Among Friends

[patbz]

@Imaoldhippie :  We just invested in the chip maker; Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing is building a multi billion dollar factory near Phoenix.  There are only a small handful of chip makers in the world.

[itsmagic]

I live in a city with a couple GM factories.  Since there is a shortage of semiconductors that impacts their production, GM has built the vehicles without certain modules and will complete them as soon as they become available. In the meantime, GM has leased a parking lot and security at a local university and they are storing all of these partially finished vehicles.  I’ve driven by the parking lot and it’s quite amazing to see the hundreds of new SUVs lined up there. 

[Caaareful Shopper]

Yes, in fact it's been in the news for weeks.  Dealerships have very low inventory because there's a global microchip shortage.  Not many new cars to be found.  I was a lucky one; I got my 2021 car in March.   

[gidgetgh]

I bought a new car 2 months ago.  When I went to look, they had some cars in stock, but only 3 of the car I was interested in and one already had a deposit on it.  The salesman said they wouldn't be getting more of that model in till late June,  I bought mine that day. 

[Venezia]

I just bought a new Subaru Forester in May.  I couldn't believe how empty the dealership lot was.  They had exactly two cars with the features I wanted and the second one had more gadgets than I needed.

Other dealerships around me had pretty much no news Foresters on the lots.  They were all listed as "in transit".

I got a good price, 0% interest and a decent trade for my previous Forester (which was resold within two days).  I'm happy with my new car, but I've never seen the dealership lots so empty.

[ScrapHappy]

Yes. I took my car in for maintenance service at Toyota.  Very few cars.  The entire front of the the building was, for the most part, being used for customer parking.  I"ve heard on the news that production of cars has decreased due to chip shortage.  

[schorsch]

Auto dealerships are down on inventory because of the hold up with new car manufacturing.  Used cars are a premium right now so it is hard to buy inventory at the auctions and privately.  We have an auto dealership and have struggled to get inventory for the past year.  It is hard to pay up for vehicles since the market with eventually shift back and you will end up owning your vehicles for more than you can sell them for.  We run very lean right now and it makes it hard to keep business going.  Another side effect of people being forced to shutter their business.  

[icezeus]

I read an article about this a few weeks back and as others have already stated it's due to a worldwide chip shortage GM and I cannot remember the name of the other manufacturer are expected to loose 2 Billion dollars in lost sales this year due to the missing chip.

On a side note I was getting a spa pedicure last week and my nail technician was recently in a car accident. Her car was totaled. She has been unable to find a used car. She told me that she was looking at possibly checking out auctions. 

Fingers crossed that my 8 year old car does not need to be replaced anytime soon. I just spent $1500 on her for repairs so I expect at least another 2 years. 

[Mindy D]

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@depglass wrote:

Ours are all pretty sparse.  One is down to about 20 cars, both new and used.  Perhaps they are going out of business or have money problems.  (Chevrolet dealer)

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@depglass @The new cars require computer chips. There's a world wide shortage of chips. Additionally, orders for production were inflicted by the unpredictability of the virus, including its effect on workers, supplies for manufacturing. We are in for more bumpy rides, literally and figuratively.

[shoptilyadropagain]

I bought a new Toyota RAV4 about 2.5 months ago.  At the time, they had 4 to choose from but only 1 in my price range.  It's not the color I wanted but I purchased it anyway.  At least it's not a color I hate.  My salesman said they didn't know when they'd be getting more in and weren't expecting them anytime soon.  That's why I decided to buy it.  Got a great deal and a great trade-in on my old RAV4.

I drove past a Honda dealership yesterday and their lot is normally packed but it was only about 35-40% full.