Auto sales worldwide are expected to plummet to the lowest they have been in over 15 years. Is this what the new car industry has to look forward to? The weak economy, the record high fuel prices and the rising cost of these new vehicles means that the seaports are going to stay piled up with thousands of new foreign and domestic cars. This surplus means that, at the moment, it’s a buyers market for new cars and really great deals are on offer from the manufacturer down to the car dealerships everywhere. The states of Texas and California are also trying to sweeten some of these deals by offering incentives to entice their citizens to trade in their not so emissions efficient older cars and thus boost sales of new cars.
This is putting a questionable twist to the whole used car market in both Texas and California. It is highly doubtful that this incentive plan will show a significant change to either of the causes, the lowering of the emissions levels state wise and give the new car market the boost that it so desperately needs.
Let’s look at this plan from the pre-owned car market point of view. These incentive programs are not limitless; they are financially capped at $50 million in Texas and $45 million in California with the owners of drive-able 10 year or older cars receiving an allowance of $3500 and $1500 respectively. That could mean the replacement of roughly 50,000 older less efficient and more heavily polluting cars combined off the roads in Texas and California.
Question is, what is to stop these 50,000 cars, that have already or are soon going to fail the emissions testing levels, to be patched up and thrown back into the used cars in Texas and the used cars in California market?
In these times of the troubled economy that the US is experiencing at the moment, many of these older but still driveable pre-owned cars are the only hope for cash-strapped buyers that have to go farther afield to find work, etc. Another point – the whole pre-owned cars market prices would rise in both states. The cheap and affordable older used car will become a thing of the past in both Texas and California. Customers might have to look out-of-state for that older used vehicle and pay the extra ’switching-over’ fee.
What do you think?
Article sponsored by RobbiesCarLot.com – Pre-Owned Cars for Sale, Used Cars For Sale
