THE HEALING HAS BEGUN

I may eat my words, but the healing has begun. Spring is here, and so is the rebirth of nature, along with traditionally, the auto industry. After a long, hard winter, everyone is ready to hear the birds sing, see the flowers bloom, and experience the thrill of driving a new car. This year is different though. Everyone knows that the auto industry is facing the biggest challenge of its history, especially the domestic manufacturers. But as the crocuses win the battle over winter, so is the auto industry recovering, ever so slowly, but surely.

People are buying cars, or at least they are in Maine. My unscientific survey shows that at least seven people that I know have bought cars just in the past several weeks. Others, including me, are seriously thinking about it. Beyond Maine there is movement too. According to Autodata, March sales of new vehicles were down substantially from a year ago, but were up nearly a million more vehicles in March than in February of this year. Spring fever always brings more sales, but Autodata reports that this year’s February to March increase was up 24.5%, the largest rate increase in seven years. While the March sales drops for most foreign and domestic manufacturers were large as compared to last year, the drops were actually less severe than expected, and Wall Street began to respond with perceived optimism.

There will never be a better time to buy. I wrote of some of the reasons in my earlier blog, LET’S MAKE A DEAL.

http://maineautomall.blogspot.com/2008/07/lets-make-deal.html

But now the timing is even better. Inventories are still bloated. Money is available to lend, and at record low rates. There are some interesting new choices available from virtually every manufacturer, but you and I need to move soon. The healing has begun. As sales begin to blossom, inventories will decrease. When the recovery takes hold, there will be only token rebates, no good deals, and there will be waiting lines for all of the best models, all priced at a premium. The healing has begun. Don’t miss the party.