If you’re thinking about purchasing a new car in the North Texas area, you might want to hold off for a little while.
Dealerships across the country are suffering because of the supply chain shortage, and North Texas is especially no stranger to this decline. Most of the dealerships are reported to have about a third of the inventory they usually have. Low stock appears to be an industry-wide problem.
Unfortunately, this also is an issue that doesn’t seem to show signs of improvement.
“If you’re buying a new car right now, you’re probably walking into an empty lot,” said Yuni Chon, General Manager of Vandergriff Honda in Arlington. “Nine out of ten times, when we get a truck, 50% are spoken for. We do the best we can, do more with less.”
The problem stems from a shortage of microchips needed to complete most of the new makes and models.
According to Kelley Blue Book, a lot of new cars and trucks are also stuck at ports.
Last month, the price for a new vehicle increased to a record high. Analysts are saying that people should expect to pay at least $1,000 above the sticker price.
“Since there’s no cars, there’s no reason for incentives,” said Yuni Chon. “Because there’s less and less supply, we’re having to stand firm on the prices.”
According to another statistic from Kelley Blue Book, the prices of used vehicles have increased 26% over the past year. The price difference is excellent news for those people looking to sell their car and keep the money.
The crisis has become so bad that car production is decreasing across the board.
A few weeks ago, Toyota announced that it would lower production rates by 15% in November. This announcement comes after the company had already cut production rates by 40% in October. General Motors has also cut production significantly in the last few months.
“Although the situation remains complex and very fluid, we remain confident in our team’s ability to continue finding creative solutions to minimize the impact on our highest-demand and capacity-constrained vehicles,” the company said in a statement.
The microchip shortage is expected to linger well into 2022.
