Anyone try and buy a new car in the last couple of years?

[blackangst1]

I often drive by "dealership row" in my part of town (Peoria, AZ) and have noticed for some time inventory on new vehicles is abysmal. However, today wifey and I were ready to buy. Problem? No one the Phoenix metro area has what we're looking for. Im not talking nit picky options here, just basic trim levels. The sales guy (non-commissioned shop...Ive bought here before) explained about the chip shortage, and inventory slowdowns. So frustrating when youre ready to spend $55k and cant find anything to buy!

When I got home I looked into the Costco car buying service. Narrowed down a few trim levels we wanted, and they all came back to the same dealership (and of course they, like all the other dealerships I checked, have ZERO in stock).

Anyone else go through this recently?

 

[zinfamous]

Yeah, the inventory problems are very real. Everything that seems to be on the lot had been ordered and sold a few months previous, so of course the wait times are also longer.

Hybrids + are even more difficult to get these days.

Also expect to pay much higher markups, but you can still bargain to some degree. Sounds like you at least have a lot of dealers near you competing with each other, so that still helps. Took my mom a little over 3 months when she finally decided on what she wanted, ordered, and received it. ...it took her nearly a year to make that decision, though, because she wanted to test a few cars but no dealership had what she wanted, across 3 towns, for about 5 months. A friend of mine recently ordered a Chevy Spark...he told he only hours ago that the dealership sold his car to someone else, because while it was waiting for him, someone showed up that wanted to finance it. He wasn't financing, so they sold it to the other customer.

That would piss me the hell off.

I was lucky when I got my car in 2019. Who knew that a pandemic would show up in less than a year and wreck everything?

 

[blackangst1]

Yeah, the inventory problems are very real. Everything that seems to be on the lot had been ordered and sold a few months previous, so of course the wait times are also longer.

Hybrids + are even more difficult to get these days.

Also expect to pay much higher markups, but you can still bargain to some degree. Sounds like you at least have a lot of dealers near you competing with each other, so that still helps. Took my mom a little over 3 months when she finally decided on what she wanted, ordered, and received it. ...it took her nearly a year to make that decision, though, because she wanted to test a few cars but no dealership had what she wanted, across 3 towns, for about 5 months. A friend of mine recently ordered a Chevy Spark...he told he only hours ago that the dealership sold his car to someone else, because while it was waiting for him, someone showed up that wanted to finance it. He wasn't financing, so they sold it to the other customer.

That would piss me the hell off.

I was lucky when I got my car in 2019. Who knew that a pandemic would show up in less than a year and wreck everything?

I know every dealership can be different..but at least with Lexus, they sell at MSRP PERIOD. But then, Lexus is about the best car on the road. There is ONE exception...Costo car buying service. Theyre typically 5-8% below MSRP. Thats who we're going with.

 

[zinfamous]

I know every dealership can be different..but at least with Lexus, they sell at MSRP PERIOD. But then, Lexus is about the best car on the road. There is ONE exception...Costo car buying service. Theyre typically 5-8% below MSRP. Thats who we're going with.

Well in the world today, that's actually a bonus. In the normal world, though, that's terrible because MSRP is always way too high.

 

[blackangst1]

Well in the world today, that's actually a bonus. In the normal world, though, that's terrible because MSRP is always way too high.

IKR

 

[BoomerD]

We bought our new 2019 F150 in May 2020. It had been a "showroom queen" since it was delivered. (65 miles on the clock) It was the only one within 150 miles equipped the way I wanted. (3.5 eco-boost, 4x4, Lariat trim, 6.5' bed, etc.)

We've been kicking around the idea of getting something a bit more fuel efficient. (truck gets 18-20 mpg average) Looked at the F150 hybrids...not a big improvement in mileage. The F150 Lightning (if you could even get one) still has a dismal range. If I take a trip, I don't want to have to stop every 4 hours to charge the batteries. (I don't know how long it takes, but I'm sure it's much longer than gassing up.)
We've considered some type of SUV or crossover, but with our larger dog, it would have to be a fairly sizeable vehicle...and they don't get much better gas mileage than the truck we currently have.

