How is the bankruptcy of auto makers will affect my decision of buying a new car?
October 18, 2009 
9 Comments
common sense asked:
I want to buy a new car but the everyday news talks a lot about the bankruptcy of some auto makers. I just wounder if I should wait till the end of the year or this kind of news have no much affect?
I want to buy a new car but the everyday news talks a lot about the bankruptcy of some auto makers. I just wounder if I should wait till the end of the year or this kind of news have no much affect?
Great time to buy a car–low interest rates and great repayment terms. Nuff said.
Bankruptcy will not mean that the makers go away, nor will it affect warranty. Over the long haul, resale will not waiver by much, either.
The problem with the auto industry is that old buying habits won’t shake off. Get a domestic, see huge rebates or other incentives, and marvel that resale is poor. OR, get a Japanese, pay a lot more, and smile at higher resale. If the differential when new is five thousand, and only three thousand when used, the domestic buyer did better, if money is the only deciding factor. If the five thousand differential remains at resale, then the buyer who bought on preference is the winner. Only when you settle for a poorer car and also get more depreciation can you justify spending more for an import, which is quite rare.
I know a guy who is thrilled with the resale value of the Civic he paid eighteen grand for. But a lot of people bought roomier P T Cruisers for five thousand less. I assure you, there will be no time in the future when his used Civic will still be worth five grand more than the P T.
The point is, get the car you like, ignore the resale myth (unless two comparable cars are equal in price), and go on with your life. No manufacturer will simply go out of business, warranties are now backed by the government, and I think I just dispelled the resale bunk.
Buy the car for features, comfort, performance, styling, carbon footprint, whatever is important to YOU. ENJOY your ownership.
The bankruptcies will not affect you.
BAD time to buy a car…. The auto industry is tanking, and congress is putting in place incentives to buy a car, you’ll kick yourself if you buy now and miss a great incentive.
Some in the works are a $4500 tax rebate if you trade in a vehicle and buy a new one with better fuel mileage, and other incentives.
I would wait, see what Congress does, or find out if the incentives will effect you if you purchase now, rather then wait.
summer is the best time for sales
I don’t see any “real deals” on cars right now. They are the same price they have always been, high!!!.
The companies are going bankrupt because their cars ****. Don’t buy one.
“Common Sense”? Really? In the UK, we are rarely dumb enough to buy a new car with our own money… If your boss sends you to the dealer to buy one in your colour, that is one thing, but to pay all that tax, out of your own money (that you already paid income tax on!) is just sick. What happens when you drive ANY car off the forecourt? Can you sell it for EXACTLY what you paid for it? NO! New cars are over-priced, always, and the first buyer is the sucker who takes a MASSIVE hit on depreciation. An ex “Dealer-Demonstrator” will have been kept clean, and serviced, and only used for test-drives – yet for being a virtually new car, it will be thousands cheaper than an actual new one.
All the big American makers are in DEEP trouble. If you buy a car now, expect to have trouble with getting parts for it in three years, as the maker goes out of business! What will that do to your re-sale value? Flush it clean down the toilet!
On a personal level, have you bought your own home, outright? NO mortgage, no personal credit? A good, money-making investment portfolio working for you? Absolute financial and job security? These are the criteria you need to meet, before you think about ****** all that money away on a new car. (I own my own home, outright, have no personal credit AT ALL, can save about 50% of my earnings each month, and I run two cars – a smooth Mercedes, and a fast and frantic Alfa-Romeo. Each cost me less than a months wage, and I only spend about that much on them each year. Both are considered “classics” here, and I could easily sell each of them for MORE than I paid for them, inside a week! Try doing that with your new car!
The best time to buy a car is in the fall, when the new models come out….
However right now would be a great time to buy a new 2008, I’m sure the bigger dealers still have some that they want to get rid of…
prices on cars have actually increased as everything else did. gas is going back up again.
whatever you do, do not buy anything from GM, even if they didn’t go bankrupt, because starting about a year ago there was a rumor circulating around that GM will play games with the warranties on their new cars. They basically blame everything on the customer. So you end up paying the car payment and the car repair that should have been covered under warranty. They are criminal greedy bastards!