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Oct 8, 2008 7:03 pm US/Eastern
Local Car Dealers See Massive Decrease In Sales
Financial Crisis Make Getting Financing Much More Difficult
QUEENS (CBS) ―
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The financial crisis is making it more difficult for potential car buyers to get financing. (file)
CBS
The economy has hit car dealers in a way that long-time salesmen have never seen. Potential car buyers are having trouble getting financing, and September sales were the worst in 15 years.
Car buyer Cesar Fonseca and his cousin are at Major World in Queens looking at a car. On a beautiful day, they were among the only customers on this vast lot. "Every day in the last couple of months we're facing basically banks going out of business; banks requiring more money down; customers are just very confused, in a way, of 'do I buy today or do I buy tomorrow'?" said Major Auto Group member Chris Orsaris.
Dealers are caught in the middle of the economic squeeze triangle formed by the manufacturers, banks and cash-strapped customers. "There hasn't been a week that went by in the past month that I haven't had one of the banks that we do business with fold," Orsaris said.
Customers are being asked now to put at least $1000 more down than they were just three months ago. Not surprisingly, car sales in September were down a whopping 26.6%. Kelli Grant from Smart Money Magazine said, "It's really tough, you need better credit than you would to get a mortgage."
Fonseca thinks what he's saved will pull him through. "It's a little bit difficult now to get a loan. I don't know, just because I save my money, I believe I can get a loan."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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