Lynne Kiesling
This weekend the KP Spouse told me about a couple of his colleagues, both of whom drive Chevy Avalanches, live in the suburbs, and used to drive to work. One of them has started taking the train and is trying to sell his Avalanche, because he doesn’t want to keep spending what he has to on gasoline.
The other one has parked his Avalanche, and has been shopping for a small car to drive. He found a dealership in the northern suburbs that had a Hyundai Elantra in that bleh green color that was just rolling off of the delivery truck; all of the other colors (black, silver, etc.) already had a waiting list. He put a deposit on the bleh green Elantra over the phone to make sure it didn’t get sold while he was getting up there. Needless to say, he paid the sticker price for the bleh green Elantra.
See what $4.25 gas will drive people to do?
The evidence is a bit more than anecdotal here in San Antonio, with bus ridership up over 15%. The latest gag is one of the local auto dealers, who will throw in a free economy car if you buy an SUV!
Just out of curiosity, to whom do they expect to sell their SUVs?
I.e., as in USNW.
Is this not a good example of “stranded asset”?
A friend of mine in Atlanta got a phone call this week from the dealership from which she bought her 2005
Honda Civic Hybrid. She reports that they asked her all sorts of questions about the car’s status, body condition, and suggested — in a now-listen-little-lady, scare-tactic sort of way — that she must need new tires by now.
Finally she asked why he was calling. The answer? They desperately need used Hybrids to sell & hoped to talk her into trading hers in & buying a new car.
Yes, that’s right. The dealership thought (a) an intelligent adult could be frightened into buying a brand-new car rather than replace a set of tires, and (b) said intelligent adult would presumably plump for a new Hybrid *after just having been told that the dealership was desperate for used Hybrids and, presumably, facing high demand for new ones.*
Unsurprisingly, she didn’t bite.