lot of indicators out there are going to say different things about what the last 45 days and “Cash For Clunkers” has done to drive the prices of cheap used cars.
Here are some brief points that some of you may have forgotten:
- January 09 – New Vehicle Crush Rate was HIGHER than New Vehicle Retail Sales Rate
- February 09 – New Vehicle Crush Rate was HIGHER than New Vehicle Retail Sales Rate
Fast Forward to July – August 09: Somewhere over 600,000 cars will be taken off the streets in a new car market that even with a strong recovery will still be off probably around 30% for this year vs. last year (which by the way, was no gem either).
What this indicates to me is we should be prepared to go after more used cars (especially the under $9,000 transaction price cars) in order to keep turning inventory, fueling the shop and parts departments and keeping the sales people rolling. While the car market showed a quick come back to life – people are still less financially stable than they had been before. They are still shopping value, discount and price, and settling for what they wouldn’t have a few years ago.
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John Paul Strong
John Paul Strong combines his two decades of automotive marketing experience with a team of more than 150 professionals as owner and CEO of Strong Automotive.
