This from last Friday: https://tinyurl.com/yc5pa5mn
BTW...just bought a new car and it was tough...very little new car inventory to test drive and buy, but lots of used cars in their place at prices way above Blue Book.
It was actually kinda eerie to see the lots without any inventory because of the lack of semiconductors available for the onboard computers.
Fib
Yeah easy way to tell that this whole mess is ending is when the lots are filled. Curious what did you buy? I'm looking in the spring to trade in what I am driving.
Well...here's the rest of the story:
With there being little to no inventory of new vehicles, much of what is purchased today has at least a 4 month lead time - UNLESS - what you want configured is already on order. If it is configured, then you have to see if there's one on order that hasn't been spoken for. If so, too bad. If not, you then put down a deposit and they call you when it comes in. That, of course, is a fluid situation since we currently have cargo ships still sitting off shore in the Los Angeles area yet to be unloaded for months now, so deliveries to dealerships are inconsistent both in time and whether the purchase order is complete or not (I read yesterday that the number of ships extends all the way south BEYOND the Mexican border now!) Anyway, this is why all of the websites are pushing "build and price" at this point, and that's fine, but you will have to wait for your purchase for several months or longer...especially if you want a more expensive paint job or 4 wheel drive (for example).
In any event, we were looking for a small SUV, shopped maybe 12 different brands, and wound up with (surprisingly) a Nissan Rogue because it was both in stock and ready to go AND it was in my wife's favorite color...a Monarch Orange!
One other thing: this was our first purchase of a car in 24 years, so if you haven't been shopped for a car in quite a while be prepared to be "technically overwhelmed", and above all else, sticker shock. Speaking of which, there's very little in negotiating on price these days...it's pretty much MSRP and any dealer add on in many areas because of demand (this can range from $2000 to $10,000 with our shopping). They can stick the dealer add on...and was "happy" just to get what I got.
My suggestion for anyone reading this is to shop around now because if it's not in stock, you're going to have wait awhile to be a new owner. Alternately, you can always get a used car and wait for the pipeline to clear out and then buy, but be prepared for sticker shock there as well. On that note, trade-ins are getting more than top dollar right now, especially on vehicles that have been either discontinued or put off sale just so dealerships have something to sell. In my case, I've had bidding wars on my 2000 Ford Ranger to the point of being almost half of what I paid for it back in 2000!
Maybe "jesteronyer6" would be kind enough to add some additional insight.
Fib
