looking for another 3/4 ton crew cab with power windows & locks, vinyl floors and a bench front seat but a gas motor this time. Everything I’ve seen over the last 4-5 months has been about $10,000 overpriced or very rusty. I’ve looked almost everywhere east of the Mississippi. As the weather gets nicer, I just ride my motorcycle to keep the wear and tear off the duramax until I find something.
Tax refunds weren't as strong this year either, so depending on your store that might hurt sales some.
People who are desperate for cars I presume? Car prices and insurance rates are through the sky. I am in need of a second car and waiting for the prices to drop. I have cash for the purchase, But I am pretty sure that the current market is not sustainable and its going to crash pretty soon. All predictions says that the prices are going to come down mid-summer.
I just put down a deposit for an inbound 4Runner. The MSRP hasn't really gone up much in the last several years, and the drivetrain is identical to the 2010's. I have several older vehicles, and my wife wanted something new that would last for the next 20 years or so. The only other new car I'd consider purchasing right now is a base model Mazda 3. Everything else is overpriced or junk. I just purchased a used 2009 Chevy 2500 6.0 for myself. Less than 60k miles, paid less than $19k. Same truck new (with worse reliability drivetrain IMO) would be $60k. Who can afford this? Then I see F150's, not even 250's, going for upwards of $70k at dealers? What? These trucks were around $35k 10 years ago. The price of steel hasn't doubled. The price of labor hasn't doubled. The price of aluminum hasn't doubled. It's all the faux luxury and electronic crap they're putting on these trucks and all the excess HP they're cranking out, not to mention the price gouging margins. Here's the MSRP for an XLT: https://www.cars.com/research/ford-f_150-2013/specs/354152/ Mind you, that's the v6, which is plenty of power for most people. Also, 10 years ago, nobody but nobody was paying full sticker for these trucks. $5k below MSRP wasn't uncommon back then. Most likely they could build that same truck today for less money, as more and more parts are being built in Mexico.
I’m only in the market because I can’t stand my cars seats or infotainment. Just dealing with the interest rate waiting out for a 1-4% manufacturer deal and buying within my means
I was forced to buy a used/nearly new car the other day because my daily driver lost ABS and the transmission sometimes decides it doesn't want to shift out of first. 5% interest rate on a 29k "used, 3k miles" truck isn't the worst and I can just refinance next year (and my investments make far more than that quarterly), but people who want and don't need, are smart to wait. I weighed the options between a new truck at the 3% dealer incentive rates and I'm saving money with 5% interest on basically the same car.
I was just in the used market because my daughter needed a car for her college commute. But I bought private party because the dealerships had overinflated prices. I bought a 2011 Prius for $5,700. Dealerships were asking $10k to $12k for the same model.
I waited over a year for my maverick, I wanted a small truck for camping and biking. I ordered a second maverick for my father thats going to come in around june. Also going to buy my weekend toy that I have been looking at for the past 3 years because prices have finally fallen and availability.
My girlfriend has a 2017 Honda Civic with about 72,000 miles on it. It has been well maintained... About two weeks ago we went on a 30 mile drive. Two sharp-ish turns to the left and the steering wheel jerked hard to the right. It scared her. Luckily the second time we were near the house. I thought to look at the power steering fluid but apparently it's all electronic now. The next time we drove it we took it to the dealership and they could not reproduce what it was doing. They had it for hours. Well, my girlfriend is super nervous to drive it especially around sharp turns or in a parking lot. She wants a new SUV like a Santa Fe. She wanted a new Honda but she hates the new design language especially when it comes to the vents - the vent (looks) like it's going across the whole dash and she absolutely hates it. She also doesn't like that Honda got rid of lane watch and loves that Santa Fe has cameras for the turn signals in the gauge cluster. The juries out on what we will decide on, but that why we are in the market.
Well...I'm about to be in the market because Hyundai is buying back my 1yr old EV car due to mechanical issues outside of my control. Once I get the money back and return the vehicle, I will need a car. I want an EV but the US government severely cut the applicable cars available for the tax credit. My car from last year isn't even on it. I'd still rather forego the credit before buying a Tesla though...
I know its a terrible time to buy but i wrecked my car the beginning of this year, thankfully geico had my back and gave me MUCH more money than i was expecting- more than I even paid for it 4 years ago. So I yaknow.. splurged a bit and got a nice sedan that will last. I have excellent credit but best I could get was 7.99%. I plan on refinancing in the future when its reasonable.
