12 to 18 month wait for new vehicle!!

[Bearsixty7]

I miss the "good ole days" when you could brouse the dealership lot and point to a car and say, "I want that one". Then drive it home or pick it up the next day after makeready. I would never buy a new car I had to wait over a year to own. Unless they discounted it by about 20-25% due to loss of value in a model year. That's just plain silly. Who wants to buy new car that's a year old or more? I guess I won't be buying any more new vehicles.

Yeah, They don't want a full lot because then they think we lose the bargaining edge, And during covid, that was true, now it's just a tactic and as you can see by the Ford ads, Bargaining can be done.
We almost traded vehicles back in November. We test drove a really nice Limited Explorer 4wd at the local Dealership where I've purchased 2 vehicle over the last several years and they had decent rebates and incentives and 0.9% financing and we were ready to deal but then they lowballed the wife's 2015 Jeep JK trade-in so bad it ticked her off and that was the end of that. I checked their inventory weekly and that Explorer didn't sell until last week after they increased the rebates even more.

If you wait that long, usually it's the current (next)year model. You have to remember most all auto manufacturers shutdown for a 1-2 months every year to retool/make changes for the next model year.

 

[coldsteelva]

I struggle with that as well.

Someone mentioned earlier the rebates on '22 model F150s. Did those trucks sit on a huge parking lot somewhere for a year waiting on a computer chip?

overszd: They absolutely have sat. They kept their employees working by running the lines, but had no chips to complete them for sale. The 'runner's had to take the ignition PCMs from one truck to the next to move them and then park them.

Read this: Satellite photos reveal hundreds of abandoned trucks visible from SPACE

 

[ovrszd]

overszd: They absolutely have sat. They kept their employees working by running the lines, but had no chips to complete them for sale. The 'runner's had to take the ignition PCMs from one truck to the next to move them and then park them.

Read this: Satellite photos reveal hundreds of abandoned trucks visible from SPACE

My concern with that would be the deterioration caused by constant sunlight on a non ventilated interior.

 

[Bearsixty7]

overszd: They absolutely have sat. They kept their employees working by running the lines, but had no chips to complete them for sale. The 'runner's had to take the ignition PCMs from one truck to the next to move them and then park them.

Read this: Satellite photos reveal hundreds of abandoned trucks visible from SPACE

Toyota's must have been doing the same as we were looking at a Highlander and a couple local Toyota dealers were getting new ones in every week into early January and they were displayed as 2022 models. Now I'm starting to see more 2023 models listed.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Back in the summer my son suggested I consider a Rav4 Prime vs a Model Y since I owned a Blazer for many years. The area dealer had none and could not even order one so i bought a highly bruised 103K mile 2015 Prius C to start learning about the company and technology. After putting 5K on it I am impressed and it does not use any oil.

In 2017 Toyota peaked and has been selling about a million fewer each year since. They have missed the EV trend in China and Europe and plan to do the same in North America it seems.

My health suffered due to the Pandemic but I never expected a world wide recession and for Toyota to be surpassed by GM. With the effective $20K drop yesterday I plan to just go with dual motor 330 mile range Model Y I expect a very long wait. With the 150 mile range Leaf and Prius C and 4 gasses we are OK. With 4 in college I like to have a couple spares ready at all times.

I was planning on the Tesla by my 75th birthday but that was before in my case ICE/EV parity occurred yesterday. 2023 is 50 years since I bought my one and only new car a Datsun 1200 Coupe that I drove 200K miles. I want FSD for safety of others and myself so I can pay for it by the month to see how I like it.

Congratulations on your expanding family'

 

[RSKY]

Hal says a noticeable percentage of his clients are in the dealership getting a "major" repair done, could be as small as $1K. They end up killing time in the showroom. He's not a vulture, lets them come to him. Many times he'll trade them into a new vehicle while theirs is being repaired. All based on the monthly payment.

Not throwing stones here. This is one of many things that our society fails at. No plan to ever be financially independent. Those same people go into retirement worried about whether their retirement funds will make the monthly payments.

At the last factory I worked at when the announcement was made that the plant was closing two shifts of supervisors were sitting in the planning area and were talking about what they were going to do after the closure. I was 56 and more than half were older than me. I was also the outsider being there about four years when most of the others were 30+ year men. They were all talking about taking money from their 401Ks and paying off their houses and 'making do' for retirement. I said something like 'holy ****, y'all don't have your homes paid off'. they looked at me like I was crazy. Was asked if I had mine paid off and I said yes, in my early forties. I was the only one out of about fifteen that didn't owe money on my home. They also couldn't believe I paid cash for my little Kioti.

