All The Stimulus Garbage Is Just To Delay The Inevitable
Car dealers fight slow sales after end of Clunkers
"YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP, Mich. — As Gene Butman Ford opened its doors Saturday, salesmen outnumbered the shoppers looking at a depleted stock of cars and trucks, and it didn't appear that many customers were ready to buy.
Like many dealers across the country, the dealership in Ypsilanti Township, Mich., west of Detroit, is suffering from a Cash for Clunkers hangover, and Sales Manager Paul Grahl isn't sure when it will end.
"We're getting some traffic, but my business is a long way from healthy," said the longtime salesman. "We suspect it's going to be 90 days before we get back to any kind of normalcy."
The clunkers program lured hundreds of thousands of people to dealers in July and August with government rebates of up to $4,500 to trade in older, inefficient vehicles for newer, more fuel-efficient ones.
While most dealers are grateful for the boost, they're paying for it now with fewer customers. The government rebates drew people into the market who otherwise would have kept driving their clunkers due to uncertainty over the sputtering economy. Those customers might have made their purchases later in the year.
"It was good while it lasted," said Phil Warren, sales manager at Toyota Direct in Columbus, Ohio."
"YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP, Mich. — As Gene Butman Ford opened its doors Saturday, salesmen outnumbered the shoppers looking at a depleted stock of cars and trucks, and it didn't appear that many customers were ready to buy.
Like many dealers across the country, the dealership in Ypsilanti Township, Mich., west of Detroit, is suffering from a Cash for Clunkers hangover, and Sales Manager Paul Grahl isn't sure when it will end.
"We're getting some traffic, but my business is a long way from healthy," said the longtime salesman. "We suspect it's going to be 90 days before we get back to any kind of normalcy."
The clunkers program lured hundreds of thousands of people to dealers in July and August with government rebates of up to $4,500 to trade in older, inefficient vehicles for newer, more fuel-efficient ones.
While most dealers are grateful for the boost, they're paying for it now with fewer customers. The government rebates drew people into the market who otherwise would have kept driving their clunkers due to uncertainty over the sputtering economy. Those customers might have made their purchases later in the year.
"It was good while it lasted," said Phil Warren, sales manager at Toyota Direct in Columbus, Ohio."
posted by nolocontendere at 12:11 PM
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