Tariff turn-offs - how the rates are impacting the new car market in Pittsburgh
We are entering one of the biggest times of the year for new car sales, and it's driven by new models coming out and dealers trying to clear last year's inventory.
New car sales spike from now until Thanksgiving, but this year, there could be something throwing a wrench in that tradition: tariffs.
The theory is to get your new car before the tariffs really kick in, but the reality is that you might be paying for the tariffs without realizing it.
While there were plenty of predictions that by now we would be seeing dramatic car price increases due to the tariffs, there has been little shock in the sticker price.
"They're either spread out across multiple vehicles or they're put in different places that don't look like the retail price went up that much," said Brian Moody, Executive Editor of Kelley Blue Book.
Moody said that there might be a slight increase in the destination fee, a change in the offered interest rate, or the manufacturer is just absorbing the cost.
"Automakers who are absorbing the costs can only do that for so long," he did caution.
Car manufacturers are trying to avoid the tariffs in the first place, knowing vehicles that are made elsewhere face the highest tariff rates.
"Automakers like Toyota, Nissan, Honda, can simply choose to build more cars at their existing American facilities," Moody said. "We're going to end up paying more, one way or the other; it's just that it's not super obvious to the average person what the increase is."
Moody said the question is: can the manufacturers handle or absorb the tariffs until they can build up American plants or ramp up state-side production?
If they can't, we pay more, but right now, they're absorbing the costs or blending the cost into what is already a complicated cost for buying a car.