The Auto Market &YOU
Made in America...What does a buyer really get?
By: Charlie Grooters, Grand Rapids, MI.
Last week’s article, “The Auto Market & You,” on the front page of the Automotive section,
created quite a stir at Harold Zeigler in Grandville. According to Brad Dodge, General Sales Manager, “It was amazing to see how hungry people are for good news that they can validate
and that truly benefits them. The response to last week’s article generated more emails, phone
calls and showroom traffic in one day than we have seen for months.” Dodge continued, “Last
Monday, we sold 19 cars, had 48 logged phone calls, 40 logged visitors in the showroom, and
numerous emails about the article and the great buys going on in the market today. People may
be cautious today, but obviously will respond to a deal when they can easily understand it and know that it is real.” Maybe our government should take a page out of Harold Zeigler’s playbook – lay out the deal so everyone can easily understand it and then give them the option to decide
if that is the best deal for them and if now is the right time to act. This week, we wanted to explore what “made in America” really means for today’s consumers.
Scott Comar, General Manager at Zeigler, said that sometimes our kids’ questions are right on.
“My 12-year-old son and I were watching TV and the reporter was talking about jobs being lost
when companies do business overseas. He asked me why a company in the U.S. would make
things in another country so they could sell them here. I thought it was a very good question and
tried to explain it simply: If he made pencils in another country for 25 cents, and I made pencils
in the U.S. for 35 cents, and then another U.S. company sold them for 50 cents, that company
would make more money buying the pencils from him, the foreign company.” He understood and
surprised me with his next question: “But who is that company going to sell them to in the U.S. if
the people here aren’t working because they can be made cheaper somewhere else?”
According to Bob Seitz, New Car Manager, at Harold Zeigler, “We received a copy of the
140-page report that Chrysler prepared for the government and in it were some pretty great
points that most Americans probably don’t know.Chrysler is American owned and operated: 73%
of total sales are within the U.S., 61% of vehicle production is in the U.S., 74% of total employees
are in the U.S., 62% of all dealers are in the U.S., 100% of the profits STAY in the U.S.” In a time when we are experiencing some of the highest unemployment in history, isn’t this the kind of
company we need to support? We need companies to employ our citizens, so our citizens can afford to spend money on our products, which generate tax revenue for our states, which
in turn greatly contributes to the state budget, which then gets put back into the state and the local economy so the cycle can continue. Does “Made in America” mean quality? According
to Clark Lange, Harold Zeigler Service Manager,“in 2008 Chrysler had its lowest warranty
claim rate in history, with a 30% improvement over the prior year. Chrysler had fewer recalls in
2008 than any other manufacturer as measured by NHTSA.” Facts from the Chrysler written proposal to the federal government confirm that and more: In the past 7 years, Chrysler has improved its manufacturing productivity by 32% to equalling Toyota, and since August of 2007, Chrysler has invested $500 million into product enhancements, engineering improvements, interior quality, fit and finish and driving performance. If you listen to the government, American car companies don’t even build the cars that people want?According to
Scott Hayes, from Chrysler Motors, all you have to dois look at a few of our awards to
answer that question. “The all-new Dodge Ram has picked up 12 key awards since its
introduction and was just recently chosen by Car and Driver as the best full-size pick-up
in a head-to-head comparison with the competition. The Chrysler 300C is the most awarded car in automotive history, the Chrysler mini-van is celebrating its 25th anniversary and just won
its eighth consecutive R.L. Polk Owner Loyalty Award and 12th win in MotorWeek’s Drivers’
Choice Awards. The Dodge Challenger won seven awards this year, Kelly Blue Book honored
the Jeep Wrangler with the highest resale value among all SUVs and Jeep Grand Cherokee
owners are the most loyal in the mid-size SUV category, earning the R.L. Polk Loyalty award.
