00:00 Rebecca
what’s interesting and really important for consumers to know is that the current inventory of new and used cars on dealer lots today is not subject to tariffs or to new tariffs, I should say. So if a dealer is trying to charge you a tariff up charge, go to a different dealership because they’re not subject to it. So while we do see price consumers anticipating pricing rising, the current lot should be tariff-free. And so go and negotiate.
01:43 Josh
Rebecca, you also track how Americans are feeling right now about different brands, different models. What do you see, Rebecca? What do they prefer here?
02:06 Rebecca
Yeah, so Josh, what’s interesting is that across the board, regardless of where a brand may originate, whether it’s BMW or Toyota or any or Chevrolet, all consumers that are shopping for regardless of brand, all feel this concern. Consumers are worried about rising interest rates, which is interesting because the Fed’s actually reduced interest rates in the last three three times in the last quarter in 2024. So it’s a matter of perception. So interest rates are actually getting better, but consumers don’t feel like that. So, but it doesn’t matter which brand you shop, all all brands are subject to this perception that prices are going to rise.
03:51 Alison Morrow
Um, and Rebecca, as you mentioned, the tariffs haven’t yet hit the inventory that’s in the lot, and there has been some evidence that there’s been this sort of rush of buying as people try to beat the tariffs, so to speak. How how long do you think that could last? Or I guess another way of asking it is, how much inventory do they do auto dealers have on the lot now before they have to get more cars in that could potentially be tariffed?
04:46 Rebecca
Right. Well, we obviously every brand has a different level of inventory, some more than others. Of course, we’ve seen the announcement that Jaguar Land Rover will not be importing cars for right now. But so much of this is constantly changing, which is why Allison and Worldwide and Harris X, our partner agency, why we’re working so closely together to monitor this situation. So again, it really just depends. What I would encourage consumers to do is to do your research, to talk to your dealer if you’re in the midst of negotiating or looking at purchasing a vehicle. But we are seeing changes. So according to the survey that we just did, 41% of people surveyed are now unlikely to purchase or very unlikely to purchase a vehicle. And this is up from 28% just a couple of months ago. So we’re definitely seeing a drawdown, we’re definitely seeing a contraction in likelihood of purchasing.