Page 50 - BusinessWest December 8, 2021

Ben Sullivan says there has been some improvement on the inventory front, but it might be two more years before dealers see something close to pre- pandemic levels.
Coping
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consumers have responded to the situation mostly with patience and understanding, and, overall, dealers are making the best of a bad situation that could actually be worse. Much worse.
“We’re just coming through the sec- ond year of the most unprecedented time that the industry has ever faced — and the forecasts for what was going to happen to this industry were far more dire,” said Ben Sullivan, chief operat- ing officer at Balise Motor Sales. “And we’ve actually fared pretty well, and the customers have been accommodating because they can understand; they see
the news. Somehow, we’re making it through, and a lot of customers have no issues with doing it this way.”
By ‘this way,’ he meant that, instead of driving onto a lot and choosing from among the dozens of options of the model they want, they’re either order- ing what they want and waiting for it arrive in a few weeks (or a few months, as the case may be) or buying some- thing they know is on a truck and on its way — even if it might not be exactly what they want.
Carla Cosenzi, president of Tom- myCar Auto Group, agreed, noting that her family of dealerships has an appro- priately named program that speaks to all this, called Reserve Your Ride.
“People can pick out their vehicle and order it or pick a car out of pipe- line,” she said, adding that, while there may be fewer cars to actually choose from on the lots, people can still buy cars, and they are.
Sometimes, because of the inven- tory issues, it may not be a new car, she went on, adding that, in this environ- ment, some are waiting patiently for the new cars to roll in, while others are opting for used cars, and still others, those with leases that are expiring, are opting to buy those vehicles.
“We’re just coming through the second year of the most unprecedented time that the industry
has ever faced — and the forecasts for what was going to happen to this industry were far more dire.”
And this is how it will be for the foreseeable future, said those we spoke with, all of whom noted that COVID-19 and its many impacts have made the future — even the immediate future — hard to predict.
As for the present, it’s December, a month that is generally a good one for dealers, and for many reasons, ranging from holiday-gift purchases (especially luxury models) to businesses buying new vehicles before year’s end for tax purposes.
“This is a time of year when peo- ple want something new — new cell phones, a new car, a new used car, a new espresso machine,” said Sullivan, adding that this desire for new coin- cides with a mostly healthy economy, lower unemployment rates, and, over- all, higher levels of confidence. “And when people feel confident, they wind up making large purchases because they are not afraid.”
They may not be afraid, but there will certainly be fewer cars to buy, and
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