As for the topic of the OP, yes, nearly every time I try to source a vehicle to look at, the dealers in my region (including up to Seattle) are out of stock at the models/trim levels we might be interested in.

I saw a news story earlier that said Ford and others may be about to have more problems...impending rail strike.

A US Freight Rail Crisis Threatens More Supply-Chain Chaos

Federal regulators and the White House have been scrambling to prevent poor service and a possible strike from jamming up a vital but often overlooked network.

www.wired.com

 

[blackangst1]

We bought our new 2019 F150 in May 2020. It had been a "showroom queen" since it was delivered. (65 miles on the clock) It was the only one within 150 miles equipped the way I wanted. (3.5 eco-boost, 4x4, Lariat trim, 6.5' bed, etc.)

We've been kicking around the idea of getting something a bit more fuel efficient. (truck gets 18-20 mpg average) Looked at the F150 hybrids...not a big improvement in mileage. The F150 Lightning (if you could even get one) still has a dismal range. If I take a trip, I don't want to have to stop every 4 hours to charge the batteries. (I don't know how long it takes, but I'm sure it's much longer than gassing up.)
We've considered some type of SUV or crossover, but with our larger dog, it would have to be a fairly sizeable vehicle...and they don't get much better gas mileage than the truck we currently have.

As for the topic of the OP, yes, nearly every time I try to source a vehicle to look at, the dealers in my region (including up to Seattle) are out of stock at the models/trim levels we might be interested in.

I saw a news story earlier that said Ford and others may be about to have more problems...impending rail strike.

A US Freight Rail Crisis Threatens More Supply-Chain Chaos

Federal regulators and the White House have been scrambling to prevent poor service and a possible strike from jamming up a vital but often overlooked network.

www.wired.com

Boomer: Not trying to be a fanboi, but just FYI. The Lexus hybrids are excellent mileage, and the thing I like is they arent plug in.

Good luck trying to find one though.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

No. I have never tried to buy a new car and never will.

The 'newest' car I've ever bought was about 5-6 years old at the time. I still have it and it's now over 25 years old ... a 1996 model.

 

[BoomerD]

Boomer: Not trying to be a fanboi, but just FYI. The Lexus hybrids are excellent mileage, and the thing I like is they arent plug in.

Good luck trying to find one though.

heh...yeah, the local dealer shows 21 of them...all "in transit."

 

[blackangst1]

heh...yeah, the local dealer shows 21 of them...all "in transit."

WOW. There arent 21 models in Phoenix. Lucky you. If youre interested, you gotta go to the dealership and work something with them. Many models are sold before they ever get to the dealership. At least with Lexus.

 

[brianmanahan]

i have wanted to buy a house, a new car and a new piano over the last 2 years

massive supply issues have stopped me from doing any of these

which means that i don't really need any of them, and can save a lot of money by not improving my life

 

[brianmanahan]

No. I have never tried to buy a new car and never will.

The 'newest' car I've ever bought was about 5-6 years old at the time. I still have it and it's now over 25 years old ... a 1996 model.

i used to be like that. had a used 96 civic which used to be my daily driver.

but about 10 years ago i bought a new car and loved that fact that it was mine from the start.

to me, it's worth the few extra grand extrapolated over 10-15 years

 

[MtnMan]

One of the bargaining chips the consumer has lost is to show them your ass, figuratively, as you turn and head for the door.

I've used that in the past, did my research, knew their costs, a reasonable profit for them, etc., and make an offer. When they want to then start the dance of I'll have to run the by the manager, need earnest money, blah, blah, I simply said no thanks and headed for the door.

Only to hear, "please wait, I think we can work with this".

But that was a long time ago, and I've only bought used vehicles since the late 90s.

 

[BoomerD]

WOW. There arent 21 models in Phoenix. Lucky you. If youre interested, you gotta go to the dealership and work something with them. Many models are sold before they ever get to the dealership. At least with Lexus.

I have no doubt most have already at least had a deposit put on them.