How about fuel efficiency and safety? For the 2009 model year, 73% of Chrysler’s vehicles
get improved fuel economy compared to 2008 models and 88% achieved five-star frontal crash
ratings with 86% achieving the highest rating for side-impact. Why do all the double digit sales declines in year-over-year sales have Chrysler losing the most sales? Comar clarifies, “There is always more to the story than the headlines provide; Chrysler retail sales are down like everyone else, but what you don’t hear is the intentional reduction of fleet sales. Generally the number you hear reported on TV includes all sales, retail and fleet, and as Chrysler has reduced the fleet sales, the decline sounds much worse than it is.” Comar adds, “Unfortunately, the media tells us what our opinion should be, even when the facts are incomplete. Our recommendation is if you are in the market for a car, get out and really compare, then form your own opinion. Most
people don’t remember when Toyota first came to the U.S., they would rust out. They eventually corrected that problem and made a good car. Well, today’s American-made cars are far better than in the past, too.” The final thought from this writer, “I love the
team at Harold Zeigler in Grandville and would like to see everyone buy their car from them.
But, for the few that might not, I still urge them to get out and look at any American-made car,
not just ones assembled here, and compare to whatever you perceive as the highest quality car
on the market. Chances are you will find no difference in quality, better warranties, and far better savings on an American-made car, especially a Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep from Harold Zeigler in Grandville.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
The Auto Market and You
The Auto Market & YOU
As auto manufactures prepare to go back to the government are buyers the BIG winners?
By: Charlie Grooters, Grand Rapids, MI
Every month for years, car manufacturers and dealers have advertised if you don’t buy now,
you will miss the biggest savings in history. For people who were in the market to buy a new vehicle, those savings and deep discounts were a big reason why they chose to buy when they did and what they did. Today, the national media makes it sound like absolutely no one is coming into dealer showrooms to buy a new car. All we tend to report and hear about the unfortunate people who have lost jobs and make up the 10 to 18% unemployment in many areas. For those people, now is definitely a time to be conservative and save. But, should we really believe that the other 80% to 90% of the people, while they may be conserving, are completely out of the retail market and not spending money? Have you tried going out to eat on a Friday or Saturday night in West Michigan?Plan on an hour plus wait. Obviously people are out spending money, but what about big ticket items like cars? According to Brad Dodge, General Sales Manager at Harold Zeigler Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Grandville, “general floor traffic is certainly less than it was a year ago. However, yearly sales are off less than five percent. Almost every customer
that comes into the showroom to look at cars or that is having their car serviced comments
on how many people are here looking at cars. The perception the media has given them is that we have dust mites in the showroom not customers, but the reality is that during the week we are talking to an average of 15 customers plus receiving 10 sales calls and at least a dozen Internet leads; on the weekend we are seeing 35 to 50 customers.” Most dealers I spoke with aren’t seeing the kind of traffic that Dodge and his team at Harold Zeigler in Grandville are, but still are reporting that the people who do come in are more serious buyers. Dodge agreed. “The people that are coming in have made it through all the negativity in the media and have made the decision that if the deal is right they feel comfortable buying a new or pre-owned vehicle now,” he said. “A lot of our customers come in hoping to keep their payments the same and are surprised with all the incentives that they are actually lowering their payment. We
have had a lot of people that aren’t just buying one car, but once they see the deal, decide to replace two cars.”
Another rampant rumor is that loans just aren’t available, and if you can get a loan you
have to have perfect credit. According to Ross Todd, Finance Manager at Zeigler, “The banks are
certainly tighter than they were a year ago, but we are still getting loans for 95% of the customers that want to buy a car.” Anyone over the age of 30 remembers when you had to put down 20% and have good credit to buy a house or a car. At some point all that changed according
to Todd, “Loans went from short term with down payment, to longer term with down payment, to leasing with zero down and crazy low payments, to long term loans with zero down, and then to long term with zero down plus adding a bunch of negative equity from the previous car.,” he said. Not only was this happening on cars, but the banks did the same thing for people on homes. Unfortunately,many people assumed they could afford whatever the bank would approve for them. Not only did the days of putting money down disappear, but so did the basic requirement of needing good credit to get a loan. Nature burns a forest and leaves it black when the undergrowth gets to thick, but then it grows back richer and better than before. It seems like we are seeing the same things happen with the credit markets. Too many bad loans were
made, the banks are paying the price, but good lending will come back with the lessons learned
from these mistakes.
