Preaching to the Choir – The Inevitable Rise of the Used Car Economy

My name is Bruce Roffey and I’ve been in the car business for over 20 years now, and there is one thing that has always seemed abundantly clear to me. Buying new cars is for folks with excess money. As I interact with customers, clients, vendors, and other dealers, it is very clear that there are less and less people with excess money. Most folks I talk to have more month than they have money.

Once we start to really pay attention to where our money is going, which is inevitable as our purse strings tighten, our priorities shift. When things are just a little tighter, the actual cost of that couple of months of new car smell may cross your mind. When our cup is overflowing, what difference does two or three thousand dollars make? Usually it’s 'only' a few dollars extra a month. But, now that our priorities are shifting back to what’s really important, friends, family, work, church, etc. , being able to brag on that ‘Brand New’ car sounds sort of selfish and out of focus.

Right now, while it is important to watch every dime, our focus is on getting the kids to school, getting to work, dependable, safe, economic transportation. I read recently that one of the positive outcomes of harder times is that the people as a whole tend to really focus on the things that matter the most. So, like we’ve been saying for decades, the used car industry is thriving in a fairly severe economic downturn. The reason, as I see it from here, is the value proposition. It just makes good economic sense to let some other person endure that initial loss we call depreciation.