 

[Exterous]

i used to be like that. had a used 96 civic which used to be my daily driver.

but about 10 years ago i bought a new car and loved that fact that it was mine from the start.

to me, it's worth the few extra grand extrapolated over 10-15 years

The savings of buying used has also decreased for many models over the past several years - even before the pandemic the delta was dwindling

As an aside if there is a music school nearby they often have an annual or semi-annual sale on instruments and I've been told you can get decent deals on things like pianos at those. Not that I have any experience to validate that so YMMV

 

[BoomerD]

i used to be like that. had a used 96 civic which used to be my daily driver.

but about 10 years ago i bought a new car and loved that fact that it was mine from the start.

to me, it's worth the few extra grand extrapolated over 10-15 years

There's just something about a vehicle that no one else has farted in...........


(well, except for maybe the assembly crew)

 

[brianmanahan]

There's just something about a vehicle that no one else has farted in...........

lol this exact thought has crossed my mind many a time!

it is what i've told people when they made fun of me for buying new

 

[BoomerD]

lol this exact thought has crossed my mind many a time!

it is what i've told people when they made fun of me for buying new

When we were test-driving the 2005 Ford Expedition we ended up buying, the salesman kept talking about all the used ones he had on the lot. I guess we didn't look like we could afford a $50,000 truck
I pulled over and told him, "I want a truck no one else has ever farted in. If I can't buy it from you, I'll damned sure buy it from some other Ford dealer." He almost fell out of the truck laughing so hard...we bought the truck.

 

[crashtech]

We paid MSRP for our '22 Tucson in June, had to put a deposit to hold it sight unseen while it was in transit. It wasn't quite the trim level we wanted. The previous two we attempted to buy that met our wants were sold out from under us, presumably by less scrupulous salespeople and/or faulty inventory tracking.

We weren't actually looking for a new vehicle, but having been shopping the used market for over 6 months, we decided it was too crazy, and that buying new actually made sense this time.

 

[Viper GTS]

I’ve bought four new cars this year and will likely buy a fifth. How? I reserved anything remotely interesting in the EV space. At one point I had a queue that was eight cars deep. If you aren’t doing this so that you or the people around you have purchasing options over the next year or two then your alternative is going to be hunting empty lots for abandoned orders that dealers have had the ability to mark up. It’s well worth tying up a few hundred dollars in reservation fees to have the option to buy a car. You can always turn it down when your turn comes up (and usually get your reservation fee back) but if you don’t do this you aren’t likely getting an EV any time soon.

Viper GTS

 

[waffleironhead]

I just got a new camry hybrid a few weeks ago. We were looking at ordering one around the end of june, but were told it would be like 6 months. The dealer just had gotten a list of their upcoming allocation: they were getting a shipment of 60 vehicles in about 2 months, and they were getting 6 camry hybrids, so we got to pick the one that was closest to what we wanted to order. Put $500 down on it and just had to wait.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Why would anyone buy 4 or 5 new cars in ten years, let alone one?

 

[Viper GTS]

Why would anyone buy 4 or 5 new cars in ten years, let alone one?

Because in the current EV demand environment combined with essentially no transaction costs (no sales tax here in New Jersey on electric vehicles) I can buy a car, drive it for a few months to a couple years, and then sell it for more than I paid for it.

The goal is to get to the best possible 2 or 3 car combination for my household, so I buy anything that gets me a step closer to that and sell whatever piece no longer contributes to that ideal combination. I can’t simply go buy whatever I want or reliably plan on a specific vehicle being available at a specific time, so for now the best way to operate is to buy whatever is available and drive it until something better is available.

Viper GTS

 

[brianmanahan]

Why would anyone buy 4 or 5 new cars in ten years, let alone one?

you could stop at five or six stores, or just one

 

[Jeeebus]

I lucked out by ordering my BMW M550i right as Covid was getting started. Got it through a broker, straight from the factory to my driveway with around 7% off msrp. Chose the exact options I wanted. Car was probably worth $10k over msrp by thr time it got to me and there was maybe 2 or 3 of them at dealers in the entire state of Florida. Worked out well and I love the car, so I'll probably just buy it at the end of the lease and keep it until the craziness dies down.