This means rules from the government that force car makers to put certain features in new cars. If buyers don’t like those features or worry they’ll cause problems, they may choose not to purchase the car.
They’re talking about whether brand-new cars are actually working well and being built well. If people feel like new cars have problems, they may not want to buy another one.
Carfax is a service that tracks information about used cars. Here, they’re talking about a report showing how many cars currently have recalls that haven’t been fixed yet.
Concept
price of vehicles
They’re saying car prices are a big reason people aren’t buying. If cars cost more than buyers expect, fewer people will make the purchase.
The Toyota Sienna is a minivan, usually bought by families. They’re using the 2020 Sienna as an example of how, even for a popular vehicle, the used-car prices (and what you get for that money) can be rough.
The Chevrolet Volt is a hybrid you can plug in. It drives on electricity first, and then a gas engine helps when the battery is low. The “Base” part just means the lower trim level, which can affect what features it has and how it’s priced.
“Miles” means how many miles are on the car’s odometer. More miles usually means more use and wear, which often makes a used car worth less than one with fewer miles.
“Sitting on it” means the car has been on the dealer’s lot for a while without selling. If it takes a long time to sell, it can be a sign the price is too high or buyers aren’t interested.
“Overpriced” means the asking price seems higher than the car is really worth. The host is comparing the price to what you’d expect for a car’s age and mileage.
VIN decoding means looking at the car’s VIN (its unique code) and figuring out what the code tells you about the exact car. It helps you confirm the model and specs so you’re not guessing.
“Comps” are similar cars used to figure out a fair price. If your car is like other ones for sale, those listings help estimate what yours should cost.
Market value is what a car is worth based on what people are actually paying for similar cars. If the seller’s price is higher than that, buyers often walk away.
Asking price is the price the seller says they want for the car. It’s important because buyers compare it to what similar cars are actually selling for.
They mention a 2014 Kia Sorento as an example in a used-car price discussion. It’s a midsize SUV, and what it’s worth depends on things like mileage and overall condition.
They’re using a 2014 Volkswagen Passat with about 91,000 miles as a pricing example. Even with similar mileage, different cars can be priced very differently based on what buyers want and what it costs to own.
They switch to a Dodge Journey and start figuring out what the monthly payment would be. Payment depends on the loan length (like 60 months) and the car’s price, not just the car’s mileage.
A payment calculator is a tool that estimates what your monthly car payment would be. It uses the car price and loan details to show what you’d pay each month.
A vehicle service contract is an extra plan you buy to help pay for repairs. The host is saying that on older cars, these plans may not actually cover the problems that are most likely to happen.
An extended warranty is extra coverage you buy so repairs are paid for longer than the original warranty. The host is basically saying it may not help much if the car is old and the likely repairs aren’t covered.
A recall is when a car company admits there’s a problem and asks owners to bring the car in for a fix. Even if your exact car isn’t affected by every recall, lots of recalls can make people feel less confident about buying that brand.
Ford is a car brand. In this segment, they’re talking about how a brand’s recall record can make people hesitant to buy, even if your exact car might not be affected by every recall.
General Motors (GM) is a major automaker and is referenced here in the context of a political meeting. The segment uses GM alongside Ford to set up a discussion about consumer repair access and how policy can affect who can service vehicles.
“Right to repair” means car owners should be able to get their cars fixed by independent shops, not just the dealership. It also means those shops should have access to the information and parts needed to do the repair properly.
“OTD” means the total price you’ll actually pay at the end of the deal. It includes the extra charges like taxes and fees, so it’s the fairest way to compare offers.
This is a 2014 Ford Fusion, and “SE” is a specific trim level (a particular version with certain features). It’s the kind of everyday car people shop around for when comparing prices.
The Mazda CX-5 is a small SUV made for everyday driving. People like it because it’s practical and easy to live with. It may be mentioned simply because it’s a popular model that shows up often when searching for cars.
The Hyundai Kona SEL EV is an all-electric version of the Hyundai Kona SUV. “SEL” is the trim level (a specific package of features), and the host is talking about a deal price for it.
The Toyota RAV4 is a compact SUV, meaning it’s a smaller family-friendly vehicle with higher ground clearance than a sedan. The podcast mentions it because its sales have dropped by a large percentage. That’s why it’s relevant to the discussion about what people are buying.
