I wish I could say that October has brought with it some relief from what continues to be a very dull wholesale market. There really is no reason for things to change, and they haven’t. The simple truth is that there are more cars available than the market can absorb right now, and that results in a very selective market where only the unusual vehicle attracts players and the everyday variety of vehicle goes begging. The auctions are experiencing a very low percentage of vehicles sold, among the worst in many years I am told. Special financing and rebates continue to draw many former used vehicle buyers into the new vehicle fold and off-lease vehicles continue to flood the market. There are some real good buys out there, but few of us have the nerve or the need to do anything but replace sold inventory, and there isn’t a lot of that to drive the market.

There are times of year when no matter how low the book is, everyone wants to buy under book. Usually that mood is reserved for parts of November and December. This year it has begun in October and there doesn’t appear to be any reason for things to change much until we get to what we all hope will be a healthy Spring market. Although the book has already dropped substantially over the past couple of months and we feel than many vehicles are well worth the money, getting someone to pay book or over is difficult even if you have a vehicle that is in very good condition but is common in terms of make, model, equipment, and mileage. So be careful out there.

A special word about Daewoo: Because of the uncertainty surrounding General Motors’ refusal to include North American dealers as part of their purchase of Daewoo, there are questions about parts availability and warranty coverage for the vehicles that are on the road. This has, of course, had much affect on the value of those cars in the marketplace. Although they have dropped significantly in the book as the public has become more aware of the problem, they are very unpredictable and we would certainly advise caution in dealing with them. They are good vehicles and great buys if you have confidence that GM will find a way to make parts available and honor those 6 year and 60,000 mile warranties.