Not a good time to buy a used car. With high gas prices and high interest rates I give it a year before they can’t find buyers and retail will plummet. Only the desperate are buying cars now.
In 1981 I was auditing a large bank that owned a subsidiary for floor planning car dealerships and consumer auto loans.
Interest rates went up.
Consumers couldn’t afford the high loan payments and stopped buying.
Dealerships couldn’t afford the floor plan rates and were stuck, needing to dump all cars at huge losses.
The number of new car dealerships that went bankrupt skyrocketed.
Estimated loan loss computations were a nightmare for me.
New home construction died overnight.
History is repeating itself.
Stay out of accidents!
Almost got nailed on the highway the other day. Having the repair a car with a lot of damage might be very difficult these days. And you may end up with the total $ but can’t replace the car because none are available.
Excellent right about when I need one.
Only the desperate are buying cars now.... Not really, I had a 2019 Ford Escape I bought new. Took it in for an oil change at 50k miles and it was running rough. Needed a new engine. Covered under warranty. After 5 weeks I get it back, no new warranty on the engine it’s only until the original warranty runs out.. transmission and electronics was acting up as well. Service manager said he’d recommend getting rid of it before the warranty expires at 60k miles.
Bought a 2023 Volvo that uses Google for everything. We don’t log in and everything google related is shut off, paused or not selected. F’n electronics has ruined everything in newer cars. You can’t just get in and drive.
I do all the maintenance on my other vehicles.
Got a 2008 Ford F250.. it’s the Windows XP equivalent and it’s been running strong. No S/W updates required. 9.2mpg but looks great.
Have a classic 75 C3 Vette.. 92k original miles with the original engine and transmission.. runs great. 11mpg. I could rewire the entire car with a 30’ extension cord. Simple, basic and fun.
Good. Have had my eye on a 1973 Lincoln Continental for some time now.
If it comes down to it, I can always convert it to EV. Plenty of room in the Front & Trunk for the battery ;)