They’re saying the car market doesn’t move in a straight line. Even cars from the same brand can have different availability and different sales trends, so the situation can change quickly.
A depreciation curve is basically a chart of how a car’s resale value goes down over time. It helps you guess what the car might be worth later if you sell it.
Dealer reviews are customer ratings and written feedback about a specific dealership’s sales and service experience. They can help shoppers anticipate how the dealership handles things like communication, pricing, and after-sale support.
LIVE
It's noon here in Ventner City, New Jersey,
and our nation's capital, Washington, D.C.,
and this is Carage Live for Tuesday, June 23rd,
with your host, me, Ray, hanging out in my living room
in Ventner and Zach, hanging out in the office
in Washington, D.C., ladies and gentlemen.
Just curious, how are you doing today, handsome?
You're fantastic, happy June 23rd, everyone.
So thankful you're choosing to spend some of your day
with my dad, me and my dad.
What is it?
My dad and I, my dad and I.
Wow, it's not even a joke at this time.
It's just in my brain anyway, folks.
Today's show is brought to you by CarEdge.com.
My dad and I, and our incredible team,
have spent the past six, going on almost seven years,
working on CarEdge.com.
Yes, I'm wearing the proud CarEdge shirt this morning
for those of you that are unfamiliar back at CarEdge.com.
We have a car search.
One of my favorite things about the car search, Dad,
you have a number one.
Images don't show up, but the days on market,
every single vehicle in the CarEdge car search,
you can instantly see how long it's been on a dealer's lot,
which is a huge portion of your negotiating leverage.
And just to make sure, 85854
let's go to my home state of Arizona.
There we go, there's those images.
So you can see how long vehicles have been on dealer's lots.
In addition to that, Dad, we offer buying services
back at CarEdge.com.
We have our white glove concierge service,
our AI negotiator.
And for researchers, we have CarEdge Pro.
Then, Dad, back at CarEdge.com, we have Ask CarEdge,
which is the most incredible thing
I think we've ever created.
You can have your AI negotiations
with dealerships right here.
Ask questions galore to ask CarEdge as well
to get help through the car buying process.
And then we have dealer reviews
where we are grading dealers nationwide from A to F
based on how transparent they are.
What a world it is here in CarEdge Land.
Pro-Melover, you ready to jump into the show?
It is an ever-changing world, young man.
The one thing I've realized in my 75 plus years
on this planet is you can never count on the same thing
happening one day to the next.
So just buckle up and enjoy the ride.
Not sure what that means, but that's okay.
Ready, here we go.
Today's show, Dad, consumers are refusing to buy cars.
We are up to almost the $52,000 average advertised price
for new cars as tracked back on automotive news
at the same exact time as prices increase for new cars.
We're gonna talk about used cars too.
We have inventory declining, which is fascinating
because we have sales down.
So car sales are down, prices are up, inventory's down.
The only thing that makes me think of
is the manufacturers are withholding inventory.
At the same time, Dad,
the manufacturers are feeling the pressure.
You've got Subaru, for example, here
going towards, quote, ultra-efficient production.
Makes me wonder what they were doing
before the ultra-efficient production
amid a $362 million EV right down in product delays.
You also have Dad Volkswagen turn into their dear friends
over at Costco to help them sell more cars,
VW ads, Costco incentives to help straighten out
your long US sales slides.
Before we pull more data up, Dad,
consumers are refusing to buy cars.
That's what all the data points to.
Is it they're refusing or they just can't afford to?
And if you put percentages on it,
maybe it's 40% of refusing and 60% just absolutely
positively can't afford to.
I don't think it's because people don't want to buy cars.
I think it's because too many people
feels if they can't afford it to buy a car.
Now, I know there is a subset of people out there
that are very concerned about the kill switches
that indeed might find their way into cars next year.
My understanding is that the guidelines for that
haven't been fully completed yet.
So more than likely the kill switches will not.
But, you know, I read the comments
whether they be from bots or real people
talking about kill switches
and that they'll never ever buy a new car again.
Once that happens, my guess is until well,
they need to buy a new car again,
even though it has that kill switch.
So, okay, so kill switch was not where I was expecting us
to go with today's show, but that's fascinating.
So you're saying some customers are refusing to buy cars
because of government mandated technologies put into vehicles.
I think that is one part of the story.
