So, You Are Shopping For A Car At A Terrible Time. Here’s What To Keep In Mind

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Vehicles sit in a nearly empty lot at a car dealership in Richmond, Calif., on July 1. The global semiconductor shortage has hobbled auto production worldwide, making it difficult to find a car to buy.

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Business
Auto Production Disrupted By Chip Shortages: A Dream Car May Be Hard To Find

Automakers are struggling with persistent shortages of essential parts — especially semiconductors, which are embedded throughout vehicles these days and whose production hasn’t kept up with the roaring demand for vehicles.

The result is a severe car shortage: Auto-sales site CarGurus reports inventory levels are down 64% over last year. And that has driven average prices up by thousands of dollars in just a few months.

But it is still possible to buy a vehicle — as long as you’re willing to make some compromises.

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President Biden holds a chip during remarks before signing an executive order on the economy on Feb. 24. The Biden administration is taking steps to try to improve the supply of semiconductors in the United States.

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Doug Mills/Pool via Getty Images

The Coronavirus Crisis
A Pandemic Sticker Shock: Used-Car Prices Are Through The Roof

But if you have a vehicle you’re trading in, you can use the tight market to your advantage and shop around for the best offer. Instead of haggling down on your purchase price, haggle up on your trade-in value, and you may be able to offset the sticker shock.

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A small assortment of unsold 2022 models sits outside a Mini dealership in Highlands Ranch, Colo., on Sept. 12. Being flexible and staying patient are among the things to keep in mind if you are shopping for a car.

David Zalubowski/AP

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David Zalubowski/AP

Ordering a vehicle is one way to cope with the current lack of options on dealer lots, and it could also have big implications for the future of U.S. auto sales.

Ford’s CEO recently said he’s «committed to switching toward an order-based system — and electric-automakers like Tesla and Rivian have built their business models around vehicle orders, with no dealerships involved at all.

Just pay up, if you can afford to

Of course, if you’re willing to pay significantly more than a car would typically cost, car shopping right now can be pretty easy.

«We are marking some of our vehicles up $5,000 over MSRP, Chismar, the Toyota salesperson, says, referring to the manufacturer’s suggested retail price. «That’s a hard pill to swallow. And people are doing it. It shocks me all the time.

«Pay more is not exactly a top-secret pro shopping tip, we know.

But some shoppers are flush with cash, thanks to foregone vacations, saved relief checks or a surprisingly valuable trade-in.

Others are just at the end of their rope — or as one exasperated shopper told NPR, «I was willing to spend the extra money because I was tired of shopping for cars.

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Two unsold 2021 Subaru SUVs sit in an otherwise empty storage lot at a Subaru dealership in Littleton, Colo., on Sept. 12. Ordering a car directly from an automaker can mean long waits, but doing so can be easier than finding a car you want at a dealer.

David Zalubowski/AP

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David Zalubowski/AP

Two unsold 2021 Subaru SUVs sit in an otherwise empty storage lot at a Subaru dealership in Littleton, Colo., on Sept. 12. Ordering a car directly from an automaker can mean long waits, but doing so can be easier than finding a car you want at a dealer.

David Zalubowski/AP

Can you travel? Look farther afield

Some shoppers are trawling the internet and calling up dealerships far from home to expand their options — ultimately driving hours or even hopping on a plane to buy the vehicle they want without forking over thousands extra.

Ian Scott-Fleming, who lives in Lubbock, Texas, was determined to get a plug-in hybrid, a vehicle that can run on pure electric power in addition to gasoline. But Texas dealerships said that not only did they have none in stock, but they wouldn’t even be able to get one for him. So he started calling dealerships that were farther and farther away.

Finally, he said with a chuckle, «I found a dealer in Massachusetts that actually believed me when I said that I would be willing to drive 2,000 miles to go to get a new car.

That kind of road trip is unusual, for sure. But many shoppers are driving an hour or more to find a (relative) bargain or a vehicle in short supply.

Finally, ask yourself: Do you have to buy a car now?

That’s a question lots of frustrated car shoppers are asking themselves.

Pedro Moncada and Stefanie Franc live in Salt Lake City with their 21-month-old son. They are hoping to have a second child, so this spring, they went looking for a bigger vehicle that could fit two car seats, unlike their current compact sedans.

They’d set what had seemed like a reasonable budget for a late-model used crossover. But they were shocked by the prices they were seeing — virtually as much as for a brand-new vehicle.

After months of searching, they found exactly one vehicle they liked in their price range.

But then, Franc says, «as we were driving around, we noticed it kind of smelled strange and there was, like, mud in the crevices. It was a branded title — a vehicle that had been totaled in a hurricane, then repaired, and would be sold without a warranty.

Their only viable option was off the table.

«And that’s when we kind of realized, maybe we should put a little timeout in the planning to expand our family for now, Moncada says.

Most people aren’t putting off pregnancies because of the terrible car market. But plenty of people are putting off car purchases: A survey from Kelley Blue Book found that nearly 50% of vehicle shoppers are delaying their purchases, prepared to wait for up to a year and hoping for the market to get back to something like normal.

Of course, nobody knows how long that will take. Lots will not stay this empty forever; the problem is, no one can predict exactly when things will get better either.