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Why there may be no return to 'normal' for the U.S. used vehicle market
CNBC ^ | 3/25/23 | Michael Wayland

Posted on 03/26/2023 8:25:40 AM PDT by CFW

All new vehicles become used cars and trucks once they're sold.

It's an obvious statement, but one that needs to be laid out to explain the root cause for ongoing inventory and pricing issues in the U.S. used vehicle market, which has been a barometer for the country's inflation levels.

During the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, automakers shuttered factories for weeks to stop the spread of Covid-19. It was an unprecedented action that eventually led to additional supply chain problems, such as an ongoing semiconductor chip shortage, causing factories to cease production again for weeks, if not months, at a time in recent years.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: automobiles; automotive; biden; economy; inflation
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Governments' response to Covid has caused harm to all aspects of our economy and society and our nation may never recover.
1 posted on 03/26/2023 8:25:40 AM PDT by CFW
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To: CFW

Any well running gasoline powered car will be prized as the government moves to make new sales mostly EVs.


2 posted on 03/26/2023 8:28:31 AM PDT by allendale
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To: allendale

Final paragraph of the article:

“”We’re unlikely to go back to pre-pandemic levels. Vehicles cost way more now,” Frey said regarding used car pricing. “The landscape has changed. [Automakers] are not manufacturing as many as they have because they got the taste of gold — huge profits from not having so many vehicles in manufacturing.””


3 posted on 03/26/2023 8:32:18 AM PDT by CFW (old and retired)
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To: CFW

They coulda started with this instead of ending with it because this is the money statement:

“[Automakers] are not manufacturing as many as they have because they got the taste of gold — huge profits from not having so many vehicles in manufacturing.”

Auto makers and dealerships may just be THE greediest industry in America.........I hate ‘em like poison.


4 posted on 03/26/2023 8:32:52 AM PDT by V_TWIN (America...so great even the people that hate it refuse to leave!)
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To: allendale

We’ll all be like Cuba, driving 50 year old cards held together with duct tape and chicken wire because you can’t get a decent new car.


5 posted on 03/26/2023 8:32:56 AM PDT by pepsi_junkie ("We want no Gestapo or Secret Police. F. B. I. is tending in that direction." - Harry S Truman)
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To: CFW

The fewer the parts in any vehicle, the cheaper it is to produce - that the why of the move to rubber band transmissions


6 posted on 03/26/2023 8:40:47 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: PIF

CVTs also get slightly better mileage. That drives a lot of this. Trading reliability and ease of maintenance for short term savings and tiny mileage improvements is fools gold.


7 posted on 03/26/2023 8:44:23 AM PDT by Dr. Sivana (But yet the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth? (Luke 18:8))
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To: allendale

True. I’m thinking my next vehicle will be a diesel...I can make my own biodiesel as long as people are still frying food.


8 posted on 03/26/2023 8:45:28 AM PDT by Rural_Michigan
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To: CFW

Cas for clunkers,...

The government took in used cars and POURED ACID INTO THE CARBURETOR so it could never ne used again

They took the ‘broken window’ theory of economics as a tutorial instead of the dire warning that it is.


9 posted on 03/26/2023 8:46:11 AM PDT by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing Obamacare is worse than Obamacare)
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To: pepsi_junkie
We’ll all be like Cuba, driving 50 year old cards held together with duct tape and chicken wire because you can’t get a decent new car.

Until they outlaw GM 350 crate engines we should do a bit better, except maybe in the rust belt.
10 posted on 03/26/2023 8:46:12 AM PDT by Dr. Sivana (But yet the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth? (Luke 18:8))
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To: pepsi_junkie

“We’ll all be like Cuba, driving 50 year old cards held together with duct tape and chicken wire because you can’t get a decent new car.”

My cars are a 57 Bel Air, a 67 Camaro and a 49 Chevy pickup. While there is some duct tape and chicken wire involved, I figure my cost to upgrade all three to tip top shape is $12,000. All three. Pimped out.

Now compare that to what it would cost for me to buy three comparable EVs. Plus, my cars will be just as driveable in 10,20, 100 years as they are now while those EVs will only be good for dumpster fires and need replacement. And my old beaters will be pimped to the max over time.