I think there's actually a lot of people, Dad,
that are very frustrated with the quality of new vehicles
that are on the road.
I mean, one of the things I'm looking at right now,
I didn't have a cute up for today's show,
but it is worth mentioning.
Carfax just put out a new report.
3.2 million vehicles right now have park outside recalls.
So I mean, there really are concerns for those of you
that are in the market to buy a new car
around quality of vehicle and technology
that's mandated in the vehicles.
The other story obviously is price of vehicles
and we're seeing that show up.
The thing that I find confounding in all this
that I want to eventually turn our conversation to,
okay Dad, Indori's actually down significantly
over the last 30 days
and that's where I'm really struggling.
Like if sales are down
and people are refusing to buy these cars,
how can inventory also go down?
And it makes me think the manufacturers
are intentionally manipulating their supply
to try and maintain some price and power.
It's real simple.
You know, they have a tough time
in reading between the tea leaves, just like we do.
But I think they could see the writing on the wall,
so to speak, that sales were,
because of the affordability,
sales were going to decline in new car sales in 2026.
And so far we've seen that.
We have seen a softening of new car sales.
In 2025, it was what, 16.2 or 16.3 million new cars
that were sold.
The projections for this year are anywhere
from 15 and a half to 15.8 million new cars will be sold.
So they understood going into this model year
and to this calendar year,
that sales were going to be down.
And so they've managed production accordingly.
If you know that the vast majority of the vehicles
you're producing are out of reach for 85 to 87%
of the population out there,
well, it doesn't take a genius to go,
well, maybe we don't need to build as many,
and so we won't.
And I think that's why you're seeing inventory levels down,
because the one thing we know for a fact
is month over month, the average price is up almost $200.
The average price is up year over year, $2200, almost $2300.
So it's not like they're going out of their way
to actually inundate the market with less expensive vehicles.
So they're just producing less
of the more expensive vehicles.
So let's see if we can corroborate that with some data.
So average market price for new cars right now,
$51,793 of $174 month over month,
up $2,258 year over year.
Now this gets broken down by key segment.
Full size pickup trucks are $61,193 right now.
That's actually $406 lower than 30 days ago,
but $2,800 up year over year.
Luxury, mid-size SUVs and crossovers are 72 grand.
Down 185 bucks, so there's some price relief,
but up $3,100 year over year.
Mid-sized sedans, $31519, up $31 bucks,
up 405 year over year.
Mid-sized SUVs and crossovers, $40,350 down 98 bucks
month over month, up a grand year over year.
Inventory is where I get so confused at
because consumers as we know sales are down
are demanding different price points, different technology,
all the things that we acknowledged just a moment ago.
Yet inventory levels of key segments of vehicles
with the exception of full size pickup trucks are all down.
Full size pickup truck inventory is up 5,816 vehicles
year over year, but down 13,844 vehicles month over month.
As consumers, we want supply high.
The higher supply is the more pressure on the auto industry
to get desperate to sell inventory.
That's great, that lead to a buyer's market.
If we go back that, I don't have it queued up at all,
I'll pull the pages up here in just a second.
If we go back to January, day's supply of vehicles
in the United States of America,
it was like over a hundred, near a hundred.
It was one of the highest.
It was 90 Shunston if I remember correctly.
Sky high and then was it like March or something like that?
Just out of nowhere, it dropped down to the 70s
and we were like, huh, how did that happen?
And ever since then it's been in the 70s.
And if I remember correctly, when that happened,
I sat on the same chair I'm sitting in now
in the same living room I'm in now,
and I said, I'm calling BS right now.
And I probably told you to bookmark that comment
because I don't believe that as sales go down
and inventory stays the same,
that suddenly day's supply dropped 20 days.
It just, I think my exact quote might have been,
that math don't math.
Okay, you can't keep inventory the same,
have sales go down and then sit here and tell me,
oh, the day's supply has dropped from 95 to 76.
So I didn't believe that was true then.
I don't believe it's true today.
You know, because when you compare it to actual sales,
it doesn't correlate.
But the one thing we know for sure
is that there are fewer people
in the market for new cars.
And with fewer vehicles available,
depending upon how long those expensive vehicles
have been sitting will determine the motivation level
of the dealership to discount them more.
You know, we discussed it yesterday
to agree when we were talking to Tyler.
There are deals to be found even on some Toyotas.
There are deals to be found
on just about every brand out there.
