There will always be those that can not afford a new car, that
will be there to buy up all of the used cars.


mike hunt



John Ockerbloom wrote:
>
> In article >, > wrote:
> >GMs problem is primarily a PR problem and the survey backs that
> >up. What they were doing ten to five years ago is hurting them
> >today. They need only convince todays buyers, of what we in the
> >industry already know, that the vehicle they and Ford are
> >building TODAY are among the finest available on the market
>
> Er, I've been hearing them say that for nearly 25 years now. "Really,
> the cars we build *now* are much better!" You can only do that so long
> before people stop listening. (As for me, I'll start paying attention
> when the Consumer Reports long-term reliability survey figures for Ford
> and GM consistently stay up with the best Japanese manufacturers. Those
> manufacturers were still well ahead of them on that measure, at last check.)
>
> >New vehicle buyers in the US replace their vehicle with another
> >new vehicle in three to four years. The majority of those that
> >roam the NG are USED vehicle buyer, not NEW vehicle buyer, their
> >opinion of the used vehicle they bought does not mean a hill of
> >beans to todays new vehicle buyers, in any event.
>
> What are those frequent new car buyers going to do with the cars they
> replace? Unless they want to collect them on their lawn or keep expanding
> their garages, they're going to want to sell them or trade them in. And
> what will they be able to get for them? That depends on how much those
> used vehicle buyers are willing to pay. Which means that new-car buyers
> *should* care about how fast their cars depreciate (which is quite fast
> for many GM and Ford models), if they care about keeping their overall
> auto expenses down.
>
> You might as well spend a little more up front for a better-built, more
> reliable car that isn't going to lose its value as fast, whether you're
> planning to resell it in a few years or keep it until the wheels fall off.
>
> (Or, if you think that GM and Ford have had an undeservedly bad rep, then
> the smart move to save money is buy one of their cars at the 3-4 year mark
> for cheap. If they really are reliable, you should then be able to
> keep them for many more years, and save big bucks. But as for us,
> we've been happy with our now-16-year-old Toyota, and will probably get
> something fairly similar when it's time to replace it.)
>
> John Mark Ockerbloom
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