I’m going to mix it up a little for today’s installment of The Morning Dump, as I actually did a little in-person, human reporting, with a pen and a notebook and everything. Memorial Day draws nigh, and with it comes big car sales. So I went to a car dealership and talked to some salespeople to bring you the latest information.

I’ve also got some data from Edmunds showing which dealers are sitting on 2023 models and, based on their data, how much dealers of various brands have lowered their prices. These are where the best deals are likely to be had, if not the best cars.

What if you’re ready to get rid of your old car? I had my beloved Subaru appraised and learned a little bit about that process so you can make an informed judgment.

Dealerships, like any other business, are subject to being swayed by buzzwords. What are the big buzzwords in the dealership world right now? The first one won’t surprise you. And, finally, Ford is claiming that it’s both making more vehicles in the United States and exporting more U.S.-built vehicles than anyone else.

Let’s Dump.

Why You Should Think About Buying A New Car This Weekend

If you were on the fence about buying a car, there’s a reasonable argument to be made that maybe this weekend is the time to do it.

“The time is now,” Delimar Diaz, a consultant for White Plains Honda in New York told me on my visit to her showroom yesterday. “To be honest, we are getting a lot of inventory and we want to push it out.”

After almost three years of supply constraint, factories are back at full speed and dealers can finally play a volume game as opposed to trying to squeeze as much profit out of the car. Diaz doesn’t remember those days, however, as she only started selling cars three months ago.

With a wide smile and a warm demeanor, Diaz managed to snag the top-seller trophy in just her 2nd month and she’s working on her third. Her approach?

“Connecting with people and working for the people. We all want to make a sale, but you have to make it work for [the customer]” Diaz said.

This showroom is unique in that the dealership has both a matte black Civic Type-R, which is cool, and a matte black Honda Accord, which was a bit of a surprise.

When I asked Diaz if she was feeling any heat from the other salespeople after doing so well so fast she laughed.

“It’s a friendly competition, but sometimes it can be unfriendly…”

How unfriendly?

“…60% unfriendly.”

In spite of the competitive nature of the business, Diaz was happy to introduce me to Paul Kim, another consultant who happened to sell the dealership’s first EV Prologue. I was curious about the buyer, and Kim explained that the customer was trying out all EVs from as many brands as he could and ultimately decided on the Honda due to its functionality, driving dynamics, and the big screen.

Honda dealers have it easy according to Edmunds, which put out a list of the brands with the most 2023 Model Year vehicles sticking around:

Right at the bottom is Honda, with just 0.6% of 2023MY vehicles on lots, which I assume are all Ridgelines. Because of this, the average discount is just $786 for those vehicles. Toyota and Subaru are also both down there at the bottom, although Subaru is showing a slightly higher average discount of $1,450.

At the other extreme is Dodge and Chrysler, which are both sitting on a ton of old inventory. Dodge currently is the worst, with more than half of the inventory share on dealer lots being 2023MY vehicles, which means discounting of over $6,753. These numbers are merely the listed price versus the MSRP, so more discounts can definitely be expected.

“Supply chain disruptions and limited inventory left little to be excited about in summer holiday car shopping the past few years, but discounts on outgoing model year vehicles this Memorial Day weekend are a bright spot for consumers in an otherwise challenging market,” said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds’ head of insights. “For dealers and automakers, the trend serves as a moment of caution surrounding the old habits of overproduction and inventory glut. It’s also a reminder that the expensive vehicles now being discounted were strong sellers one to two years ago, showing just how significant high interest rates are in today’s market.”

Five of the top seven are Stellantis brands, which is not a surprise. I’m not sure if you want a Dodge Hornet, but now is the time to get a deal on a Hornet.

How Much Do You Think My Subaru Is Worth?

As you’re all aware, I’m not super pleased with my 2016 Subaru Forester, and I’m excited to get rid of it. Part of this exercise was to get my old Subaru appraised as I prepare to potentially offload it for something else. With interest rates high, anything I can do to roll that into my purchase helps with lowering my monthly payment.

I arrived early to White Plains Honda for my appraisal and, of course, they sent me first to the salesfloor to see if I wanted to buy anything. Having finally sussed out that I wasn’t buying anything today, they finally turfed me to the used car department where I met Ivan Rados, the dealership’s longtime Sales Manager, who appraised my car.

