November Car Sales Could Hit Pace Not Seen Since 2008

[Danke]

And on the demand side, people finally bought into the idea that you should "always buy a used car." Doesn't make sense to buy a used car with 50k miles when a new one with 0 miles costs $2,000 more.

Where do you shop?

I have a hand full of vehicles. They operate well. Two run like they are new. But there is no way I can sell them for anything close to a brand new vehicle.

[KingNothing]

cash for clunkers.

What an amazing hand-out that was to the auto industry on behalf of the poor and middle class!

[devil21]

(can't read the article since I refuse to give WSJ a dime)

Sub-prime auto lending is back in business so Im not surprised there's an uptick in car sales.

Repeating the same mistakes always yields different results. /sarc


Does the article differentiate between sales figures to the end user or is it based on a widely used method of calculating "sales" by only measuring how many cars the manufacturers ship to the dealers? Channel stuffing has been ongoing so the stat could be misleading without knowing which measure the "sales" figures come from.

[RockEnds]

Some folks may be way too cool for this, but if you're into old cars and looking for a real collectible, the Batmobile is for sale:

http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/29/auto...obile-auction/

Sweet.

[thoughtomator]

Amazing how many cars you can sell if you finance it all and can offload the defaulted loans to the taxpayer.

[Zippyjuan]

I was going to ask "which Batmobile" since there have been several but I see it is the actual original one from the TV series.

[MoneyWhereMyMouthIs2]

There is no difference. The sentiment is the same. Basically, you started a fight and didn't like where it ended up, so now the other person is at fault. Grow up, you troll.

She's not a troll. Maybe she slammed you harder than needed, but that's not trolling.

"A 2011 belt is probably every bit as good as your 1997 chain. Nothing wrong with those cars, but materials technology has come a long way since 97."

timing belts have to be changed at 75-125,000 miles , i would add the 240sx has a adjustable dist , rear wheel drive , easy to work on , mine weighs 2800# , 170hp , sun roof , auto , leather , all for about $5,000, not $30,000 .

also many new cars have vin specific ecm/ecu ( mine doesn't , 100$ on ebay ) , to flash a ecm on new models is $300-700 , new one about $1,800.

i think car mfr now days are making cars that cost so much to fix at $100/hr that people just kick them under the bus and buy a new car.

I will agree that manufacturers could be focused on ease of production. I will agree that manufacturers may not care about ease of repairs if they expect to be the people repairing them. It is short-sighted, but possibly true in either case. That doesn't change the statement I made regarding material engineering.

I've rebuilt more than one motor, more than one transmission, and also worked in an auto factory. I'm not just talking shit I know nothing about. Your chain will need replacement at some point. Your particular car may have been well built from the beginning.

If you made a good purchase on a car, that doesn't refute any of the points I made. If it does, it's not clear to me.

[MozoVote]

I'm leaning towards buying new in 2014, just before the new CAFE rules begin to bite. I don't want to be part of the public guinea pigs, that beta test new technologies. Cars in the late 70s and early 80s were so pitiful when the manufacturers were trying to figure out how to cope as CAFE was first rolled out.

I'm OK with buying new since it is truly YOUR car and YOU control how it's maintained through it's life cycle. I got 10 years on my previous purchase, 12 on the current one. (I'm sure the manufacturers and the tax men would prefer I do it more often, naturally. )

[NorfolkPCSolutions]

[LibertyEagle]

Buying old muscle cars is what middle aged people do to recapture their youth. It's just silly.

I got my new G37 at an excellent price and would NEVER even consider trading it for an old corvette, mustang, camero, etc. I can go 0-60 in just over 4-seconds while sitting on heated seats in a car that gets 26MPG on a highway, listening to MP3s and a navigation system, experiencing a comfortable ride and being surrounded by airbags. There is literally no reason to prefer old cars, other than style and vanity. They're inferior to new cars the same way almost all old technology is inferior to new technology.

Indeed and they include the tracker chip for free. Enjoy.