Car Market Decline - Hype or Reality?

If you were to listen to the news and read the local press you might be under the impression that the car industry is experiencing hard times due to the downturn in fortunes of the financial climate etc. However, just how much of this is reality and is any of it just pure hype? The truth is it is a little bit of both. Many smaller vehicle dealers have experienced difficulties maintaining the upkeep of their dealerships due to a retraction in the number of cars sold during the second half of 2008. Therefore, they have felt the pinch and have been forced to abandon their businesses – especially with the banks not offering any help in the form of a financial loan. So, in that respect, yes, there have definitely been companies that have felt the effect of the market and ultimately the smaller ones have been hit the most. The bigger car dealers, although suffering from a low number of sales still seem to be operating at decent enough levels and if you speak to the people at Audi for example, they will tell you that sales are indeed up on 2007, which in itself offers another story altogether. I suppose some of this so called car credit crunch comes about when you actually let it affect you. Yes the banks are not lending finances to every Tom, Dick and Harry anymore but if you have a foundation in place along with a steady monthly income then things shouldn’t be affecting you too much. If anything, with the cost of petrol and fuel decreasing – it should benefit! Unfortunately though those in the automotive industry – especially the used car industry have certainly had their purse strings tightened and there is less and less car advertising campaigns being promoted nowadays. From a personal point of view I am going to wait until the second quarter of 2008 before I commit to any new cars or make any upgrades to my current vehicle.