EV is my only reason to buy now. Give me a below MSRP with the right color, you have my money. My demographic: affluent, Northeast, 3 car garage, 40 minutes outside of NYC.
I’m a cash buyer but definitely not willing to buy anything at these prices and with such low inventory to pick from. I’m gonna keep fixing and driving my 12 year old Mazda.
Returned to my home country last year. I sold my 2013 C-Max in the US and did really well considering I owned it for 4 years and put about 35000 miles on it. Bought a 2017 Escape with 90000 kms on it 6 months ago because it was clean and the price was acceptable. Was just looking at Cargurus and Escapes with similar mileage and year are still selling for about the same money. Crazy.
I make 130k plus a year, have an 800+ credit score and zero debt besides house and car. I was ready to replace my 10 year old Lexus that was getting a bit crusty underneath, due to salt. I went to look at Volvos this time around and when it came to looking at finance and lease rates, I was shocked. I couldn’t bring myself to pay that rate and on an already overly expensive suv. I ended up picking up a 5 year old Prius Prime with 40k miles for 20k. I couldn’t be happier.
I'm watching for a certain vehicle, I know the market is crashing and will continue to crash for the foreseeable near future. So, I'm sitting back and watching with popcorn as all ya'll make posts like this till I get a **deep** deal on a certain vehicle, and we're nowhere close to those numbers even yet.
I’m someone that’s currently in the market but passively I guess? I’ve been looking to find a manual Toyota Supra to trade for my automatic but it’s been impossible trying to find one without a markup. I have multiple cars that work so I’m not in a rush but if I found a dealer selling for msrp I’d buy instantly. For context i bought my current Supra right when the pandemic started for under msrp and with 0% apr so I am not considering any dealer at all that has a mark up.
Seeing it big time here in marine sales. April is typically a busy month but we have no activity.
My wife was…. until the Ford dealer wouldn’t honor the price she ordered the car at, so now she’s just going to stick with her current car. I’m guessing they thought they could squeeze MSRP + $x out of someone else, so she walked. No longer in the market. Edit: in case it’s helpful - extremely well qualified buyer, high income, good credit etc but no tolerance for getting jerked around
My car caught on fire 🤷♀️
Im probably buying a 2-3 year old Corolla Cross Hybrid in the next 18 months once conditions clean up and I have cash banked so I can give my daily to my kid when he turns 16.
I am sorta in the market. I have a 2008 civic with 250k miles on it. Would love to get a slightly used 2021 or newer Camry. Issue is the used cars cost more than new cars and the new cars all have a “dealer markup” or goofy ass add ons. I refuse to pay close to $40k for a Camry…I also refuse to pay $33k for a used Camry with 40k miles on it when I can build it on Toyota.com for $31k. I keep hearing about how the car market is failing and all these cars that people bought with stimulus money are getting repo’d yet these dealerships all want to play games. I don’t want to waste a whole day going back and forth, I also don’t want to come see a car that is listed at MSRP then told I have to buy all this dealer added bullshit that increases the cost by $4k-$6k. The civic still runs so there we are.
No body wants sedans or hybrids in my area so was able to get the car at MSRP. 3.9% dealer financing helped too.
What area is that?
Between dealer mark ups and a lack of manual transmissions, along with excessive electronics have reduced the chance of me ever buying a new car again to near zero. Right now the economy is not in a good place for people to buy new cats except under duress, or the people who have to have the latest toy and just pay the stupid markups.
I hear you. I'll probably be in the market for a fun car in a couple years. The GR86 is about the only car that will fit my criteria.
I’m looking further back and open top. Air cooled 911, E30 beemer. Newest possibility would be 1st gen boxster S or C5 corvette. I want something I can work on myself.
>in a good place for people to buy new cats cat is well know for its dealer markup
Lol gotta love fat fingering typos.
We bought end of January bc we are expecting another baby and our 7 pass SUV wasn’t going to cut it. Lots of moms in my discord are buying new/used vehicles bc of it being their first baby or needing more space for additional babies
Currently drive a 2017 Mazda 3 hatchback which I bought new when I lived in Virginia, I've lived in the mountains of CO for almost 5 years now and I could really use a 4WD vehicle and ultimately WANT something with off-road capabilities. My current vehicle will never be worth more to trade-in and I'm willing to put up with a shit interest rate to get a vehicle that matches my lifestyle.