Having never done this, I was expecting it to take a while, to answer questions about the missing wheel stud, and list all the maintenance I’d done to keep it in tip-top shape. Nope. He walked around, checked the paint and wheels, turned it on, and snapped a photo of the VIN. It took maybe three minutes, tops.

We sat at his desk and he popped the VIN into vAuto, which is the dealership management software arm of Cox Automotive. Friendly and experienced, Rados was happy to show me the screen and the comparable vehicles.

“I’ll give you $10,500 or it,” he offered, explaining that he could probably sell the car for $14,000 after putting in approximately $2,000 to paint the scuff on the bumper, redo the brakes, and flush and replace all the fluids. The brakes are relatively new, but it doesn’t matter.

“Safety is too important. If I sell the car and something happens, it doesn’t matter that you said you did whatever to the car, it’s not worth it, so we’ll do it ourselves,” he explained.

Rados is cheerful and matter-of-fact, pointing out other dealerships listing the same car, including one listed for way more than the other ones. “It’s been for sale for 96 days, it’s going to be 196 days at that price.”

I was ready to leave when Rados, ever the businessman, asked: “What do you want for it.”

I explained that Carvana offered $11,400 and he said “Ok, I’ll give you $11,400.”

Though I’m not quite ready to sell the Subaru juuuust yet, I shook his hand and promised him the first shot at it. Rados admits I could get more on the private market, but I don’t have the time or energy to deal with tire-kickers or a million “is it still for sale” messages.

The lesson here is that, at least at dealerships, this isn’t a huge margin business. Rados is trying to make $1,000 or maybe a little more on these cars, so if you see what your car is selling for at other dealerships you can work your way backward to a price.

There are also tax benefits to trading in your car at a dealership, as in many states (including New York) you can reduce the trade-in price from your total taxable amount.

And, finally, since this is often a volume business, remember that the first price isn’t always the final price.

Yes, Dealerships Are Talking About AI

There’s a fun post over at Cox Automotive about dealership business buzzwords, and it’s amusing to see that all businesses are thinking about the same thing. Specifically, artificial intelligence:

Historically linked to autonomous vehicle systems, AI is streamlining the entire automotive marketplace today. AI leads to access to more data, enabling dealers to get the right car in front of the right buyer at the right time. Dealers can use AI data to serve personalized messaging and can also help with retargeting as it continues to drive brand awareness and profits.

The other buzzwords are “CDP” (Customer Data Platform) and “Hybrid Retailing,” if you were curious. CDPs just go to show that there’s a SaaS tool for everything.

“Hybrid Retailing” is a little more interesting as all retailers, from Amazon to fast food companies, are reconsidering how they blend online sales with in-person sales. For dealers, it’s clear that more people are comfortable doing the vast majority of the buying of a car online, but inevitably want to actually see and touch a thing before they spend tens of thousands of dollars on it.

Ford: Look At How American We Are

What makes a car American? Does it come from an American brand? Is it built in America? Does it have the most American-sourced parts? Based on a mix of parts sourcing and production, Cars.com thinks the most American cars are Teslas, which makes sense, followed primarily by Japanese automakers with robust American production.

This also makes sense as, in order to access the market, various administrations (especially Ronald Reagan) leaned heavily into Japanese carmakers to make cars here and to use U.S.-made parts, which then led to major Japanese suppliers opening up plants here.

How does Ford do on the list? The automaker is somewhere in the middle, with the Lincoln Corsair taking the 16th spot.

Nevertheless, Ford is out this week pushing data from S&P Global Mobility that shows no one is making more cars in the United States than the blue oval brand. According to the data, Ford is the biggest employer of American autoworkers, the biggest producer of cars in America (80% of Ford’s vehicles are made in America), and also the biggest exporter of American-made cars (260,000 last year).

“Ford is a uniquely American company,” said Andrew Frick, Ford Blue president. “We are proud to serve our customers with vehicles that embody the best of American innovation and ingenuity.”

I’m mostly sharing this story this morning because I really like the above graphic that shows all the places where Ford is exporting its vehicles. Curiously, Ford is shipping American cars to Russia according to this. I gotta ask Ford about that one.

What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD

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I played an ultimate frisbee game last night on a team that was about 50% college students or recent college grads and it was exhausting. I felt great and a little old. So now I’m going to make some of you feel old by pointing out that the self-titled Violent Femmes album is exactly as old as I am, which is a hair over 40. These guys were like 18 when this album came out, btw.

The Big Question

When was the last time you sold a car. How’d you do it? Was it a huge pain?