Does anyone have any stories that they are willing to share regarding a recent purchase or attempt to purchase a new or used car during this current period of inventory shortages ?
We have found auto dealers adding premiums of a few thousand dollars to as high as $18,000 (Kia Telluride SUV which is Consumer Reports top rated vehicle with a score of 96 / 99) to the sticker price of new cars, and pricing used cars with low mileage at new car prices if just one or two years old.
Many dealers are either very low on inventory or completely sold out of new cars. Ordering a new car requires waiting several months to up to 6 months for delivery.
My sister just ordered a Kia, went to 9 dealerships before she found one that would order her one, $5000 over msrp (got them down from $10,000). Hopefully she’ll get it in May. Her daughter’s car needs a repair and hoping the part comes in January.
Family member purchased a Subaru Cross trek just off lease…top of the line…with 17,000 miles on it. Paid a premium price but new ones weren’t available at all.
Subaru Outbacks are in demand & out of stock nationwide from what I have been told by various Subaru dealers & salespeople. Consumer Reports (CR) loves the Outback & gave it a very high rating of 86 / 99. Crosstek (81-84) & Forester (CR 89) Subaru models also receive very high ratings from CR.
We did find some “unspoken for” new 2022 Subaru Ascent SUVs, but CR gave the model just a 60 rating. Test drove two and was impressed.
Our son has been driving his first car for the past four years, an old 2005 Mustang that he completely rebuilt. He loves that car, but when it lost power steering last week and almost made him AWOL, he decided that he needed reliability over the fun of never-ending auto fix-it projects and bought a two-year-old Mustang GT from Carvana.* Of course, it wasn’t a deal. There are no deals on any cars right now. Doesn’t matter. He loves the vehicle and has been burning gas around town and on the highway just to test the mileage. Boys.
*He LOVED the touchless Carvana experience, though. Nothing like having a “new” car delivered to your driveway.
Family friend just abandoned trying to buy a new car because he couldn’t get anything he wanted for 10 months. Just spent a boat load to fix his existing car instead.
Another friend just told us they ordered a car last month and it will “hopefully” be ready in February.
We were planning on buying a new car next year but now we’re rethinking. Current car is still running well but is getting up there in miles.
I think it’s a color in the nightfall edition? She is very picky about different features and likes her vehicles fully loaded, while I honestly don’t know what features I have in mine or how to use them.
My daughter reported that her boyfriend bought a Subaru Crosstrek earlier this year and his sister bought the same car, exact same year, model everything recently and paid $5000 more. Her car was lost in Hurricane Ida so no choice, had to get another car.
Do you know how many months ago that transaction occurred ? (I assume that you mean that the buyer paid $5,000 over the MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price = sticker price).
I recall news reports from a few months ago about folks who purchased a new car & resold it within a month or so for a similar profit.
I feel very fortunate. I just ordered a F350 as the platform for an overland vehicle. It was ordered in October and will build next week. I walked in as a guy off the street and was offered $1000 off of MSRP. Then I parlayed an inside connection and signed the deal at $1000 over invoice. Trucks are hard to come by, so obviously I was happy. If you go directly to the fleet manager, you might have better luck.
Currently, dealers are having difficulty getting any new cars to sell. Was told by one salesperson that their dealer was only selling prepaid ($1,000 deposit & signed contract) vehicles with an expected–but not guaranteed–delivery date of late March. The reason shared was that the dealer was not able to get cars any other way from the factory due to short supply of microprocessor chips.
(Googled “difference between a Ford F-150 & a Ford F-350”. Ford F-150 weighs about 4,000 pounds while a Ford F-350 weighs about 8,000 pounds.)
There’s not quite that much difference in curb weight, but above 150, they are heavy duty trucks. We chose the 350 based on its weight carrying capacity.
I’m not exactly sure of the timetable. But one car was bought in February and the other probably in September. It was after Ida.
I do not know the particulars as it’s a friend of a friend thing. It could be that the first was discounted because cars were plentiful-ish and the other when a lot of cars were damaged in the area so demand was very high.
Your comparison looks like between the lightest F-150 (two door cab, 5.5’ bed, 3.3L engine) and the heaviest F-350 (crew cab, 8’ bed, 6.7L engine, dual rear wheel).
Looks like TrueCar.com is saying that the “average offer made to others” for the Kia Telluride base model is about $2-3k higher than MSRP. The similar Hyundai Palisade base model is showing $4k higher than MSRP.
The Toyota Sienna base model (a probably more convenient vehicle for carrying many passengers, with 36mpg) is also showing $2-3k higher than MSRP.
