This is correct. I was thinking of a quote that Chrysler was going to help the dealers redistrubute the inventories, but it was pretty vague on how. Chrysler will not be buying them.
GM Axes 1100 dealers with 1300 more to come by Oct 10
- Thread starter Wesley
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This is correct. I was thinking of a quote that Chrysler was going to help the dealers redistrubute the inventories, but it was pretty vague on how. Chrysler will not be buying them.
The thing with buying used is that is the logical thing to do. What worries me is if nobody is manufacturing cars anymore then that affects used cars also. Not so much now but in 5 years or so. Not good. I guess the whole world will eventually be Toyota eventually.
I personally think used car dealerships are going to eventually go the way of the dodo. It's just a matter of time before sites like craigslist on the internet take over the traditional dealership role. Avoiding the hefty tax that you get when dealing with a used car dealership is easily avoided for most folks, and a simple, cheap and easy warranty can take the place of any other benefit you might once have gotten from dealing with one.
The automotive industry is in for a much ruder awakening that has already come, IMO. And, IMO, good riddance. I despise dealing with car dealers and service centers. For too long they have had too much control over one of our basic necessities in this society - transportation.
The used cars for many dealers are program cars from rental companies. each of the big three owns a rental company. losing the franchise also means losing access to program cars, technician training etc. Most franchises don't make much money on new cars but on maintenance. New cars are almost a loss leader for many of them.
I'm not a big fan of trading in my used car. You don't get near fair value on them and the dealer just turns around and sells it for more than you could get if you sold it on your own. I sold my last car on Craigslist and probably got at least $1200 more than I would have got on a trade in.
Used car prices are going up as people are not buying new. It may be a possibility. Used car dealers could move to a classy lot instead of the old service station.
The market will balance itself out eventually. If worse comes to worst, used cars will start increasing in price to the point where the difference between a used and new car is so inconsequential that you might as well buy a new one, which will eventually push the price of used cars back down.
Or we'll be like Cuba and will be driving around our 200x models for the next 50 years. :wideeyed:
I bought my last two vehicles on ebay. The very last one turned out to be from a place down here. It was located in one of those plane-Jane distribution centers. The place was stuffed full of cars. The agent I worked with told me that they turned hundreds of cars a month ($5000 and up) on ebay,at auctions, and by word of mouth, and made their money solely on volume. The place was very clean, but very plain, except for a few vintage cars in the waiting room to entertain the pick-up customers. The agent paid his son a few bucks to takes pictures of the cars and upload them to ebay. They had about 10 bays for doing detailing and minor service. VERY low overhead. The guy told me their business was great (that was in January). He was very pleasant and seemed to enjoy his work.
Whether those new car dealerships can convert to used-car dealerships will depend on how saturated their markets are with used cars. In my area, recently a couple of used-car places tried to startup in vacated new-car dealership lots (prime location), but neither of them made it a year. There are just so many used car dealers around here...
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