Scott Comar, General Manager/Vice President Harold Zeiglers in Grandville, believes we
are in the ultimate buyer’s market and that right now is the perfect time for people to take advantage of the perfect storm of incentives. “Normally when you see incentives increase, other incentives decrease, but right now every pipeline is open from Chrysler for incentives,” he
said. Comar believes this is because Chrysler has a point to prove before going back in front of Congress. “When Cerberus bought Chrysler two years ago, they immediately started an overhaul of the company and were well ahead of schedule before the bottom fell out of lending, gas prices soared, consumer confidence fell, and the big 3 execs were bashed in front of Congress,”
he said. “The reality is they wouldn’t have been asking for a loan if the entire economy didn’t tank. What nobody has heard is that Chrysler already had a complete written plan when they first visited Congress; they went with a plan, not for a handout. The piece the
government asked for that wasn’t in that original plan were union concessions.”
Since the public bashing of the big 3 execs in Congress, we have now seen major import manufacturers report double digit sales declines, losses and shut downs of plants. It would be wrong to say that the domestic manufactures have not made plenty of mistakes, but what about the once invincible imports that are dealing with recalls and massive losses?
So are the buyers really BIG winners today?According to Comar, you should look at what you
are getting for your money. “It’s not just about the deal, it is what you get for your money,” he said. “Chrysler had less than half as many recalls in 2008 than Toyota did – so I think people should be confident that they are getting a quality vehicle when they buy a Chrysler product.” Comar goes on to clarify what is available right now. “When you look at the incentives you get today every pipeline is wide open,” he said. You don’t have to choose what you get,
you get them all:
1. Employee Pricing (typical savings from retail of $3,500 - $5,000)
2. Factory Rebate (ranging from $1,000 -$4,000)
3. Regional Bonus cash (up to $1,000)
4. Chrysler Financial bonus cash ($1,000 on most vehicles)
5. 0% Financing for 48 months (additional savings vs. standard rates averages $4,000)
6. Owner loyalty (up to an additional $2,000 for current Chrysler owners)
7. Lease loyalty (another $750 for current Chrysler lease customers)
8. Plus congress just passed tax deductions for buying a new car
Add them all up and in February of the 2009 you are saving $8,000 to $15,000 off a 2009
model plus you get a lifetime warranty. Comar believes that “Because all manufacturers have
drastically cut production for the remainder of the year, when supplies come back into line with today’s demand, that will allow the manufacturers to step back from these over inflated incentives and start to keep some of their profits again.” Obviously, it is impossible to predict what will happen in the future, but this reporter and the folks at Harold Zeigler in Grandville are convinced the deals available right now are truly the“Deal of a Lifetime”
As auto manufactures prepare to go back to the government are buyers the BIG winners?
By: Charlie Grooters, Grand Rapids, MI
Every month for years, car manufacturers and dealers have advertised if you don’t buy now,
you will miss the biggest savings in history. For people who were in the market to buy a new vehicle, those savings and deep discounts were a big reason why they chose to buy when they did and what they did. Today, the national media makes it sound like absolutely no one is coming into dealer showrooms to buy a new car. All we tend to report and hear about the unfortunate people who have lost jobs and make up the 10 to 18% unemployment in many areas. For those people, now is definitely a time to be conservative and save. But, should we really believe that the other 80% to 90% of the people, while they may be conserving, are completely out of the retail market and not spending money? Have you tried going out to eat on a Friday or Saturday night in West Michigan?Plan on an hour plus wait. Obviously people are out spending money, but what about big ticket items like cars? According to Brad Dodge, General Sales Manager at Harold Zeigler Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Grandville, “general floor traffic is certainly less than it was a year ago. However, yearly sales are off less than five percent. Almost every customer
that comes into the showroom to look at cars or that is having their car serviced comments
on how many people are here looking at cars. The perception the media has given them is that we have dust mites in the showroom not customers, but the reality is that during the week we are talking to an average of 15 customers plus receiving 10 sales calls and at least a dozen Internet leads; on the weekend we are seeing 35 to 50 customers.” Most dealers I spoke with aren’t seeing the kind of traffic that Dodge and his team at Harold Zeigler in Grandville are, but still are reporting that the people who do come in are more serious buyers. Dodge agreed. “The people that are coming in have made it through all the negativity in the media and have made the decision that if the deal is right they feel comfortable buying a new or pre-owned vehicle now,” he said. “A lot of our customers come in hoping to keep their payments the same and are surprised with all the incentives that they are actually lowering their payment. We
have had a lot of people that aren’t just buying one car, but once they see the deal, decide to replace two cars.”