Then I tried to convince them not to drain their 401Ks to pay off their mortgages. Put it on a spread sheet and still didn't convince them. I also had a simple spread sheet I had used to figure out when I could retire and I showed it to a couple guys with all my data erased. By the end of the next week it seemed like every salaried person in the plant was using a copy. None of them had ever sat down and put on paper what they had, what they owed, how much they needed to pay monthly bills, and how well they could survive after loosing their jobs.

Kinda sad.

RSKY

 

[RSKY]

There is another option. Stop drinking the Toyota kool-aid and go buy another brand, which in my experience will likely be a better vehicle anyhow, have lower insurance rates, have lower future repair costs, and will be less expensive to purchase up front.

I see Jeep Wagoneers and Chevy Tahoes at every corner. No shortages.

P.S. I love Possum Trot and Calvert City. What an interesting place. Almost married a girl from there after college. That's a long story

They are on their second Toyota with no problems. I believe I posted earlier that they were on their third but this is their second. They had a Mercury for a while and it stayed in the shop more than they drove it. I believe the longest was for six weeks. I have always had great service with Ford products but that one vehicle soured my son in law on the brand. At my suggestion they are going to look at an Expedition next week. She originally wanted a Tahoe but their car dealer friend told her to stay away from the larger GM SUVs. Don't know why but apparently some people are having many problems with their new vehicles. Told her that in a year or so they would be okay but right now he wouldn't buy a late model at auction. SIL's dad had good luck with Chrysler products and they will look at them too.

But the Sequoia checked every box for all the requirements she had. And as far as the Toyota Kool-Aid how come they cannot produce enough to fulfill demand while the brands you mention have many vehicles sitting on the lots? Hmmmm?

Also a lot of the American brand name vehicles are now made in Mexico, India, and other countries. The Sequoia is made in Texas.

RSKY

 

[Jstpssng]

She originally wanted a Tahoe but their car dealer friend told her to stay away from the larger GM SUVs. Don't know why but apparently some people are having many problems with their new vehicles.

The transmissions seem to be weak, for one thing. That's not a new problem though... ever since my '98 GMC I've expected to have a transmission job done at around 120-130K miles.

 

[Dftodd]

I'm still trying to figure out the "advantage" of Nitrogen. From everything I've read, it's just another way for somebody to take more of your money.

That's been the source of a few separate arguments with my wife and I.

She'll call me in a panic saying her tire pressure sensors say one of her tires is low.

I bring up the point to stop at the newer gas station on her way home and top up the tire pressure.

She starts going off about what some tater head at the tire shop said about nitrogen in the tires.

I point out that it doesn't matter, and I would rather her check the bloody tire pressure and top them up versus taking the chance of getting stranded and ruining a rim or tire

About a month ago, we had the same flipping discussion. I'm at work, and she's fixing to leave for work. I told her to flip the switch on the air compressor in the garage and adjust all 4 of her tires to what the tag on the inside of her door states. I leave the compressor plugged in with a tire gauge/ inflator hooked to the air hose for that exact reason. All you have to do is flip the switch to turn it on.

 

[RSKY]

Back in the summer my son suggested I consider a Rav4 Prime vs a Model Y since I owned a Blazer for many years. The area dealer had none and could not even order one so i bought a highly bruised 103K mile 2015 Prius C to start learning about the company and technology. After putting 5K on it I am impressed and it does not use any oil.

In 2017 Toyota peaked and has been selling about a million fewer each year since. They have missed the EV trend in China and Europe and plan to do the same in North America it seems.

My health suffered due to the Pandemic but I never expected a world wide recession and for Toyota to be surpassed by GM. With the effective $20K drop yesterday I plan to just go with dual motor 330 mile range Model Y I expect a very long wait. With the 150 mile range Leaf and Prius C and 4 gasses we are OK. With 4 in college I like to have a couple spares ready at all times.

I was planning on the Tesla by my 75th birthday but that was before in my case ICE/EV parity occurred yesterday. 2023 is 50 years since I bought my one and only new car a Datsun 1200 Coupe that I drove 200K miles. I want FSD for safety of others and myself so I can pay for it by the month to see how I like it.

Congratulations on your expanding family'

Hey Gale, long time no talk.

My son-in-law has the Model Y. He leaves it for me to drive when he borrows my truck. Wife is afraid I'm gonna kill myself in that thing. His is the dual motor performance model and it will scare the heck out of a passenger that has never ridden in one. I have a spot on 464 coming out of Mayfield that I try vehicles out on. Stop on a culvert and floor it. Slight dog leg at 1/4 mile and bridge a little less than 1/2 mile. My 07 RAV4 V6 would do 95 at the bridge, 2003 Mazda 6 V6 105 at the bridge. In the Tesla I glanced at the speed before the dogleg and was at 92 and still pressing us back in the seats. I had to back off. Scared myself silly. Son in law was with me and didn't leave it for me to drive for months after that. I think I scared him too.

RSKY