Hey, everyone. You’re probably wondering, “What is this email?”. I’ve been listening to your feedback and trying something new.

First: I’m excited to share the launch of my news site, Car Dealership Guy News. This new experiment is designed to provide more in-depth automotive insights and longer-form stories like many of you have requested.

Second: Many of you are busy and don’t have time to track every insight and news story… so I’m testing a new weekly email in which I recap the top stories in Automotive (this is the first edition).

Please let me know if either of these experiments is valuable to you… But also tell me if they’re not. Any feedback is appreciated so I don’t waste my time or yours. Hit reply and let me know what you think.

Alright, let’s get into the first edition of the CDG Week-in-Review.

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Car Dealership Guy Week-in-Review

Each week, I curate the top 5 automotive industry stories you might have missed. Let’s get started.

1. Recall alert: Ford Bronco Sports and Mavericks

Ford and recalls have gone hand in hand in recent years…

But it wasn’t always that way. You might remember a time decades ago when the automaker’s motto was famously, "Quality is Job 1.”

A catchy slogan, no doubt, but fast-forward to the start of 2024 and it appears the Blue Oval is coming up short in the quality control department.

This week alone, Ford issued a recall for 42,652 Escape and Bronco Sport models due to the potential for the fuel injector to crack, which could cause fuel vapor leakages and fires in the engine bay, according to the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA).

On top of that, Ford recalled 456,565 Bronco Sport SUVs and Maverick compact pickup trucks due to a potential loss of drive power.

This is pretty bad news for the automaker as recalls often end up costing millions, sometimes billions of dollars.

What’s more—with each recall, Ford’s reputation and consumer trust weaken.

What our readers say:

The proof is in the pudding. Recalls matter, and as long as Ford’s quality control remains dubious at best, they’ll keep losing customers.

But this isn’t the only problem Ford has on its hands right now…

2. The once-booming truck market seems to be shifting gear

After years of sky-high prices and soaring demand, the mighty full-size pickup truck is facing some headwinds.

Days supply of full-size pickup trucks across the ‘Big 3’ domestic brands is nearly 50% higher than the average days supply of all brands, says CarEdge.

Ford, in particular, has a 109 days supply of F-150s with an average listing price of $58,433.

That’s a lot of trucks considering sales of the Ford F-series fell 10% in Q1.

What this means: A stockpile of inventory and decreasing market share will likely create a recipe for more manufacturer incentives and even outright MSRP reductions as we continue on in 2024.

That’s good news for consumers.

In fact, many vehicle affordability factors moved in favor of car buyers in March, according to Cox Automotive.

3. New car affordability moves in favor of consumers last month

New vehicle transaction prices (ATP) decreased to $47,218—down $2,550 from the market peak in December 2022.

The average incentive spend (discounts) from automakers increased 11% to $3,121 — up 102% year over year.

This has decreased the median number of weeks of income needed to purchase a new car.

More to the story: The return of incentives and a glut of new car inventory are pushing prices down, but high interest rates have offset any drastic changes to average monthly payments.

4. Average new and used car loan rates tick up in March

Why? Inflation is causing lenders to safeguard their profits even more. One of the ways they do this is by raising interest rates.

Quick data:

• Average new car loan rates ended March at 7.2%. New car interest rates have climbed since the start of the year, but they are still below the high of 7.6% in October 2023.

• Used car loan rates jumped 0.3% from February to March and are now at 11.9%, a new all-time high. The previous record was 11.6% in October 2023.

Coupled with high MSRPs, new car loan rates are pushing monthly payments to over $1,000 in many cases.

These are the states where it’s happening most often.

What our readers say:

But high interest rates don’t seem to be deterring used car buyers.

5. Used vehicle sales soared in March

Demand for used vehicles was red hot last month. According to vAuto Live Market View data estimates from Cox Automotive, retail used car sales in March rose from February by 18.5% to 1.66 million units —

The highest volume in two years.

Why it matters: Tax refund season was in full swing in March. Car buyers had extra cash to put down for their vehicle purchase in an effort to get their monthly payments as low as possible. 

What do you think? Will this momentum continue?

We’ve got tons of great jobs hitting the CDG Job Board right now. Here are some standouts for anyone looking for their next move—and today, we’ve got opps all over the country.

• BizzyCar (a B2B SaaS company that develops software for auto dealers) is hiring account execs in Orlando and LA, plus a VP of Product (remote).

• Our friends at Fullpath are expanding their mission to disrupt dealer tech with job openings all over the US, including NYC, Charlotte, and Salt Lake City.

• And if you want a remote role, AutoPayPlus (an automated loan payment service) is hiring a remote agency development manager and Credit Acceptance (a publicly traded financing biz that’s been around since 1972) is hiring a remote area manager.

Looking to hire? Add your roles today—it’s 100% free.

Thanks for reading. Hit reply and let me know if you found this week-in-review valuable or have any feedback. I’ll see you next weekend.

—Car Dealership Guy

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