Except in Kentucky’s largest cities, mass transit is a rarity. That means most folks who need a new, or newer, ride still face pandemic-era prices for new and used vehicles.
In February, Ben Ladd’s car died, and he needed another to make twice-weekly trips from Louisville to Richmond for classes at Eastern Kentucky University.
“Anything that was in our immediate price range was falling apart. And that ran or even like loosely ran was absurdly overpriced.”
Ladd says he spent more than a month browser-shopping on Facebook Marketplace until finding a Hyundai Accent for $1,900 – with no warranty. It ran for four days. He sold it via the Internet for $500, then resumed his search at dealerships.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, used car values rose 64 percent between the beginning of the pandemic and January of last year, falling a bit since then. New car values jumped 18 percent from March of 2020 to this September. Rising prices are a problem for consumers …
– and dealerships like Jack Kain Ford, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary in Woodford County November 3rd.
Bill Kain is a dealer partner along with a brother and sister, while their father, 94-year-old Jack Kain, is the dealer principal. He says he had no idea how many chips were in a vehicle until pandemic-related slowdowns in China and Taiwan began to make them scarce.
“All the safety equipment, all the things that we take for granted these days are all run on semiconductors, and you know, an average F-150, which is Ford's, you know, number one selling vehicle, and the Super Duty’s, will have anywhere from 800 to 1,200 chips on that vehicle.”
The Kains were paying more for vehicles while their inventory was falling – down to six or seven by November of ’22 in a lot that sometimes had as many as 200.
Kain says with more people keeping their vehicles longer, their service side has done well, and while they didn’t have to let any employees go during the pandemic, he has been the bearer of bad news to folks who want big Ford trucks.
“We've had customers that have had orders in since 2022, that still have not been produced, they get pushed, you know, they were pushed from 2022 to 2023. And now they're being pushed from 2023 to 2024. One poor guy who's been in it for the long haul, he finally had a vehicle scheduled for a production date. And next week, they walked out of the plant. So he's throwing his hands up right now going, ‘What in the world?’”
A few days after our interview with Kain, the UAW reached a tentative agreement with Ford, which eased his worries that the strike against the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville would cause further shortages.
Still, in what’s hardly a buyer’s market, there are satisfied customers. Drew Edmundson of Lexington says he and his wife are pleased with the monthly lease on her 2021 BMW 330i, though it’s $90 to $100 higher than the 2018 model it replaced.
“If you've been with the same dealership, and you have that relationship, not just with sales, but with service, you get to know the management over the years, then you're a repeat customer, and they're not, they're gonna be loath to do anything to chase you away.”
Melissa Watts of Versailles says she has a 30-year relationship with her auto dealer – and when she traded in her low-mileage 2020 Equinox for a ‘24 Blazer, the higher trade-in for her used vehicle made up for the higher price of her new one.
“Make sure that it's very clean, no mechanical problems, and what have you, and then do your research. Do your Kelley Blue Book value. Do your searches on what it would cost private party, what it would, you know, cost if you were selling it to a dealership, you know, what the roundabout options are.”
As for Ladd, he says he bit the bullet at the end of May and bought a used Volkswagen Jetta from a Louisville dealership. He says it has 140 thousand miles and he’ll drive it ‘til it drops.
By then, perhaps he and other shoppers will have a better chance of getting what they want, not just what they can afford.
I’m John McGary in Versailles.
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