August 20, 2012

Tidbits #1

According to the industry publication F&I magazine used car financing rates in July averaged 9.02%. We can get you 1.99% to 2.99% through AAA. Experian reports that the average used vehicle loan is $17050 NADA data report shows that used vehicle revenue in June rose nearly 10% and that profit margins were 12.5% An important statistic is the “days supply” of inventory. This calculates how many cars are in inventory based on the sell rate. If a dealer sells 10 cars in a 30 day period and has 10 cars in stock then his days supply would be 30. If he had 30 cars in stock his days supply would be 90 and so on. As of July 1 vehicle stocks have been growing – Honda was up to 58 days from 48 a month earlier, Toyota was up to 41 days from 32, General Motors is up to 76 days, Ford is up to 58 days, Chrysler is up to 67 days while hot sellers Hyundai is at 30 days, BMW is at 24 days and Audi Q5s and Q7s are at a paltry 18 days supply – no wonder you can’t get any deals on those. North American vehicle production is expected to hit 14.9 million units. This is an increase of 13% from 2011 and is another reason that we can expect that price stability should reign for used vehicles. Manufacturers have been adding gears to transmissions to pump up fuel economy. Amazingly, there are 8 and […]
August 13, 2013

Tidbits #2

  – According to Manheim, used vehicles depreciated 13.7 percent during the last 12 months, but midsize pickup trucks only depreciated 5.1 percent over the same time period   – The average age of a car in America is now a record 11.4 years, according to RL Polk   – Polk also predicts that there will be a 41% increase in one- to five-year-old used cars by 2018   – In the Boston area, including Manchester, NH, there were 760,534 used cars sold in 2012   – In the USA there were 14.6 million vehicles sold at wholesale auctions in 2012   – The age of trade-ins average 6.5 years   – The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) updated itswww.safercar.govwebsite so you can now get up to date info on safety defect investigations, recalls and complaints. They also launched an app for iPhones with this info.   – An analysis of 50 years of crash data by the NHTSA found that younger women drivers (age 21-30) are 25.9 % more likely to die in a crash than males in the same age group. This report is full of interesting data, check it out athttp://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811766.pdf   – “Economists continue to be bullish on the North American auto industry, despite a slow-growing economy, forecasting record production and a surge in sales in the next few years” Automotive News   – Used car loans terms are up to 7 years with the majority of loans being written for 5 years.    
October 17, 2013

Tidbits #3

–       Edmunds predicts 15.5 million new vehicles will be sold in 2013 and 16.4 million
in 2014.   –       Fake reviews on consumer review websites are being cracked down upon by the NY Attorney
General. There are a number of companies that offer “reputation management” services
that write reviews for dealerships and other businesses to increase their desirability.
This amounts to false advertising and unfair business practices – should we be surprised?   –       Hybrids continue to depreciate faster than gas-fueled versions. Midsize trucks – think Toyota Tacoma – will hold value because some popular models
are currently out of production.   –       Full-size cars are getting a lot of action in the used market.   –       Senior citizens are the most likely consumer group to buy a vehicle these days, 
according to a new study by the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research
Institute.   –       Delinquency on auto loans is steadily declining and repossessions have fallen to
a seven-year low.   –       Domestic vehicles are worth more at auction this year than they were in 2013, gaining
2.6 percent, according to Kelly Blue Book.   –       There are more than 17,500 new car franchised dealers and over 45,000 used car dealers
in the USA.   –       According to ALG there will be 84,000 Accords, 65,000 Camrys and 58,000 Altimas 
that will come off of lease in 2014. That’s a lot of cars in that segment  that 
will enter the market next year.   –       The balance of auto loans in August increased 9.7 percent from last year, rising
from $760.8 billion to […]
February 18, 2014

Tidbits #3

 In 2013 new vehicle sales increased for the 4th consecutive year – NADA predicts 2014 to be a banner new car year with sales of better than 16 million. Rental fleets have been adding to their inventory at record levels – the highest vehicle procurement pace since 2007 To end 2013 Subaru had the fewest vehicles in stock of any manufacturer Every manufacturer had fewer cars in stock on January 1, 2014 than they did on December 1, 2013. A Morgan Stanley analyst noted that since new car sales dipped in December to a 15.4 million sale annual rate from 16.4 million rate in November 2013, the market is “in an increasingly aggressive incentive environment”. There was a new high in December for outstanding vehicle loan balances and a sharp increase in subprime repossessions – this could eventually lead to credit pullback and higher interest rates. Repo volumes increased 5% in 2013 to 1.37 million vehicles According to NADA, in 2013 luxury cars depreciated 21%, large suvs and pickups depreciated 8.4% while compact and midsize cars were at 17.2% and midsize suvs hit 15.7% Toyota and BMW agree to develop a joint sports car platform – who would have predicted that alliance even 5 years ago? Leasing at 3.2 million units in 2013 hit it’s highest output since 2000 – this bodes well for future decreases in used car prices due to the burgeoning inventories of end of lease units. This will give all of us opportunities. NADA reports that […]