The most important thing a sales associate can do for a customer right now is listening to their needs. Customers have been shuffled through the proverbial cattle shoot recently; with the current market availability and the automotive industry needs to remember that this is just a period were moving through, not an industry standard. There have been insane markups and a “take it or leave it” mentality that will cripple the dealerships that have adopted this mindset as permanent. …

If the current economy is worrying anyone else, welcome to the madhouse. This isn’t the first-time interest rates have traveled north and buying power and disposable income are low, however when things like this happen businesses struggle to stay afloat. The only thing that’s different this time around is we are also navigating the tail end of a global pandemic that has turned many industries on end and shuttered businesses in its wake.…

What Experts are saying:

We all know that the mix of low inventory and higher prices on vehicles has affected sales. The world, after all, doesn’t revolve around gross alone. What wasn’t expected was an 11% drop in new car sales from April to May. This has some experts concerned about an upcoming economic downturn. “The market appears increasingly concerned about the economy, inflation, rising interest rates, and a recession,” Joseph Spak, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said in a…