If you're in the right area,
it can be regionalized, localized.
And it all depends on how many vehicles
your local dealer's sitting on.
So that is at its core, the auto industry, supply demand.
Has changed.
This is what's interesting.
Let's talk used for a second here
and then let's go to the chat.
Used vehicle inventory, we know it's low.
We are sitting at some of the lowest levels
of used vehicle inventory in history right now,
relative to the last few years.
You can see this line's pointing
at the 2.1 million used cars for sale.
And we know the quality of those used cars for sale
is also not particularly compelling.
And so think about this for a second.
Inventory in the used car side is historically low.
Inventory on the new car side is actually
the last five years historically high
right now relative to where it had been.
But look at what's going on with the used car prices.
They are skyrocketing right now.
Like truly skyrocketing back to peak pandemic,
five times fast peak pandemic prices.
And you can see here dad that low inventory, high prices,
low supply, high demand of more affordable vehicles.
We have the data that shows you're looking for
an under $15,000 used car.
Even those customers are refusing to buy
because the prices for what you get at $15,000 or less
has become so absurd.
Well, we looked at what CarMax and Carvana
were asking for some used cars last week
when we were comparing the two.
And we were convinced before we started the comparisons
that CarMax is charging more than Carvana
for the same type of cars.
And as it turned out with CarMax's sales being somewhat
flat, we attributed to the fact that they must be
charging more than Carvana when in reality
it was actually the other way around.
I think especially when it comes to sub $15,000,
the quality of what you're asking to spend your money on,
I guess the best way to describe it would be piss poor.
You were talking, I mean, when we were looking
at Sienna Vans last week, 2020 Sienna Vans,
between 95 and 110,000 miles, between 22 and $25,000.
So when you start looking at sub $15,000 cars,
they're gonna be like 10 year old cars
with 100 plus thousand miles on them
and you're going to need to finance them for 45 years.
None of it adds up.
Let me show you something.
I went to the car edge car search, shop cars, use cars.
I went down over here on the left to dealership.
I opened up the dealership filter
and I pulled in CarMax of St. Louis
and Carvana of University Park.
We are now looking at 2,112 cars
at both of those dealerships sorted by price
from lowest to highest.
Okay.
Let's just peek at this, Deb.
Let's take a peek at what the affordable options are
that again, consumers are right now refusing to buy
and let's do our little assessment here
if we think they're fair values.
And you know me, we'll also ask CarEdge.
We'll see what our algorithm says if it's a fair value.
First one right here, Deb.
This is at Carvana University.
2013 Chevrolet Volt Base with 85,936 miles on it.
They've been sitting on it for 37 days.
What do you think?
Seems like a lot of money for a 13 year old car,
doesn't it?
It does to me, but you know, what do I know?
I'm just a guy that spent the bulk of my adult life
in the car business.
2014 Ford Fusion SC.
This one's over at CarMax.
I've been sitting on it for 75 days.
They're asking 10 grand for 120,284 miles
on a Ford Fusion SC.
Is that feeling fair to you?
You spent 43 years in the car business.
What does that feel like to you?
That feels to me that it's probably about
three to $4,000 over priced.
Maybe more.
You know, you're talking about a 12 year old car.
And granted, the average mileage is only 10,000 miles
a year, but it's a 12 year old Ford Fusion SC.
That car brand new was what, in the mid 20s?
And today it's still $10,000 with 120,000 miles on it?
Crazy.
Well, it doesn't seem realistic in my mind.
The unfortunate reality is it is realistic
in too many people's minds.
Or it's only option for too many people.
And again, if you refuse, refuse, refuse,
but eventually you need transportation,
here's what you end up.
Let's put this to the test really quickly.
Dad, I'm over here now, Ask Garage.
What is a fair price for this car?
Let's see, I'm so curious.
We've obviously, for those of you that have been a part
of the Garage community, you know, we do this live.
So let's see, decoding the VIN, looking up the market value.
This is so cool when it works.
Is there anything this, yeah, we figured out
what it doesn't do, it couldn't comment on whether
or not it's orange.
Okay, hang tight.
Sorry, Dad.
It's searching inventory to find comps
and everything like that.
All right.
I mean, here's your analysis, folks.
Here's the breakdown of that 20, okay, it's talking.
Yeah, yeah.
I finished, finished, there we go.
