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Posted on 05/17/2014 6:28:49 AM PDT by RightGeek
How many formula 1 cars have you seen driving 6 months in snow and ice?
Where I live, I'll take front wheel drive over rear any day.........
As anyone who lives in Michigan for the winter.
Yep, if you go by the major ports in the US you’ll find these type lots. Check out the major auto auctions and you find hundreds or so vehicles passing thru each week. I have trouble believing that manufactures are stock piling vehicles just to keep production going. They are in the business of selling vehicles to make a profit. No sales no money coming in.
Yes. I used to live in Baltimore and drove by, on my way back and forth to work, a huge Toyota “stock yard” of cars and trucks in the port of Baltimore; cars and trucks both passenger cars and pickup trucks and many commercial and heavy duty trucks, that had just come into the port via ship and were waiting to be shipped out either by rail or truck to dealers nationwide. It was huge and on any given day, the yard was completely full, chock full to the brim of vehicles, but I also saw a lot of trains and trucks going out of this yard full of cars and trucks, moving them out while ships were bringing even more in, so while the yard often looked full, the inventory was constantly turning over, those cars were going somewhere and being replenished with new ones.
FWIW, I work only just a few miles up the road from this place.
Manheim Pennsylvania Auto Auction - World's Largest Auto Auction
I drive by this place often and the lot of cars is huge, and I mean huge! Massively huge! And the main roads coming in and out are full, often clogged full of car hauling tractor trailers bringing cars in and taking cars back out; the turnover is constant. It is one of the major employers in the area and very high tech – which considering that this is in the heart of rural Lancaster Amish farm country is rather amazing.
There are also quite a few car recon businesses and some very big discount used car dealers in the area around this auction yard. And for what is worth, while the YouTube video makes it seem as if they only deal with very high end cars, high performance sports cars, they are actually one of the major suppliers of a lot of the used or “nearly new” cars of all types for many new and used car dealerships on the east coast and all over the country in addition to selling to dealers overseas. I would guess that some of the very high end and very expensive cars come from bankruptcy sales, or tax or drug seizures, government auctions, that only represents a small part of their overall business.
And just where do most of these cares come from? They come primarily from new car dealerships when people trade their used cars when they are buying new cars. The new car dealership gives the new car buyer a trade in price, which is often actually well below the actual retail resale amount (and a dirty little secret I learned from some folks I’ve known working for car dealerships including a big auto dealer finance manager– they supposedly give you a good or even above the “blue book” and very generous trade in price, but they more than make it up on the dealer extras, like under body protection and fabric protection, upgraded floor mats and audio systems etc. and other after-market extras and the profit they make on service maintenance and or they make up for it on the kick back they get on the dealer financing, so you are only on paper getting a fair market trade in price). The new car dealers then in turn sells these traded in used cars in bulk for a small or nominal profit or at cost to a wholesale auto auction like the one in Manheim PA; they in turn spend some money to recondition these cars and make them seem as close as possible to new and they sell them back to new or used car dealers for a big mark up that is passed on to the used car buyer. Places like the Manheim Auction couldn’t survive unless people were buying new cars and trading in their used cars.
While you might get a good bargain on a used car from a new or used car dealership, most of the time you are getting ripped off.
Let the transmission go out. Then it will make sense that rear wheel drive vehicles save many many dollars in repairs. They are also usually more fuel efficient. But then some people don't mind paying that extra thousand or two plus to have the engine pulled to fix the transmission or the extra expense of CVU repairs etc. Much lower maintenance cost is the reason many persons like myself like rear wheel drive vehicles.
I do have one vehicle with front wheel drive. Its a 4X4 and I drive it in 2WD except when I need 4WD. Logically a person should only need front wheel drive if they have 4WD and yes it does cost more to maintain the front wheel drive portion.
“I can’ wait for the govt solution to this problem they created........................”
It’s called ‘Cash for Clunkers’.
Also making older cars more expensive to own via taxes, inspection fees or eliminating the ability to get spare parts for them. Mandating expensive upgrades like mileage/gps installations to tax them, and any other government scheme you can think of.
You buy cars like my dad and husband. Never ever get attached to a particular car and let the dealer know it.
That sir is a brilliant insight. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t see the fact my self.
There is a third possibility for French cars...... under qualitied
No, they are bought by the dealers. If the dealers don't buy, they are not sold. If they are not sold, they are not produced.
