Used prices and "the recall"

[mike1946]

just traded in 2015 Tahoe LTZ. Had 51K for mileage, the gave me $34K for a trade in on a 21 Escalade that I ordered in December. Was able to use a supplier discount. Thought that it was a fair deal all the way around.

 

[vcode]

A couple of things I have observed about price and region, lately I have been tracking new Yukons. Without a doubt, the most aggressive dealer's pricing wise are located in the upper midwest. Out here, the local guy took all his discounts off maybe a month ago.

As far as dealers sending used cars to auction from inventory. There can be a lot of motivations, much of which can be driven by inventory financing. The covenants of their flooring loans can be pretty arcane, driving seemingly crazy behavior, at least to those that don't understand the financing terms. I had a friend in the business and until I fell asleep, he explained how some of his inventory loans worked, which drove a lot of his decisions stock wise.

So I was at my local Chevy dealer today, picking up something at the parts department and browsing. A sales manager came up to me to run their usual sales pitch. I told him unless my trade (2010 LT w/80K miles) was worth more than I thought, I doubt I would do anything. Nice truck he said, does it have the airbag recall? Yep. Too bad he said, we would take it on trade but it will go straight to auction. We will not sell a Tahoe with the open airbag recall, period. It is not worth the risk. This is a big dealer and there was nothing of that vintage, pickup or SUV, anywhere to be seen. Interesting.

 

[vcode]

Where are you from?

Milwaukee-Chicago area.

 

[wsteele]

So I was at my local Chevy dealer today, picking up something at the parts department and browsing. A sales manager came up to me to run their usual sales pitch. I told him unless my trade (2010 LT w/80K miles) was worth more than I thought, I doubt I would do anything. Nice truck he said, does it have the airbag recall? Yep. Too bad he said, we would take it on trade but it will go straight to auction. We will not sell a Tahoe with the open airbag recall, period. It is not worth the risk. This is a big dealer and there was nothing of that vintage, pickup or SUV, anywhere to be seen. Interesting.

Pretty amazing response, given the zero liability on his part, the fact that there has never been an injury due to a failed airbag deployment (or a failed airbag deployment) in the fleet and the fact that my car got its new airbag last week.

Dealers can be squirrelly though.

 

[wsteele]

Just did a quick Autotrader check in your area. On the first page of results, half the Tahoe's for sale at dealerships have the outstanding recall (just click on the Carfax logo on the page). Doesn't seem to bother a lot of dealers in the Chicago area.

 

[vcode]

Just did a quick Autotrader check in your area. On the first page of results, half the Tahoe's for sale at dealerships have the outstanding recall (just click on the Carfax logo on the page). Doesn't seem to bother a lot of dealers in the Chicago area.

He said DMV laws in Illinois are more lax than in Wisconsin, which I know is true when it comes to advertising sale prices. He could have also just been using it as an excuse to negotiate a lower trade-in price. Didn't get that far. What was also strange is that they only had about 1/3 their normal inventory of new vehicles while the Honda dealer down the road looks like a staging area for the entire state of Wisconsin!

 

[Sparksalot]

He said DMV laws in Illinois are more lax than in Wisconsin, which I know is true when it comes to advertising sale prices. He could have also just been using it as an excuse to negotiate a lower trade-in price. Didn't get that far. What was also strange is that they only had about 1/3 their normal inventory of new vehicles while the Honda dealer down the road looks like a staging area for the entire state of Wisconsin!

Many sales lots are empty right now. The chip shortage is causing shipping delays for new vehicles.

 

[wsteele]

Many sales lots are empty right now. The chip shortage is causing shipping delays for new vehicles.

No doubt. I was in my local dealer last week getting the airbag swapped. Their new truck lot looked like now was a good time to resurface the asphalt, maybe 15% capacity. Very strange looking.

 

[Sparksalot]

No doubt. I was in my local dealer last week getting the airbag swapped. Their new truck lot looked like now was a good time to resurface the asphalt, maybe 15% capacity. Very strange looking.

I noticed the same when we went in to order my wife’s Bronco. Also absolutely ZERO cars. Only trucks and suvs.

 

[wsteele]

I noticed the same when we went in to order my wife’s Bronco. Also absolutely ZERO cars. Only trucks and suvs.

At my GMC dealer, all he gets are Trucks and SUV's and it is deserted. I wonder if some of it is also Covid related, as it seems his inventory has been really low for a few months at least.

One strange thing is the dealer a little farther away (2 towns over) and is kind of the volume/price leader in the general area has a pretty decent inventory, not up to boom times I have seen in the past, but still a lot better than our closest guy. Maybe the dealership who does the most volume gets first dibs.