All right, so I found the car.
Yes.
The asking price is significantly above market value
for this vehicle.
Is it?
The problem is that at CarMax, if somebody or Carvana,
wherever it was, if somebody buys it,
they have to buy it at the price that's being asked for
because they don't negotiate there.
It's so cool.
Want me to search for better price,
2014 to 2016 Ford Fusions, there you go.
But that's just an interesting analysis
that of the reality of today's car market
where customers go in thinking, I'm gonna buy something.
We're looking at the lowest of low end options right now.
Yes.
And they might say to themselves, heck no, heck no.
How am I supposed to get excited
about the reliability of a, so 2014 we're in 2012,
12, 13 year old Ford Fusion with 120,000 miles on.
How am I supposed to get excited about that?
Well, first of all, I don't think the title of today's show
was how do we get customers excited
about buying overpriced cars?
But yeah.
How about tomorrow's program?
Yeah, but as a customer, no, there's no way
you should get excited about that other than the fact
that you could say to yourself,
well, there's something I can buy for less than $10,000.
And that's the issue.
Everybody has jacked up the prices
of the asking prices for these used cars
so that all these, what you and I consider,
what people with years of experience
in automotive retail would consider
to be highly overpriced vehicles,
in reality are not overpriced in today's market.
This is the market.
The market in too many cases is willing to pay those prices.
Dealers ask, buyers buy, and that's what sets the market.
But that's what's so interesting
about what's happening right now with sales.
Being down, we talk to dealers,
we talk to our community all the time,
like sales are down, things are slowing down.
Look at Ford, for example, last time I checked,
you guys know me, I love, what do we do?
It was caredge.com slash unsold.
There's still over 100,000 unsold 2025 vehicles
and over 40,000 of them are still Fords.
Like they got some issues right now, dad.
This is, I think, a trying time for the auto industry.
Go ahead.
It's not just a trying time for the auto industry.
The problem is, and you tried to address it in today's title,
it's not that people are refusing.
It's people can't afford to.
There's a huge difference between just saying no
and saying, I don't understand how I can.
And so that's the reality of the situation.
Everything is so overpriced,
but there are still enough people out there
who are confounded, who are in desperate need of a vehicle,
who have set a budget of no more than say $10,000.
And we only pulled up two or three cars there,
but I can assure you that what you're gonna find
at that $10,000 price point is gonna be similar type vehicles
with similar type miles.
And so you're not, people don't have the option
of finding something better at a cheaper price,
unless you can find it private party.
And you know one of the tricks that I have mentioned
over the years, and I hate to say this,
because we're approaching the anniversary
of your mother's death, but check the obituaries, damn it.
It's sad to say, but oftentimes there are decent cars
that estates have to sell.
And you can typically find a bargain
in comparison to what CarMax or Carvana is asking
or what others are asking.
Part of the reason we ended up looking at these
very inexpensive Carvana and CarMax vehicles
is because where consumers are fleeing to to find options
are the sub $15,000 price points.
And we see that in the data
because those are the cars that turn over most quickly.
Just to spend another second on it here.
These are your options.
Again, what we did, we went to the car search,
we shopped, used, we went to the dealership filter,
and we chose CarMax Carvana
for these locations.
We've got the Chevy Volt Base,
we've got the Ford Fusion,
we've got a 2011 GMC Acadia SLT-1,
they're known for reliability, I'm sure.
Yes.
With 103,000 miles on it,
that actually they've been sitting on for 112 days.
That'd be another one that'd be interesting to run
and ask CarEdge to see the market analysis on.
2010 Lincoln, 2010 Subaru, 2013 Nissan,
2014 Kia Sorento,
I'll have to run to 12 grand.
What was that, Ted?
Now you're up to 12 grand.
Yeah, let's see, let's see.
Right at that 15,000, I mean,
we're still looking at like a 2014 Volkswagen Passat
with 91,000 miles is 12 grand.
I mean, these are, these don't feel like values.
But you know, it's interesting.
What's interesting, let's click into,
sure, this Dodge Journey.
What's interesting is I bet you
if I go to my payment calculator down here.
Yeah.
There you go.
Let's do it.
I'm rebuilding my credit.
You know, 60 months, $300 a month.
Okay, I can convince myself I can afford that.
But holy cow, 60 months on a Dodge
that already has 100,000 miles on it.
