We’ve been telling you for the past year about the unprecedented numbers being raked in for the cost of a used car, but people are still buying new cars, and the prices are jaw-dropping if you haven’t priced out a new car lately.
The average price of a new car is around $45,800.
In Texas we buy trucks, and demand is still out-stripping supply. “The manufacturers are starting to uptick their production and dealerships are getting more and more inventory on their lots, and we’re hoping by the next six months to a year we’re going to stabilize to where demand is leveled out a bit,” says RoShelle Salinas, Executive Vice President of the Houston Auto Dealers Association. In Texas sales of cars are down 30% November of 2021 relative to November of 2020, and truck sales are down .7%.
The microchip shortage is driving inventory and inventory is the driving factor in prices, pent up demand going in to the third year of Covid showing up in dealers’ showrooms as buyers return to find sticker shock taking on a whole new meaning. If you are looking for a new vehicle and want to be “wowed,” check out the Houston Auto Show, going on through Sunday at NRG Center. “We have more than 500 vehicles from 30 different brands,” says Salinas.
The average cost for a new truck is in the neighborhood of $51,600, compared to last year’s average of $45,800. That’s a 14% year to year increase.
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