“The French copy no one and no one copies the French.”
Permission to steal both of those?
Guess what folks! The 2014 Cherokee is primary FWD, and AWD, sideways engine.
So, RWD-heads tell me:
Why the hell wouldn’t you want all the weight of your engine/drivetrain directly over your driving wheels for traction, instead of practically nothing?
Thanks for your input. I’ve seen the shipyard vehicles come and go and have
delivered or picked up vehicles from many auctions including Manhiem which
are located across the USA. All this shipping, buying and selling can’t take place
unless the public sector is engaged.
That is exactly how I learned my lesson. My wife fell in love with a 1986 Cougar. The salesman knew it and we were doomed. He used every trick in the book to get us to buy the car. They played each of us against each other, another salesman asked for the keys to the car 'cuz somebody else wanted to buy it, tried to make me feel like a jerk for not buying the car my wife wanted, etc. That was a long time ago and many cars since. BUT my wife stays home when I go to buy the car. And she is patient if I don't come home with it on the first try.
First off you have to understand the complicated registration system in the UK. That means that over 60% of new cars are sold in either March or September. The others over the other 10 months. That means at the build up to those months stocks build up and are stored wherever space can be found. Also, i think it’s over 70% of the cars built in the UK, that’s JLR in the Midlands and Liverpool, Toyota in Derby, Nissan in Sunderland Honda in Swindon, Bentley in Crewe and RR in Sussex, are exported. No Fords or Vauxhalls are built here anymore. This means that at any time they are building up various shipments somewhere and then they are taken to Sheerness, Avonmouth, Southampton and other docks for shipping when the ships arrive as it’s far to expensive to store them at the docks. Incidentally, the three Japanese manufacturers export lots of cars to Japan.
Anyway, that's how it is in the UK and it was always a huge frustration when I was working that the cars the customers wanted to buy were all on extended lead times, 6-8 weeks not unusual, and it was often pointed out by customers who travelled along the M5 just how many Toyotas were parked in clear view at Avonmouth. By the way, Sheerness is in Kent, on the East coast.
The overriding factor of course is that for a manufacturer to shut a factory, or even slow it down, is very, very bad PR and hugely costly. It’s a lot easier, and cheaper to give huge incentives to dealer and customer alike to force the market. At the moment, Toyota here are supplying the dealers at 30% discount on certain models, most of which is being passed on to the customers, and the customer also gets £1,000 towards his deposit from Toyota Finance if taken on a PCP (lease). Cheap as chips. Monthly payments under £100. All other makers are up to similar deals.
Whenever we come over your side I am always staggered at the new car inventories - which have to be paid for by the dealers when they are unloaded. At least here the manufacturers carry the stock - mainly because of the huge land costs which the dealers simply could not afford given the margins. Most work on a margin of 1 or 2% of turnover!! I can nag on for hours on this subject. Just glad I’m out of it all.
When I brought the check from my credit union in, the following Tuesday, the lady in the finance department was shocked “You got a good deal....you got a REAL good deal !”.
Nice!
I had a finance guy say, “This is a really skinny deal.” I did not know what that meant. Later, I found out it means that there is little profit for the dealer.
So I should buy a car optimized for conditions that are around less than 10% of the time? I’ll take a car optimized for the 90%. Every luxury car is rear wheel drive, now AWD REAR biased.
I was unaware of that term, myself. Thanks!
Steal away. It would have made him proud.
While I don’t buy this particular article based on pictures, many of which have been around for years with essentially the same sky is falling story and follow-up finds normal inventory flows with ups and downs, I agree that the Government is fully capable of stepping in with a lame-brained scheme to keep its union supporters employed when the demand isn’t there. I lived in Switzerland for a while where they had incredibly rigid inspection requirements that essentially made keeping a car more than a few years uneconomic - it was cheaper to just buy a new car than to fix the old one to the standards they had. If you ever travel there you may notice how there aren’t any clunkers, almost none in poor condition or even with body damage driving around.
Also bought a used engine from Japan for our Corolla - understand they have a required replacement at 50,000 miles - the used ones being exported to the US and other markets. Governments can come up with all kinds of crazy ideas instead of relying on simple economics, and the people truly being hurt are the ones at the bottom of the scale who can’t ever afford a new car. But that may be another of the incentives to institutionalize the liberal’s dream of mass transit for the vast majority of people.
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