Yeah, the problem is that you,
that you might be able to afford that $300 a month payment.
You just, you're not going to be able to afford
that major repair that's going to happen
in year two or three of your ownership experience
of that vehicle.
You know, excuse me, I saw another headline today
that the vast majority of Americans
couldn't come up with $400 if need be, okay?
So if people can't come up with $400 for an emergency,
how are they going to come up with the money
for a repair of a 12, 13 or 14 year old car
that they're buying?
And I know we get asked often,
well, what if they have extended warranties
or vehicle service contracts for these older vehicles?
What do you really think they're covering anything?
You know, are they going to cover the stuff
they know is going to break?
Absolutely not.
You know, so it's, people have to make choices today.
And money doesn't go nearly as far as it did.
It just doesn't at the moment.
I mean, you know, I'm 75 years old.
I can assure you, other than perhaps the great recession,
there has been inflation just about every year
of my lifetime.
Things have, things will continue to go up
during your lifetime.
That's just part of it.
But the fact that things seem to have gone up
significantly higher and significantly quicker
is making it even more difficult for people
to be able to afford even these used vehicles.
That, you know, let's face it,
I certainly wouldn't put out $10,000
for a 100, some thousand mile used car.
I think to be clear here though,
like the point that we're trying to make is that,
you know, the options are there.
It's just a lot of people are choosing
to pass them up right now.
And it'll be interesting because the market is supply
and demand.
So if demand wanes for a while,
then eventually supply builds and prices come down.
So it should be cyclical.
We have to come to the chat here, Deb.
We've had a lot of thoughtful contributions
and a lot of comments we need to address.
From Son of John.
Thank you.
I think in another, I think another issue
are the worth of vehicles when the manufacturers
have produced a lot of vehicles that in return,
that return with recalls, excuse me,
why buy an over-inflated new vehicle
knowing that a recall is coming?
Yeah, recalls have become super normalized.
It's like expected that you're gonna have
an over there recall or two in your ownership journey.
I'm thinking of all the Ford owners out there, Dad,
who have had a recall after recall after recall.
And I think that does to a degree, you know,
increase or decrease, excuse me,
the value or perceived value of a brand.
Well, of course it does.
I mean,
if you, when you spend a lot of money for something,
you expect whatever it is that you're buying to work
and work the way it was intended to work.
And, you know, whether that be a TV, a watch,
a car, a phone, whatever it is.
And the reality is that if you spend a lot of money
for a vehicle, and it happened to have been a Ford vehicle,
and like last year, they had 153 recalls,
that might not affect your Ford vehicle,
at least all 153 of them might not,
but there might have been five or 10 recalls in there
that could have impacted your vehicle.
Yeah, that decreases the perceived value of that vehicle
because it's not operating the way you would expect it
to operate for the money that you spent.
Yeah, 100%.
Let's come here, Dad, from Scott, early in the show.
Thank you, Scott.
Thank you, Scott.
The president of the United States
has a private meeting with General Motors in Ford
on June 4th.
He tells the press they don't want people fixing their cars.
I wanted to get your take on this now
that the right to repair is gaining traction.
Yeah, I think there's a huge amount of interest
in right to repair, and quite frankly,
it's something we should cover more frequently on this show.
We are pro, I am pro right for repair.
We both are.
Manufacturers, vehicle manufacturers,
farm equipment manufacturers have hidden behind
the excuse that only they should be able to work
on their vehicles and have not made the technologies
available for others so that, I don't know,
competition can be created that would drive down
the prices of repairs.
You know, I absolutely positively think
that there should be a right to repair,
that it shouldn't just be kept within the confines
of the manufacturer's dealer network.
When there's less competition, you end up paying more.
It's just that simple.
Why would you discount it if you don't have to?
If there isn't somebody down the street
that would agree to do it for less.
So, yeah, this is one of the things
that artificially protects the auto manufacturers
and others and forces consumers to pay more
than they necessarily should have to.
Yeah, oh man, such a big topic,
and it's worthy of its own show.
Let's come here, Dad.
All right, so we've got from the sunshine spot.
So what do we do if we need a car?
What's the strategy for this market?
How long do we wait?
This is where I get so excited
because unfortunately, Dad,
whether you and I want it or not,
people are buying cars right now.
