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  • 6 months ago
The US car market is under strain as import tariffs imposed by the Trump administration make new vehicles more expensive. As US buyers resort to buying used cars, prices climb amid rising demand and thin supply.
Transcript
00:00It's been a busy season for this used car dealership in Virginia and front-end
00:05manager Vijay Kumar says that they're all trying to keep pace with revved up
00:08demand. Usually the summer is always active but it wasn't like this usually
00:13at most it's like 200 average but this summer alone we've been selling a lot
00:18more than we expected and we're trying our best to replenish our
00:21inventory this time big time we've never sold that many cars like this just
00:27because of the potential fear of the tariffs. And how much more is more than
00:31they expected? I would just say around like 300 cars in just one month alone we
00:36were moving around selling cars all in one time we sold like 20 cars in one day
00:41and we're just a small dealership. With a 25% tariff on most imported cars and
00:48parts and a reduced 15% rate for EU and Japanese models not yet in effect, rising
00:55vehicle prices have pushed more Americans towards the second-hand market.
00:59But supply and demand are catching up there too, meaning used cars are quickly
01:03losing their place as affordable alternatives.
01:07As demand for new cars goes down people are keeping cars longer because there's a
01:13shortage of used cars right now. Prices are being pushed up significantly. As I
01:21mentioned earlier people are keeping their cars longer, they're keeping them fixed up,
01:27they're driving them longer and longer and longer, and the trade-in availability is just not there.
01:36Average transaction prices for three-year-old used vehicles have risen steadily,
01:41with growth especially obvious in the second quarter after Trump announced the sweeping
01:46duties on imports including cars. The best I would really say just look at cars look at the news but
01:52more so more so if you like a car particularly right get it as soon as you can I would say.
02:02A used car salesman would always say that but at this particular time many would be inclined to listen.
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