Posted on 02/22/2013 8:04:48 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Yes, Obama's Cash for Clunkers program is definitely one reason used cars are in increasingly scarce supply-- and much pricier than they used to be. But another reason relates to something liberals despise: "trickle down" economics or, in respect to the increasing scarcity of used cars, the fact that low-income used car buyers do better when wealthier Americans (those who can afford new cars) do better.
The reason used cars have gotten increasingly scarce and expensive is the subject of a Wall Street Journal article, "Amid New Car Boom, Used Cars Are Gold." Its observations are illuminating:
The shortage of used cars stems from the deep plunge in new-car sales between 2008 and 2010, and the virtual disappearance of new-car leases during the financial crisis. As a result, three-year-old cars are now hard to find and even older models are holding their value. Another factor is a change by the three Detroit U.S. auto makers. To keep factories humming, they once leased tens of thousands of new cars to rental car fleets and then moved them onto dealer lots as used models after a few months.
There are fewer of those vehicles because manufacturers cut excess production capacity in recent years. Cash-for-clunkers rebates also took many older vehicles off the road.
The scarcity has pushed up used car prices, often to the point that consumers who finance a purchase with subsidized interest rates can get brand new vehicles for about the same as a monthly payment required for a late-model used car.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
I own a 57 Bel Air and a 67 Camaro. Gas is expensive, but repairs are cheap and I can do them myself.
Example, my mother just spent $1500 for timing belt, battery, alternator.
I would have been out $75 for the alternator and $115 for battery, and I never blow a timing chain on a small block chevy.
$1310 difference pays for a lot of gas, and some new roller rockers. Vrooooom.
A factory dealership makes their money on: 1) Selling used cars. 2) Billing the manufacturer for warranty repairs. 3) Absolutely raping the few who bring their out of warranty cars to the dealer for repairs. Very little money is made by the dealer selling new cars and most of that is dealer incentives. New cars just put customers on the road for the dealer to reap warranty repairs on.
I own a 2011 KIA Serento. I love it. I have been looking at a Rio for my daughter in college. A women that works with my wife just got hit by to picks for snowy roads in her Rio. It is getting fixed and the all around bags kept her safe.
I had several trucks over the years. My first truck was a 1987 2 wheel Toyota with a 4 speed. I bought it for $5000 with 20,000 miles. I also had a ‘94 Nissan Truck extended cab when my ‘87 got wrecked and then traded it in ‘99 when my son was born. Wish I kept the truck since I got rid of it with 70,000 miles and was still in perfect shape. I did a Carfax on it and it got totaled like a year after. I have a 1991 Toyota 4x4 and plan on keeping it until it has to be hauled to the junk yard. It already has 209,500 miles on it. I have been looking for different truck, like a ‘97 model or older with a V-6 and manual transmission and as soon as the trucks go on the market, they are literally sold !
Too bad today, I cannot even buy a new simple pickup truck like what Toyota and Nissan made up into the early 2000’s.
> Try to find a truck with rubber floor mats and roll up windows these days.Todays truck is more like a luxury car than something to work out of.
Just don’t replace the air bag.
You can do all right buying a car directly from the rental companies like Hertz
Here in central Maine we still have junk yards and ‘pick-a-part’ yards. You can go in and remove the part you need from a clunker.
Our newest vehicle is an’89 F150. 60,000 original miles
(came from a family member who put 20K on it in 20 years and always garaged it)
We have a ‘94 Ranger XL 175,000 miles
And our lovable ‘85 Toyota PU with 375,000 miles.
Many of the reasons cars are so expensive are because of federal mandates to car manufacturers.
Since some states are now considering laws that guns and ammunition manufactured and used exclusively in their state cannot be regulated by the feds, a good question is whether the same idea could be applied to cars?
That is, if there was a state law that as long as cars were made according to state rules, they were legal except on federal highways, what kind of vehicles would you get?
Most states would likely require safety glass and seat belts, but not a whole bunch of other expensive gear, such as airbags, black boxes, and depending on the vehicle, not even a catalytic converter. They would most likely get much better mileage, and ironically, be much safer than by federal standards.
“What that told me is that dealerships really overprice used cars.”
Prices paid are set by a willing buyer, and a willing seller. Real estate, stocks, used cars.
Same with my Nissan frontier. New was the only way to go. Used small trucks almost sell for the same as new. There just aren’t any.
| I don’t know why the GOP hasn’t used cash for clunkers more as a campaign point. Because they're just as guilty. |
Exactly. You wanna know who benefitted the most from Cash for Clunkers? Middle to upper class folks. People who had that third car in the driveway that their kid was driving. People who could actually afford to buy a new car.
The poor people with a 10 year old clunker? They could not afford a new car even with the $4500 rebate. And now that good dependable clunkers are even harder to find, they are more expensive, which further harms the poor.
Oh Well.
You mean like My Great Aunt’s purchased new in 1940, her 1940 Buick, then it going to my Dad, and then going to my Son. It is fully restored from the ground up.
Need pictures!
Oh that would be great.
There’s already 70 types of gasoline required by the EPA and we see the problems that causes.
Wouldn’t it be fun for the mfgrs to design and homologate 50 different version of cars for each state?
I have a friend who is a mechanic. He told me some time back that auto manufacturers, in the past, had to provide parts for 10 years after a car was manufactured. But now, that time period has been shaved down.
Our used vehicles are all 2006 and older, so this concerns me. I prefer to keep a vehicle until we run the wheels off it.
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