And the reason I say unfortunately is
because we wish right now at this moment
that car dealers had so much inventory
that they were extra desperate given out deals left and right
even to the least informed consumers.
But the strategy is fairly simple.
Identify what you want, contact multiple dealers,
get multiple OTD price quotes,
shop them against one another.
And if I may, we have made this
as simple as you could possibly find.
I mean, I'm gonna do it right here as a demo.
So we were looking before, what was it?
It was this 2014 Ford Fusion SE
that Carvana was selling or CarMax, who was it?
CarMax.
CarMax.
You literally can go to Ask CarEdge.
That's what you're interested in.
It'll find more vehicles for you
and then you can have it negotiate for you.
I'm not gonna do it right now
because I'm not in the market for a 2014 or 2016 Ford Fusion.
But it's pretty simple.
I could start another chat here and I could say,
I have a budget of $30,000
and I want you to find cars that fit my budget
and then negotiate best price.
And this thing will walk you through.
I'm so proud of what we built here.
New or used.
Trucker used any type.
Like this, we've made it easier than ever before,
I think, Dad, to like go through it and find the best deal.
Well, and the other thing I would say,
and you can probably go back a year or more
and I've said this and I will continue to say it.
If you find a car that you like that fits into your budget,
it will probably be cheaper to buy it today
than to wait for the price to come.
Because what have we seen over recent history?
Prices haven't come down.
They continue to go up.
And we predict, well, we don't predict anymore
that there's going to be a market crash.
I don't believe there's gonna be a market crash.
I believe there'll just be fewer people
that will be in the market to buy the cars
that are out there that can be purchased.
So if you find something you like
at a price you like today,
don't be sitting around waiting,
hoping that it's going to go down in price
because more than likely it will not and it has not.
And recent history over the last five or six years,
contrary to what we would have thought four or five years ago,
when we thought that there could be a crash,
it hasn't happened.
It doesn't appear as if it's going to happen.
So buy it and move on with your life.
And again, the strategy to buy it,
contact multiple dealers,
get multiple quotes, shop from against one another.
And I am gonna demonstrate it right here.
I said, search for Mazda CX-5s.
It finds Mazda CX-5s.
There's 139 of them in Scottsdale, Arizona under $30,000.
It has some top picks that I can click through
and go learn more about those specific picks.
And then I can literally,
want me to dig deeper on any of these,
I can analyze the deal, check for recalls,
or negotiate and honestly on your behalf,
the dealer never gets your real name, email,
or phone number, you're ready?
Negotiate on the best option.
And it's gonna start reaching out to dealers.
I mean, this is like, I'm very proud of us.
We've made it as easy as we possibly can to get,
here we go, I have four competitors in one drop.
Boom, you gotta get leverage in the negotiation as 100%.
How you do it?
All right, Dad, we've got here from Malkov.
Thanks for this call, Dad, we appreciate it.
The right to repair movement here in Maryland
was lost when the corpus added a last minute stipulation
into a bill that pretty much negated its purpose.
We have seen state legislatures take actions on this,
which is also very concerning.
Cause I think it should be a federal thing.
Federal government should sit, this is my two cents.
This does not represent cards.
This represents the act of the federal government should say,
anyone has the right to repair their own vehicle,
farm equipment, look at the John Deere stuff, come on.
And then this opportunity to step up
and make things more competitive.
But to your point, Dad,
which is the point of how do you get a good car deal right now?
It's all about competition.
It is, anytime you lessen the competition, consumers lose.
If that's simple, if you're only competing against yourself,
are you really competing?
Are you going to lower the prices enough?
You're not.
And so that's why every time you see these big mergers,
these big corporate mergers,
every time that happens,
ultimately we as the consumer pays for it
because there's less competition and prices go up.
So the more competition there could be
to have the ability to repair your vehicle,
the better off it you will be as a consumer
because you'll be able to put a few more dollars
back in your pocket.
Follow up here from Notorious LX Update, brand new 2024.
Yes, you read that right.
Brand new 2024, Hyundai Kona SEL EV for $29,995.
I called the dealership and it's brand new.
They confirmed it and it's still available.
They're only offering $1,000 off.
$1,000 because it was originally,
if I remember correctly, it was $38,000.
Yep.
Okay, MSRP.
Great memory.
They're down to $30,000 and now they're down to $29,000.
You know, my suspicion is that if you are dead serious
about getting that car and you really, really wanted it,
you're probably the only live customer they have on it.
