CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WKBW) — 2020 has been a strange year for car sales, and Charlie Keller at Keller Chevrolet says that is partially due to the lack of new vehicles.
"We had basically three months where they didn't make a single automobile," Keller said.
According to the Niagara Frontier Auto Dealers Association, that delay in new vehicles meant a new opportunity for used ones.
"It created a more vibrant used car market because there were no new cars," Paul Stasiak, President of the Niagara Frontier Auto Dealers Association said.
Dealerships like Keller have had to get creative to get their inventory up, so they have been buying out leases to get customers in new cars.
It's created a buyers and sellers market because if you're selling a car, you'll get a good rate, and the buying is happening at insane speeds.
"We're selling them off the truck," Keller said.
This is something Keller sees continuing into 2021.
"I think that we're going to have an inventory shortage," Keller said, "we do have enough vehicles to come in to keep our sales at the percentages we had last year, but we just won't have a surplus."
If you are looking to buy a vehicle, Keller suggests looking to trade in your old vehicle, and being ready to compromise as the perfect car may not be on the market at all.
"If you want a purple one, you may have to take a blue one because that's all that is out there."
