Wondering of someone knows... new car sales numbers right now

I figure everything has ground to a halt, but I've been wrong before so am asking: Are there people here in the business who can enlighten us? Are sales dead? Prices tanking? How are sales interactions handled (distancing and all)?

Not in the market, just trying to understand human nature in the current situation.

Loook here for numbers 

https://www.goodcarbadcar.net/usa-auto-industry-total-sales-figures/

you won't see the effect for 2-3 months. March reports really don't indicate as April/May/June will. 

Working at a Chrysler dealer, dead is the one word that I would use. Things were not doing to bad up till two weeks ago, since then I think we sold five cars (maybe). And service is in free fall, maybe ten cars a day (70 on average). If you are looking for a deal and can swing it, do it.

I've been holed up in the garage, listening to classic rock, and the advertising tells a story. Free tire rotations. We'll do the negotiating at a distance, come to your house and get your trade in, leave new car, while having no actual contact. The auto parts stores are offering home deliveries, I presume, because their repair shop deliveries have fallen off. 

That's all I've got, no matter how anecdotal. I'm in East Tennessee. I imagine it is much different on the West coast. Lots of people still in denial over here. 

mr2s2000elise said:

Loook here for numbers 

https://www.goodcarbadcar.net/usa-auto-industry-total-sales-figures/

 

you won't see the effect for 2-3 months. March reports really don't indicate as April/May/June will. 

That can't be right, can it? It shows January of this year being the lowest sales of any recorded month since 2005. By a lot. 

yeah... part of me wishes I could get a new car, but I am happy with my current fleet of daily drivers. I don't think there is any way a dealer could make a good enough deal to get me to trade in my '17 Grand Caravan on a new Pacifica with the same options/features.

And while my job is reasonably secure, nothing is written in stone and taking on another car loan wouldn't be prudent (I'm sure many others have a similar view).

I was ready to buy a new work truck.  Didn't.  Down in RI, there is an overflow lot for as far as you can see filled with Chevy Equinox SUVs.  Stopped at the local gas station/used car lot/ repair shop up the street.  Gas sales are less than half what they were.  Hasn't sold a used car in over a month.  Had two under verbal agreement and now the buyers won't return phone calls.  Had 25 to 30 cars backed up for repairs.  All gone.  When I went in the mechanic was doing performance mods on a SVT F150 because that was the only work he could find.  Even said inspection sticker requests had basically gone dead.

I just bought a 2017 Mercedes wagon, it was about $5k less than what market value is for this car, I've been watching the market for these for months and made a few offers, everything else sold for more than I wanted to pay on our relaxed timetable.  The dealer said they are quite slow, and chopped the price on all used cars down to the bone to clear out any inventory they could.   We are doing the whole deal remotely, car is getting shipped to us.  

I may or may not be trying to talk carli into starting to lowball dealers with the car she wants to see if any will go so low delivered that it's a no brainer.  She's essential so she has a job still.  

In the industry. Most dealerships are doing 50-80% less volume than this time last year. Projections look like there will be massive layoffs at the dealership level in March or April. If you're thinking about buying, I'd wait a little bit, it's going to get worse before it gets better, which means much better incentives for the consumer

The most optimism I can muster is that I would personally delay a cash car purchase in lieu of taking a position in the stock market when things start coming back.  

If you don't need the cash stockpile, and/or want to take advantage of 0% interest for 84mo, then it's a great time to buy a new car and will likely get even more dire as the economy continues to grind to a halt.

We should see March sales numbers today. I just got Hyundai's release, and I'll post it here:

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., April 1, 2020 – Hyundai Motor America reported total March sales of 35,118 units, a 43% decrease in comparison with March 2019. This result was due to the substantial business disruptions across Hyundai’s organization and the entire automotive industry from the COVID-19 global pandemic. Fleet sales were down 54% in March and represented 18% of total volume.

Despite overall sales growing 11% in January and February combined, Hyundai sold a total of 130,875 units in Q1, a decrease of 11% compared with Q1 2019.

