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Used car market gets even more bizarre

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Re: Used car market gets even more bizarre

#331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone in the market for a new Porsche can probably wait. Someone in the market for a new Kia probably can't.

Someone in the market for a Porsche won't have to wait because they are high margin products. VW will be looking at the shortages and making the calculation that they are better off putting limited resources (chips) into Porsches rather than Skodas.

>Someone in the market for a Porsche won't have to wait because they are high margin products

do I have news for you :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNkwv0SHEEs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DTibY2dDN0

TLDR maybe 2 cars per dealer allocated to the end of the year

Re: Used car market gets even more bizarre

#332

All I can offer is an anecdote. I have a 2015 Mazda 3 (top trim level, with 34,000 miles on it.) Purchased 4.5 years ago with 8k on it for just under $20k. Well over a year ago, I started checking KBB.com values to either trade it in or sell it. Back then, trade was close to $12k, and private party was a bit over $13k. I've checked several times since then, and the price has basically grown and grown. As of today, it…

If you live in the rust belt, I'd advise to sell it within a couple years. I had two Mazdas they both died of rusted-out frames while the engines and interiors were still perfectly fine. If you're in a dry climate, it'll last a very long time as long as you keep up on maintenance.

Old mazdas were made with Ford though. The more recent ones are completely different.

Re: Used car market gets even more bizarre

#333
post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> one DIY-er who forgot to torque their oil drain bolt correctly, lost the oil, and is now the recipient of a refurbished engine. Shops make sure this doesn't happen by lazily hitting that bolt with an impact gun. Might never come off again.

We had our oil changed recently and the shop forgot to put the cap back on from the fill port (Subaru). Figured that out after 15 miles and the smell of burning oil. Engine bay was covered. It's always something!

Did a similar thing where I didn’t put the oil cap gasket back on right.

Was fine until oil pressure built up and the sprayed all over the engine bay.

Probably dirtier than yours. Originally thought “must be a plastic fire somewhere”. Oops.

Re: Used car market gets even more bizarre

#334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a tesla about a year ago. I only had to wait a week for it. 0 down and something like 2% APR. I feel like I really lucked out there

we're talking about trends and the crazy car market this year, but thanks for telling us you got a tesla

you're welcome, I love telling people I got a tesla =)

Re: Used car market gets even more bizarre

#335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a tesla about a year ago. I only had to wait a week for it. 0 down and something like 2% APR. I feel like I really lucked out there

It's regional. I got one some months ago "barely used" with 12 miles on it, delivered within a month. A friend's Model 3 got flooded and insurance paid for a new one, he was able to get a Model 3 Performance within two weeks, brand new. This was one month ago in the Northeast. A friend in Denver, CO, was not so lucky: casually looking to buy in September, a delivery timeframe of Jan-Feb 2022 presented itself.

it's crazy! like, I'm sure tesla is loving having the backlog, but this isn't some transitory issue like cnn wants us to think.

Re: Used car market gets even more bizarre

#336
post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like a really good thing for the dealership. They are able to operate with ~0 inventory and ~0 inventory holding costs.

Amazon famously has (or had?) something like negative inventory on the books. To be more technical, it's negative working capital, or negative cash conversion cycle. That's because in whole-sale you typically have something like 90 days to pay your bills. But Amazon sells its inventory on to retail customers (who up front) before those 90 days are up. Now, if I describe it as 'negative working capital' it sounds like…

walmart pioneered negative working capital for retail well before amazon existed (70s-80s iirc). it's how walmart jettisoned itself into a retail juggernaut. carrefour cribbed that part of the playbook from them to expand across france and europe, and bezos very likely did so as well. it only works when you have enough monopsony power to persuade/coerce the supply chain into cooperating.

Re: Used car market gets even more bizarre

#338
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USA here - ordered a Tesla Model Y in July 2021. Estimated delivery was October 2021. A couple of weeks ago, that date changed to April 2022.

Man, that's crazy how sudden this car demand surge happened. I was in the market for a Model Y in February 2021 and got mine in March.

Hertz

Re: Used car market gets even more bizarre

#339
post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon famously has (or had?) something like negative inventory on the books. To be more technical, it's negative working capital, or negative cash conversion cycle. That's because in whole-sale you typically have something like 90 days to pay your bills. But Amazon sells its inventory on to retail customers (who up front) before those 90 days are up. Now, if I describe it as 'negative working capital' it sounds like…

walmart pioneered negative working capital for retail well before amazon existed (70s-80s iirc). it's how walmart jettisoned itself into a retail juggernaut. carrefour cribbed that part of the playbook from them to expand across france and europe, and bezos very likely did so as well. it only works when you have enough monopsony power to persuade/coerce the supply chain into cooperating.

> it only works when you have enough monopsony power to persuade/coerce the supply chain into cooperating.

What makes you think so? If you offer attractive enough terms, you can get financing from your suppliers just fine.

And what makes you think Amazon, Carrefour or Walmart etc have monopsony power?

Re: Used car market gets even more bizarre

#340
post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're subscribing to orthodox economics then in that case raising minimum wage would result in job losses. No, that's just one outcome. I already described another outcome higher up the comment tree: reduction in non-wage benefits. In practice, you would probably see some combination of outcomes. > A huge issue has to be illegal immigrant population that largely competes for low wage positions -- I've heard it'…

> No, that's just one outcome. I already described another outcome higher up the comment tree: reduction in non-wage benefits. I was not replying to you. I asked the posted who claimed that benefits had already hit a floor. I was responding to his supposition. > Are you suggesting that those people who are desperate enough to become nearly right-less illegal immigrants do not count as labour or as disadvantaged? No I…

> We are talking about wages in the USA, and massive downward pressure on low skilled labor comes from illegal immigrant workers.

Only, that's not true.

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