Yeah, maybe they'll probably take less.
They need to get rid of it.
The key there is it's a 2024 and no vehicle.
There isn't a vehicle out there that is like a fine wine
that gets better with age.
It does not, okay?
So I would expect that if they dropped the thousand
on a phone call, you know, they'll take less
because they need to make it go away.
We've got here dad from Thomas.
Didn't these guys say just yesterday
there are no cars to buy?
We did.
Yeah, we're talking about Toyota's, dammit.
And not all Toyotas, the RAV4, which to be clear here
has a 40% decline in sales year over year
and a four month wait list to get our hands on one.
So the car market is so volatile and nuanced.
That's why I mean privilege, but we get to wake up every day
and do this because there's always stuff going on.
So yeah, the car market, it's incredibly important
that you're up to date with the latest
because it is rapidly, rapidly evolving.
Yeah, you know, if we're talking about Toyotas
and we say there's certain models of Toyotas
that aren't readily available, well, don't conflate that
and say, well, yeah, but today you're saying,
well, we're not talking about Toyotas again today.
Okay, we're talking about something different.
And if you think you're scoring points by saying,
oh, well, this is what they said yesterday.
Well, I don't think he was taking a shot
or he or she was taking a car.
Oh, yes.
I don't think so.
I don't think so.
Well, okay, you can be as naive as you want to be.
Today's show folks again was brought to you by caredge.com.
My dad and I, we have so much fun
showing up here Monday through Friday.
Our incredible team back at caredge.com
is here to help as well.
Again, a friend reminder, we have the car search
which we use today on the show, which is super helpful.
Our buying services, ask caredge, research tools,
like how's your car going to depreciate?
Look it up back at caredge.com.
For example, come in here.
What did we talk about today?
We were talking about that GMC at some point in time,
GMC Acadia.
Let's say it's just bought a brand new one.
It was like 11 years old or no, it was a 2011,
you know, that we were talking about.
Look at this, y'all.
We give you the value that it's gonna be,
the depreciation curve, what you should expect.
I mean, there's all sorts of good information
back at caredge.com, including dealer reviews,
so much more, so I encourage everyone
to go spend some time back at caredge.com
and get a free consultation call with our team.
Dad, any guess how many phone calls
our team took yesterday?
Real people, by the way, real awesome people on our team.
Any guess?
More than 12.
Come on, many phone calls.
Community, community, how many people
you think called caredge yesterday?
We called back, we're scheduled to call.
It was crazy.
I'll guess 150.
71.
Okay.
A lot of phone calls, man,
so thank you for talking to our team.
We're here to help.
Hopefully we get up to 176.
580, whoa, we're gonna have to hire a bigger team.
Yeah.
All right, y'all.
We're back tomorrow with more Car Edge Live.
If we can help you out with anything,
check out the website, subscribe to the channel.
We appreciate it as always.
And Dad, enjoy the afternoon.
It's rainy and dreary here in D.C.
Well, I am gonna go help our dear friend
and get acquainted with her new hearing aids.
We have a two o'clock orientation
with the hearing aid company
and I wanna be by her side to help her.
Get excited, folks.
This is what it looks like when you're 75 and up, I think.
Yeah, I think it starts before you're 75,
but yeah, there's a couple of things in life
when you reach my age that excite you.
That's helping others hear better
and helping them with their hearing aids
and taking advantage of those four o'clock early bird dinner
sessions.
Yeah.
We're back tomorrow, folks.
Love you, Dad.
Love you too, handsome.
If you liked the show, please take a moment
to rate, review, and subscribe.
It really does help the show to grow.
Thank you for listening.
About this episode
CarEdge Live digs into why “consumers are refusing to buy cars,” weighing affordability against outright reluctance. Hosts tie the slowdown to rising new-car prices, falling inventory, and manufacturers “withholding inventory,” while also pointing to recall fatigue and frustration with “government mandated technologies.” The conversation then shifts to the used market: “Used vehicle inventory, we know it's low,” pushing prices up and making sub-$15,000 choices hard to justify. CarEdge tools and negotiation strategies are offered as a way to shop smarter.
Today on CarEdge Live, Ray and Zach discuss the latest data on car shoppers taking themselves out of the market. Tune in to learn more! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com
for information about our collection and use of personal data for
advertising.