Hyundai’s retail sales also dropped by 39% in March. While January and February retail sales increased by a combined 24%, Hyundai sold 114,062 retail units in Q1, declining 2% in comparison with Q1 2019.

March Sales Summary

“It goes without saying that the entire world is facing a tremendous challenge that is having a significant impact on business and our normal way of life,” said Randy Parker, vice president, National Sales, Hyundai Motor America. “At Hyundai, we are first and foremost focused on the safety and security of our employees, dealers, customers and communities, and we are doing everything we can to help society. Hyundai has been through difficult situations before and we know our resiliency and strength will allows us to emerge stronger than ever. We know tough days are ahead but we’re doing all we can to position the company to survive this and return to the growth trajectory we’ve been on.”

I'd say it's a great time to buy a car if you have the means to do so. Interest rates are down, sales are down, you should be able to walk into most dealers and get one hell of a deal with 84 months of interest free financing. I would never take an 84 month loan; however, the lower payment with 0% works in some peoples favors. 

Anyways with factories pivoting production to produce healthcare equipment it will mean that when things start to normalize and the current inventory drops the demand will go back up and prices will temporarily sky rocket IMO. 

And there are still dealers with markups on Civic Type Rs and Veloster Ns in Southern California....if you can believe that. 

I tried to get into a 2020 f150 last week. They wouldn't budge off of 38k. So I dipped. 

In reply to yupididit :

Try again in 3 weeks when they're clambering to keep the lights on 

Patrick said:

In reply to yupididit :

Try again in 3 weeks when they're clambering to keep the lights on 

This. x100

In reply to DirtyBird222 :

There are several dealers within 300 miles that have 2019/20 new scat pack chargers listed on autotrader for 32k.  I think in a few weeks when nothing has moved and they're dying i'm going to start firing off the 28k out the door delivered with 0% 60 month financing offers to see if anyone bites.  I have zero issues trying to score a deal off a car dealer during this.  Most other places I wouldn't try and benefit off an emergency but i hate car dealers

Tyler H said:

The most optimism I can muster is that I would personally delay a cash car purchase in lieu of taking a position in the stock market when things start coming back.  

Like selling Corona beer and buying toilet paper futures.....probably should have already done that....

Pretty sure the dark first quarter earnings reports will cause more sliding, as well as second quarter for that matter.

Q1 overall was down for everybody, but March specifically was down 20-50% for most automakers compared to March 2019. And that was mostly just the bottom falling out of the stock market for the first half of the month. Things really got bad when the lockdowns started in earnest mid-March. April is going to be a wasteland.

Tyler H said:

The most optimism I can muster is that I would personally delay a cash car purchase in lieu of taking a position in the stock market when things start coming back.  

If you don't need the cash stockpile, and/or want to take advantage of 0% interest for 84mo, then it's a great time to buy a new car and will likely get even more dire as the economy continues to grind to a halt.

Stocks are risky investments, especially in times of peril. I just dumped a ton of money into the market in hopes that it bounces back; however, that's playing the long game. I sold some off last week during the rally and rolled that right back into more stocks after it dropped on Friday. This week has been even worse and I'm not even going to bother to look. 

Anyways - if you were in the market for a car before all of this happening and still have the means to purchase, late April will be the time to buy. Anytime you can get an auto loan interest free or less than 3.0% (you know all based on your credit worthiness) you should hop on it. I took advantage and refinanced my 2020 Civic Si and got a sweet 1.9% interest rate on it. 

I need a new truck....... Hmmmmm....... Was going to look at the mew Bronco when it came out..... But I may search around for deals here soon.....

I'd say it's a great time to buy a car if you have the means to do so. Interest rates are down, sales are down, you should be able to walk into most dealers and get one hell of a deal with 84 months of interest free financing. I would never take an 84 month loan; however, the lower payment with 0% works in some peoples favors.

If you take the 84 month loan of the F-150 you lose @ $7k in rebate money, so I dont think the payment would be lower