I got wind of this chatting with some of my colleagues today. One of them referred to his truck as “worthless” because dealers around here were refusing them as trade-ins. (I was the gas-sipper of the bunch with my Corolla.) Predictably, car dealers are getting a lot of SUVs and trucks as trade-ins, and some of them are saying that they have enough. Ivan Hoyos, a used car dealer interviewed for that article, stopped accepting them as trade-ins at the end of last year.
We currently have three vehicles and we only use the oldest one for the times we have one of the other vehicles in the shop. We're considering getting a vehicle that could haul things a bit better as a replacement for that oldest vehicle. This wouldn't be a commuter car or one that was driven often.
The disposition of used car dealers was more dire than I had originally thought. SUV and truck prices will drop like a rock as more dealers start turning them away. These vehicles then become a problem for the owners because they can't get dealers to take them at current KBB prices. It's a double-whammy if they need to sell the gas guzzler before they can buy a more fuel-efficient vehicle.
The market for these vehicles is now less a function of what dealers will pay and more a function of what a relatively thin group of private buyers, a thinning group of dealers at auctions, and a thinner group of salvage dealers will pay. These buyers don't pay top dollar.
It's a bit like the real-estate market in some places. If you need to sell your low-MPG vehicle, I'd be willing to take a bit less on it than you'd like just to get it out of your hair. Conversely, if you want to buy one for whatever reason, I'd be patient and look for people who really need to sell, and make a low cash offer.
What I don't get is this. Gas prices spiked 2 times in the last 3 years before this latest ramp up that has topped them all. Gas prices spiked, people stopped buying SUVs, then gas prices fell and the SUVs were bought again. Why did people start buying them again? Just because gas fell to a price that was affordable at the time? People should have seen this coming in 2005 when gas prices went up the first time. Just because prices fell doesn't mean the fall was permanent or that it wouldn't spike higher in the future.
Gas is a limited, non-renewable resource. Those who waste it away without care won't get any sympathy from me now that prices have gone up. They are likely the same people who buy too much house and waste gas and electricity heating and cooling an oversized house.
Conserving energy makes financial and ecological sense.
First it was the sub-prime house owners, then the SUV owners. My guess is that the McMansion owners (heating bills) are coming up. Eventually, it will be suburbia itself. The idea of having to drive around to do anything simply only works when energy is cheap.
I'm watching SUV prices with baited breath. At the rate that these vehicles are loosing value, purchasing a used SUV for my growing family may be too good of an opportunity to pass up.
DW currently only put about 10K miles a year so if we could buy a 16-18mpg 4Runner (as an example). A $4000 discount off a roomy vehicle we would most likely of bought anyone is good news for us.
I've always wanted a cheap pickup that I can use for occassional hauling and moving. I'd try to jump on the opportunity but I don't have the money to spare at the moment.
Wow this is amazing. I have never considered that it will get harder to sell a less efficient car. Lucky mine is a hybrid Prius and perhaps it will even gain in value!
When are car companies going to make a large vehicle that doesn't suck the gas? Some people need SUVs for their families, some need trucks for their work.
With gas prices at $10/gal by next year even you Prius owners will be crying.
This is everywhere. Carmax had a huge drop in sales as well. No body is buying SUVs and the car dealer had a whole lot of those on their car lot.
Last week was a busy week for the dealership because of the deals the store has going on – 0 percent interest for 72 months vs. the typical 6.9 percent interest. These deals are just to get rid of SUVs.
BUT hybrids are in high demand and that is good for the new direction we need to take in respect to fuel efficiency
That’s exactly my point. Everyone talks so much trash about these frivolous people driving their evil SUVs, but which of you knows of a nice little gas conserving Honda Accord that will hold my 5 children, plus me and my husband? Even people with a moderate size family, say 3 children under age 5 can’t fit into a sedan because the car seats and boosters take up too much room to fit 3 across.
I'll sell you my low mileage Toyota 4Runner, Anna!!
Hey Dave, you can have my Yugo. LOL!