My family doesn’t appreciate what I’m doing. But my grandkids will.


11 posted on 03/26/2023 8:48:04 AM PDT by DaxtonBrown
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To: CFW

This report ignores the increasing number or repossessed vehicles due to an inability to make car payments for various reasons: Layoffs in high tech, interest rate increases, bank instability, poor economy, etc.


12 posted on 03/26/2023 8:48:31 AM PDT by G Larry ( "woke" means 'stupid enough to fall for the promotion of every human weakness into a virtue')
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To: Rural_Michigan

Hate to break it to you, but read last week that restaurants are signaling there is a cooking oil shortage on the horizon.


13 posted on 03/26/2023 8:53:45 AM PDT by Susquehanna Patriot
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To: G Larry

“This report ignores the increasing number or repossessed vehicles due to an inability to make car payments for various”.

I noticed that as well. I recall reading last month that automobile financing companies were having a difficult time finding enough repo companies to repossess all the vehicles of those who are extremely pass due on their payments. And the repo companies were backed up in fulfilling the pick-up requests because they could not find enough employees to do the job.


14 posted on 03/26/2023 8:57:39 AM PDT by CFW (old and retired)
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To: All

I have my doubts about the strategy of keeping cars for 30+ years.

What happens when you can’t get repair parts anymore?


15 posted on 03/26/2023 9:00:47 AM PDT by Owen
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To: Dr. Sivana

CVTs also get slightly better mileage


Not on my make & model as opposed to manual.


16 posted on 03/26/2023 9:00:53 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: V_TWIN

“Auto makers and dealerships may just be THE greediest industry in America...”

Interesting. The government shuts them down, they lay off employees they may not get back, and that leads to greed?

Sales = tax dollars
Gas sales = tax dollars
Repairs = tax dollars
Registration = tax dollars
More expensive new cars = more tax dollars
Employment to build, sell, maintenance, and even dispose = tax dollars
Property to put the lot on and maintain = tax dollars
Advertising to make up the, so called, loss of sales = tax dollars
Controlling the supply line = tax dollars
Getting rid of gas burning cars to appease their environmental donators and get more of them = their dollars

Come to think of it, everything up there is someone’s tax dollars either spending or receiving. And the only one giving it is the consumer while the only receiving it with no gamble as they make the rules is the government. The only gamble the government has is if they make enough to give themselves a raise next year. And the feds own parts of car companies and probably write it off. Who’s greedy?

wy69


17 posted on 03/26/2023 9:02:50 AM PDT by whitney69
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To: V_TWIN

“Auto makers and dealerships may just be THE greediest industry in America...”

Interesting. The government shuts them down, they lay off employees they may not get back, and that leads to greed?

Sales = tax dollars
Gas sales = tax dollars
Repairs = tax dollars
Registration = tax dollars
More expensive new cars = more tax dollars
Employment to build, sell, maintenance, and even dispose = tax dollars
Property to put the lot on and maintain = tax dollars
Advertising to make up the, so called, loss of sales = tax dollars
Controlling the supply line = tax dollars
Getting rid of gas burning cars to appease their environmental donators and get more of them = their dollars

Come to think of it, everything up there is someone’s tax dollars either spending or receiving. And the only one giving it is the consumer while the only receiving it with no gamble as they make the rules is the government. The only gamble the government has is if they make enough to give themselves a raise next year. And the feds own parts of car companies and probably write it off. Who’s greedy?

wy69


18 posted on 03/26/2023 9:02:50 AM PDT by whitney69
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To: DaxtonBrown
Right on. My cars are a 2017 Mustang V6 and a 1984 Jeep CJ7.
I plan on driving those for a long time.
An EV is not in my future.

19 posted on 03/26/2023 9:03:43 AM PDT by Tommy Revolts
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To: PIF
Not on my make & model as opposed to manual.

I was only comparing to automatic transmissions. The move isn't from manual transmissions to CVTs, but from regular automatic transmissions to CVTs.
20 posted on 03/26/2023 9:10:01 AM PDT by Dr. Sivana (But yet the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth? (Luke 18:8))
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