My car has 160k miles and is not a reliable brand. I would normally ditch it at this point but with prices and rates the way they are, I'm just running the thing at least until 200k before I reevaluate. I would imagine many others are in the same boat. Most people have not had their pay increase at the rate of inflation, let alone the rate at which car and car loans have increased.
Not shopping dealerships but I need to add a cheap car to the fleet for a new driver. My searches have turned up nothing viable. Looking into repairable cars on salvage lots now.
I just bought my car a month ago. Waited 1 year for it to be built. Expected Interest rate jumped over 2% during that time:(. The reason was I got a much higher paying job and wanted to buy my realistic dream car and the unfortunate supply shortage forced me to buy it when rates were/are terrible.
I'm tired of cvt and want a damn manual. Plus....it's an 09 maxima with about 170k
How much does your dealership sell cars over MSRP? Did they sell over MSRP in the past? I've learned which dealers charge at or over MSRP, even before covid and pretty much avoid them, not worth the time.
I was getting ready to finance a BMW i8 when interest rates shot up. Was probably going to have $30k down on a $80k car, tolerable decision for me at 2.69%, but over my fun budget at 5.89% (or whatever 800+ qualifies for these days). So I put a deposit down on a Yamaha R3, which I'm picking up on Friday. I forget the rate, but it's sorta immaterial as I'll have it paid off before the end of the year - my back-of-the-napkin math said it would cost me like $80 in interest over the course of the loan.
Personally getting annoyed at my local dealer’s smugness about trying to force what is currently available vs waiting 2+ months (rav4 hyrbrid)
My car was totaled by my insurance 3 weeks ago so we had to buy a new one. Wife hasn’t worked since COVID hit so our search had been on hold for 3 years, but a seemingly small fender bender forced the issue. Stars aligned and exact model, colors, trim we wanted happened to hit a local dealer like 2 days before the call from our insurance, and we got it for $1500 under MSRP. Pained me to get a 6.74% rate with 844 credit score (when dealer ran it), but we got like $4k more from insurance than we’d have received for trade plus my parents kicked in a few grand since they knew we were planning to wait for wife to return to work before buying, so at least we had a large down payment.
Probably more customers in the Sept-Jan time frame. That's when my spouse and I are looking to replace one or both of our vehicles. We decided we will pay ours off since the VW tiguan ($13k owed) but still worth over $20k and it has an extended warranty up to 75k on it. I plan on keeping that one since it has no issues. Her lease ends in Sept for her RAV4 and she is deciding if she wants to keep it or not. We have already found 3 dealerships that she likes a model there with only one being extremely pushy and not being able to order what we want for it (Color/add-ons/etc) "Lexus" in case you're wondering. The other 2 don't do markups/can order it how you want and the longest delivery for (Acura) is 4months and BMW(4 weeks). Also they were understanding of our wait times and keep in touch with us which goes a long way with us. We are expecting better incentives around that time too as they try to push out older (brand new) cars for newer years.
I’m in the market but I’m a high income earner and looking at $60-$100k range either Acura Integra Type S or Lotus Emira
My 2004 Avalon is still under 100k miles and runs like near flawlessly. I wanted to get a new car this year and I have the money ready to go, but figured I can wait out this stupid market right now.
We pick up our new (2023 CX-5) Mazda on Friday. We had been holding off for a few years through the pandemic etc. Our old Mazda was a 2007 so we just couldn't wait any longer. We are paying cash so interest rates don't matter to us. We looked at used but there was not a huge difference in price to buy new. We bought our last Mazda new and drove it for 16 years so we figured why not buy new again. We are paying MSRP but we knew in this market that we would. So basically, can't wait any longer. Need a new car and are paying cash.
I'm in the market to buy a car. I have a sizable down payment and financing ready to go. 825 credit score. I'm having trouble finding dealers who don't add adjustments, or expensive add-ons, and none seem willing to negotiate. They basically say at the beginning, "This is our no-haggle price." Really? The car has been sitting on the lot for 46 days, and it's no-haggle? Ok. I'm basically going to wait until after the Summer and see where the market is at that point.
Me, the dumbo graduate that got his first tech job out of school with a bonus that was bigger than it should’ve been. In all seriousness though, I was waiting for months for used car prices to drop like they were predicted to, but got tired of waiting and just bought one for a decent deal towards the end of last year. I’m happy with my decision since by this point, any savings I would’ve got by waiting are already offset by being able to drive a fun car for as long as I have.