Have you looked at new car prices? The bottom is falling out of car sales

Like some of you, I love to check out car models and drive salesmen crazy with the classic "just looking" line. I look at the sticker and check out all the options. It's an old habit and a wonderful way to kill time when my wife is at the mall. It beats drinking another cup of coffee at the mall café.

Last week, I made another trip to the local dealership. Everything looked normal except for the prices. Check this out:

With interest rates rising, it's also becoming harder to spread the pain of higher pricing with long-term financing.
The average monthly payment on a new car loan was almost $700 in June, up 13% from a year ago, researcher J.D. Power reports.

A $700 monthly payment? I remember when that was a good down payment. Naturally, sales are down, with more people heading to the used car area, or "pre-owned," as they call it now. Read on:

The annual selling rate is expected to decline to 13.2 million vehicles in June, down 20% from a year earlier, according to the average forecast of six market researchers surveyed by Bloomberg.
Prior to the pandemic, annual US auto sales topped 17 million vehicles for five consecutive years from 2015 to 2019.
Sales are declining as the global semiconductor shortage continues to roil auto production and drain inventory from dealer lots.
General Motors Co. said Friday second-quarter sales and profit will take a hit from 95,000 vehicles it can't sell because it's waiting on chips to complete them.
The inventory shortage drove the average price of a new vehicle to nearly $47,000 in May, up more than 13% from a year ago, according to automotive researcher Edmunds.com.

Anyone talking recession? New car sales down 20% sure sounds as though an economic slowdown is coming.

I was thinking of buying a used Audi about two months ago.

I need it but I don’t really need it. I have an older Acura with not too many miles considering it’s age.

So, when he called, I gave a number I was willing to pay and it really wasn’t too far off what they were asking. He balked.

I said, “yah well we are headed for a nasty recession and all these prices are coming down. Call me back if you get serious”. He didn’t have an answer for that.

Reagan used to tell a great joke about the Soviet system on his first trip back. He claimed he heard it from an ordinary citizen that he was allowed to speak with privately.

Russia had this system of ordering new cars where you had to pay for it all in advance and wait for 7-10 years. So Boris and Natasha save their rubles and go to the local bureau with their money to make the reservation.

The bureaucrat takes their money, gives them the receipt and a date to pick it up about eight years away.

"Morning or afternoon?" asks Boris.

"What difference does it make? " asks the bureaucrat, "It is more than eight years from now."

"Well," says Boris, "I have the plumber booked for the morning, so I was hoping I could pick up the car in the afternoon."

..., until the electric grid catches up.

And the electric grid will never catch up.

We will be lucky to get through this summer without rolling blackouts in the mid-west and north-east United States. Too many power plants are reaching end-of-life and they are not being rebuilt or replaced. Things will not get better next year either.

EVs are a bait-and-switch distraction. They do not work at scaled up volumes and they cannot work at scaled up volumes. They are not supposed to work. The rulers do not want commonfolk to have personal vehicles at all.

A fairly typical comment from one of their minions:

"We have to force people out of their cars"

(Lisa Morzel, Boulder City Council, 1999)

I love my flat fender Chevrolet and GMC era stuff.

There might be two places in about a 20 mile radius that take on oldies like mine.

K5’s core problems are the typical GM cancer, worn out oil burning 350.

I’d love a fuel injection somehow as me and setting carbs isn’t a great history.

I do what small jobs I can for now.

Everyone is desperate for vehicles... they can’t get new vehicles because of covid lunacy created supply chain issues.

I had to have my car serviced for a warrantee repair a few months back... the showroom had exactly 2 cars in it.. both were USED, one was over 12 years old....

Wasn’t a NEW vehicle to be found on the lot, and this was a BIG MANUFACTURER NEW CAR DEALERSHIP, not a single new car to be found to sell or test drive...

My car is worth more resale now, than it was 24 months ago.

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