I’m just going to jump on into this, all of this is my opinion based on what I see in this industry every day. We’re seeing 30% markups over MSRP, used cars selling for more than they cost new, and a massive shortage of both new and used vehicles.
Now is not the time to buy if you don’t have to.
Not even close.
You happen to know a GreaseMonkey you can DM on Twitter who can help you with auto repairs. Use this. Repairs that were once too large to justify have gone substantially up with these car values.
Price of cars go up-prices of justifiable repairs go up.
If your 2000 Crown Vic was worth 3 grand a few years ago it wouldn’t make sense to spend $2500 repairing it right?
Well, now that same car is older and worth $7k. That $2500 repair makes a little more sense now yeah?
You can see as values go up, it makes more sense to repair your car than buy another.
But we aren’t done
Crappy Cars Everywhere
So let’s take a look back at 2019. Your slightly younger, yet way more naive GreaseMonkey works used car department at a manufacturers dealership. If a Silverado with a messed up transmission came in, it’s going back to the auction-repeat from several dealers until picked up by a buy here, pay here place.
It’s worth 30k, they bought it for 19k, trans job is 6k, before anything else is even done. They may end up 28k into this, plus time. Not really worth doing the repair. Ship it to the auction.
Buy here pay here place pick up the shittiest cars because they can pay for the fixes because they are charging you insane markups and interest rates.
So anyway, now in 2021 that same Silverado pulls in. Monkey test drives it, bad transmission. They got it for $25k, trans job is still 6k, and now the same truck is worth 50k. Well hey, that’s still 35 plus percent profit. Sure let’s fix the trans.
But wait, the truck also needs tires, a window switch, brake pads all around, and a mirror. We can sell it as is though for the 50k still. Why dump the extra “unnecessary” repairs onto the bill?
That’s the thinking, and what you’re buying
So now you as a customer, get to buy a truck that went up 66%, and isn’t even in good condition.
Yaaaay overpriced crappy ride.
When will it get better?
This is where we get into opinion. With the chip shortage liable to run into Q3 2022, if not Q2 2023, and then healing time after for the cycles to get back to “normal”, we aren’t looking at prices and availability easing up any time soon.
So GreaseMonkey isn’t expecting this to be resolved for at least 2.5-3 more years. Barring a recession.
Are you comfortable with the ride you have for that long? Will it run that long? Will you get it fixed (or DIY repair it)? Will parts be available for you to fix it?
These are questions you need to ask yourself unless you don’t care about money, or think the situation will somehow be remedied quicker than my best case timeline or 2.5-3 years.
With all of this in mind, you can make the decisions on your own, my DMs are always open on Twitter if you need assistance or have questions.
I felt it necessary to share what I’m seeing in the industry, to maybe help some of you be better prepared with your transportation for the next few years.
Or maybe you think I’m wrong, let me know on Twitter, I’d love to hear contrasting opinions.
Thank you for being patient with my lack of content here, as I’ve been building this website.
Catch y’all next time.
GM