[yankeedame]

Wow, great article, and good to hear.

Hummmm....pardon my frown but I wonder...

My husband is a car/truck salesman. Has been for going on 10 years, and these last two months -- esp. Jan.-- have been the worst since he's been in the business. We're not just talking about Dodge (which he sells) and we're not just talking about his employer/dealership. All the car dealership here in cen. Ohio have been hosed-- some worse than other but none have escaped.

The parent company that owns the dealership hubby works for also owns two mega dealerships in Mich. Their sales from mid-Dec to mid-Jan. generally run about 200+ cars/trucks in this time period. This time they've sold thirty. Yup, three-oh. Period.

The economy maybe rosy for some but not the car makers/dealership. Even with these drops in interest rates people are simply not buying.

[laxcoach]

Anecdotal evidence does not measure the economy as a whole.

That isn't too diminish your point. The economy as a whole does not tell anecdotes either.

Here's my anecdote that relates to yours:
My father had a small auto repair business until 2 months ago (retired). He always said that when the economy is good or bad he did well. When the economy is changing, his business suffered, and his theory over the years was that people are frugal with cars when they are uncertain.

[Vanbasten]

Anecdotal evidence is easy to find. That doesn’t necessarily mean the economy as a whole is in deep trouble.

[Ramcat]

The economy maybe rosy for some but not the car makers/dealership. Even with these drops in interest rates people are simply not buying.

I empathize with you and your husband. These are unsettling times.
Do you think the problem is with people not qualifying for financing? Or, are people worried about their jobs?
In my case I can't consider buying a new $40k truck when the energy industry might be on the verge of transition. Will the country stick with ethanol or will there be a shift to hydrogen, natural gas, new battery technology, etc???
Wishing you and your husband well. ramcat