Another rampant rumor is that loans just aren’t available, and if you can get a loan you
have to have perfect credit. According to Ross Todd, Finance Manager at Zeigler, “The banks are
certainly tighter than they were a year ago, but we are still getting loans for 95% of the customers that want to buy a car.” Anyone over the age of 30 remembers when you had to put down 20% and have good credit to buy a house or a car. At some point all that changed according
to Todd, “Loans went from short term with down payment, to longer term with down payment, to leasing with zero down and crazy low payments, to long term loans with zero down, and then to long term with zero down plus adding a bunch of negative equity from the previous car.,” he said. Not only was this happening on cars, but the banks did the same thing for people on homes. Unfortunately,many people assumed they could afford whatever the bank would approve for them. Not only did the days of putting money down disappear, but so did the basic requirement of needing good credit to get a loan. Nature burns a forest and leaves it black when the undergrowth gets to thick, but then it grows back richer and better than before. It seems like we are seeing the same things happen with the credit markets. Too many bad loans were
made, the banks are paying the price, but good lending will come back with the lessons learned
from these mistakes.
Scott Comar, General Manager/Vice President Harold Zeiglers in Grandville, believes we
are in the ultimate buyer’s market and that right now is the perfect time for people to take advantage of the perfect storm of incentives. “Normally when you see incentives increase, other incentives decrease, but right now every pipeline is open from Chrysler for incentives,” he
said. Comar believes this is because Chrysler has a point to prove before going back in front of Congress. “When Cerberus bought Chrysler two years ago, they immediately started an overhaul of the company and were well ahead of schedule before the bottom fell out of lending, gas prices soared, consumer confidence fell, and the big 3 execs were bashed in front of Congress,”
he said. “The reality is they wouldn’t have been asking for a loan if the entire economy didn’t tank. What nobody has heard is that Chrysler already had a complete written plan when they first visited Congress; they went with a plan, not for a handout. The piece the
government asked for that wasn’t in that original plan were union concessions.”
Since the public bashing of the big 3 execs in Congress, we have now seen major import manufacturers report double digit sales declines, losses and shut downs of plants. It would be wrong to say that the domestic manufactures have not made plenty of mistakes, but what about the once invincible imports that are dealing with recalls and massive losses?
So are the buyers really BIG winners today?According to Comar, you should look at what you
are getting for your money. “It’s not just about the deal, it is what you get for your money,” he said. “Chrysler had less than half as many recalls in 2008 than Toyota did – so I think people should be confident that they are getting a quality vehicle when they buy a Chrysler product.” Comar goes on to clarify what is available right now. “When you look at the incentives you get today every pipeline is wide open,” he said. You don’t have to choose what you get,
you get them all:
1. Employee Pricing (typical savings from retail of $3,500 - $5,000)
2. Factory Rebate (ranging from $1,000 -$4,000)
3. Regional Bonus cash (up to $1,000)
4. Chrysler Financial bonus cash ($1,000 on most vehicles)
5. 0% Financing for 48 months (additional savings vs. standard rates averages $4,000)
6. Owner loyalty (up to an additional $2,000 for current Chrysler owners)
7. Lease loyalty (another $750 for current Chrysler lease customers)
8. Plus congress just passed tax deductions for buying a new car
Add them all up and in February of the 2009 you are saving $8,000 to $15,000 off a 2009
model plus you get a lifetime warranty. Comar believes that “Because all manufacturers have
drastically cut production for the remainder of the year, when supplies come back into line with today’s demand, that will allow the manufacturers to step back from these over inflated incentives and start to keep some of their profits again.” Obviously, it is impossible to predict what will happen in the future, but this reporter and the folks at Harold Zeigler in Grandville are convinced the deals available right now are truly the“Deal of a Lifetime”
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Grand Rapids Auto show
Chrysler's new electric car was one of the highlights of the Grand Rapids Auto show. The car was like a super model everyone who walked by stopped, stared and wanted their photo next to it. As a person who logs 3000 miles a month on my car, I am looking forward to seeing this car on the showroom floor.
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