Anybody on ST in the Auto industry? When to buy?

The Coffee Shop
1

Stopped by a dealer this weekend and they didn’t seem too excited to shift on pricing. Actually, you can take 0% financing, but this is in place of the special offers. Shocking. I keep hearing about how bad the economy is and they dealers are giving away cars.

I don’t see it.

Anybody have insider intell? When is the auto market going to reflect the housing market?

How and when are they going to start liquidating all the these cars?

(FWIW, I’m looking at a 4Runner, Jeep Unlimited Rubicon and Land Rover LR3)

2

not in the industry, but the deals were definitely there at the turn of the year. 2008 FJ Cruiser at Lou Fusz was 27,100 list, less 3,000 Toyota rebate, less 1,100 over KBB for my trade in, less 3,000 more the manager agreed to eat to move it off his lot (helped that it was a 6spd manual that no one knows how to drive any longer). Ended up out the door for 20,000.

I think if you can find a 2008 model 4Runner, you will be able to get a good deal if Toyota is still kicking in the big rebates.

3

You won’t see much discounts on the Land Rover, much like BMW’s, these are premium brands and won’t likely move. Since the aforementioned vehicles are minly gas guzzlers(no offence intended here), you won’t have the best bargaining chip since gas prices are low. Surprisingly, dealers are more willing to negotiate on smaller vehicles(for example, Mini dealers are offering discounts off MSRP- UNHEARD of for Mini)

My advice is to wait till summer comes around and gas prices goes up again. The gas prices would probably spike faster than economic recovery(well that’s my opinion anyways). However, if a purchase is needed now, your best bet is the Jeep. Oh and all of these are also dependant on your location.

5

Interesting note on production. I guess that means prices are going up.

Was only comparing autos/homes in the fashion that the home industry is begging for business, yet I’m not getting that impression from the auto industry. Perhaps tonque/check comment.

I guess that’s the difference between market pricing and price protection.

The H3 was an option, but I couldn’t see of out it. Nice SUV, the side windows just too small for my comfort. I did like all the features.

6

The H3 was an option, but I couldn’t see of out it.

Isn’t seeing out of a car rather important? :slight_smile:

8

Styling won out on practicality. Some people love them but when I drove one I felt like I was driving a Submarine on the roads. VERY BAD VISIBILITY

Dave,

More evidence to suggest that typical car buyers are completely irrational in their decesion making.

9

Wife and I just bought a new 2009 Honda Pilot…so we have just been through the car buying process. We got it for $2000 under INVOICE, and above value for our trade in. We were looking at the Jeep Cherokee, GMC Acadia, and Honda Pilot. Honda was the only dealer that was willing to actually deal. Jeep seemed to have a premium price tag, and this isn’t going to be an “off-road” adventure wagon…more like a family wagon.

GMC was weird, you would think they would be giving cars away to move items, but they aren’t. Their way of giving deals is to offer financing on select vehicles, i.e. 0% for 36 months on a GMC Sierra. Ummmm, ok. Additionally, the GMC Acadia was $4000-$5000 more then the Honda for the same features.

We had been researching for about 6 months, and the best way to start the purchase process was to get internet quotes. Edmunds has a cool set up that will email all the dealers close to you. After I got the internet quotes, I took the lowest 3, and started dealing. I went into one dealer, and got an out the door price, and then used that to email the other dealers. This worked great, and I got to avoid dealing in person with most dealers. I think I spent a total of 3 hours in the dealership…overall it was a great experiance.

One interesting thing we observed. The dealer with the lowest inventory was the one that is most willing to deal. The first dealer that I went to (the one I got the OTD price with) had 19 Pilots in stock, 6 of which were the trim level we were looking at. The dealer I eventually bought from, which was $2000 cheaper, only had 9 Pilots in stock, and we bought the only one at the trim level we wanted. Every GMC dealer we looked at, had 15+ Acadias in stock. And of course there was the Saturn Outlook, Buick Enclave, and Chevy Traverse, all of which are basically the same car…make you sam hmmmmmmmm.

Oh, one last note, the cars were were looking at weren’t changing significantly in the 2010 model, so there weren’t going to be huge discounts. If the model has huge changes (styling, etc), they normally try to move the old ones quick.

-bcreager

10

The H3 was an option, but I couldn’t see of out it. Nice SUV, the side windows just too small for my comfort. I did like all the features.

I have heard a TONNE of people say that. Every owner as well. I was quite close to getting one. Glad I didn’t.

11

Regardless of the economy, you have to look at the actual sellability of the vehicle you are looking at purchasing. Just because an atuomotive manufacturer is slow, doesn’t mean that all the products in the offering are slow,or unwanted. My best advice is to go onto carsdirect.com, see what the actual selling price is in your area, and understand that that is pretty close to what the market is going to be, good or bad. I am not sure what region you are in, but I know that Jeep Unlimiteds were pretty hot, 4Runners depends again on what part of the country you are in. Land Rovers, well I personally would purchase the Toyota, just because of the strong delaer network and financial stability of the company.

There really is no “best time” to purchase a vehicle, it used to be that manufacturers would put pretty big incentives towards the end of the model year, that has changed somewhat. The goal now is to keep sales as consistant as possible, eliminate the big spikes in sales at certain times of the year. This helps with days supply and manufacturing schedules. That being said, the most important thing is that you get the right vehicle for you and your family.

Again, do your homework, see what the actual market is on the vehicle you want to purchase, and understand that no matter what the economy is, a dealership is still a business and entitled to make a little something for the pleasure of selling you a vehicle. Also, I think that it is important to note, profit margins on vehicles is way down from years past, meaning, the difference between MSRP and dealer cost has gone from 17% down to 7% or less.

One last thing, the worst thing you can do is ask a salesperson right out of the gate what the best price is. They are directed to not respond the way that you want them to, no one wants to start negotiations from a position of weakness. They get asked the same thing at least 5 times a day. Let them know your intentions, tell them you are comparing vehicles, not buying today, you will be making a decision in the next few days and it will come down to a combination of value and price. Don’t be afraid to talk to the manager when you get ready to leave, just explain the same thing to that person as well. Remember that the way you are treated in sales will probably reflect how you will be treated in service.

Good luck, sorry for rambling.

12

not in the industry, but the deals were definitely there at the turn of the year. 2008 FJ Cruiser at Lou Fusz was 27,100 list, less 3,000 Toyota rebate, less 1,100 over KBB for my trade in, less 3,000 more the manager agreed to eat to move it off his lot (helped that it was a 6spd manual that no one knows how to drive any longer). Ended up out the door for 20,000.

I think if you can find a 2008 model 4Runner, you will be able to get a good deal if Toyota is still kicking in the big rebates.

Me too. This weekend I purchased a new, loaded 2008 FJ Cruiser. $30,185 sticker. Dealer dropped to $25,665. Got $1500 back from Toyota. Got $500 over KBB on my trade-in.

I am not sure whether this is true, but, the salesman told me Toyota was closing the lines of credit and requiring all dealers to purchase all 2008 FJs on their lots as of April 1 so they could start shipping 2009 versions which are identical to the 2008. As a result, there are great deals on 2008 FJs. Again, not sure whether this is true, but, he told me this after the sale, so, I am not sure what his incentive would be to make it up.