can I interest you in a “new” Dodge Dart?
Given the fact that dealers have to pay interest on their “floor plan” loans, it seems a bit odd that some would allow cars up to a decade (or older) to sit on their back lots gathering dust rather than sell them off, at whatever price it took to do so. According to Cox Automotive, which tracks every “new” car sale in the US, there were a number of “zombie” cars sold in 2022 that defy that logic, including four Dodge Darts (last year: 2016) and some others, including a Suzuki XL7, last sold in 2009, by a brand that exited the US market over a decade ago.
Maybe the rise in interest rates had something to do with it?
Here’s the rest of the list:
194 Dodge Journeys: This is the least surprising, as it was sold as recently as 2020. They were cheap, and for a while a hot item with Uber/Lyft drivers for that reasons.
One Dodge Viper: The last of these was built in 2017. Maybe a dealer used it as a loaner? Parts gofer? Let his teenage son use it with dealer tags? Who knows…
Two Chrysler 200s: Last sold in 2017. Unoffensive but uninspiring. Two buyers get to relive the wonderful teens.
Two VW CCs: It aped the four door coupe look started by the Mercedes CLS but it bombed. Last sold in 2017. The anti-CUV.
One Suzuki XL7: This one must have fallen through he cracks, presumably at a Suzuki dealership that also sold other brands. It’s practically a CC now, given that it’s at least 13 years old. Would you buy a “new” car that old?
There is apparently an ass for every seat… I’ll bet the Viper was roped-off showroom candy for the last five years.
The problem as I understand it with prior year cars is that once the manufacturer incentives end to move them out at the end of a year then that’s it and the dealer is stuck with them without any discounts. The dealer can then choose to take a loss, but that doesn’t seem to occur too much and newer cars end up being a better value for the consumer, so some sit, presumably with the dealer having paid for it. In these cases, somewhere, someone perhaps wanted a car from the good old days even if those were only five (or 13) years ago…Or the sticker from five years ago looked a lot better than the sticker from today/s model. I’d purchase a 1985 Celica GT-S with showroom mileage at the ORIGINAL sticker price today. You’d probably strongly consider an unsold Scion xB. Of course I’d probably turn around and call BringATrailer on the way home…
I’ll add to your list. On another (GM based site) they reported last week the following
CT6 Cadillac (I think around 14)
Buick Lacrosse (not sure number)
Chevy Sonic (again, not sure of how many)
Those are the 3 that I recall. There may have been more. My question is how do people go about finding them?
Sometimes vehicles are left to sit on a dealer’s location because they were damaged, either by an employee or from a test-driving customer. If it was in an accident, even if the work was done well, some dealers simply relegate it to use as an extra vehicle, perhaps for service department customers to use, or to ferry parts or other employees around, often when they need to pick up another car from another dealer, sometimes referred to as a DX or Dealer Exchange. In some states if a vehicle has been damaged and repaired, it cannot be sold as a new car.
It’s also possible, using questionable financial tactics, to take the car’s ‘diminution in value’ off as a loss. Eventually they sell the car and declare the loss for tax purposes. I’ve also heard of dealers who close, and while the manufacturer will usually take back unsold stock, if it’s last years model, they won’t want it back. So it sits in the back.
In the 1980s I bid on a couple of new VW bugs [both bright yellow] that had sat in the back of the dealership for a number of years as the dealer’s bankruptcy procedure took years to process. [The cars went for more than I was willing to pay,]
These would have to have been offered at a good price. The status of the warranty would be important, would it still run the full period? The other big problem is that the cars continued to depreciate during the time spent on the lot. That would affect the possible financing and even insurance coverage in the event of a major claim. Buying one of these might have been a good deal for the buyer, but they better hold onto it for a while to get their use out of it, and smooth out the depreciation angle.
That’s why some buyers used to buy the next year’s model when they were released in the fall. Then they would trade in the car a year later, and repeat the process. It was one strategy to beat depreciation. Don’t know how common that is these days.
I have bought a lot of older cars, and my criterion is the desirability of the model, (to me) condition, and the mileage, most have been pretty well depreciated. I would find one of these zombie cars attractive, especially as the second buyer.
I was thinking about the warranty too. I’ll note that anything 2017 or older is hitting the “5 year” mark, regardless of the number of miles on the odometer. Then again, the little bit of reading I did seems to say that the warranties for most new cars starts when the owner takes delivery. So, if there’s been no owner yet, maybe there’s still warranty?
It seems that that logic may not hold if the car was ever used as a dealer demonstrator. So…. ???
I was thinking about the warranty, three. Just exactly who’s gonna fulfil the warranty on that Suzuki…?
I see these lists on other automotive sites from time to time, and they always seem to bias towards Chrysler/FCA/Stellantis vehicles, although nobody ever seems to ask “Why?”
I think that in most US states, a new car dealer could drive a new car for an effectively endless period of time on a Dealer plate without ever titling the car. In theory, any car sold on a Manufacturer’s Statement of Origin (MSO) is considered “new”, even if it has huge miles on it. I like Bill’s service loaner theory.
Apologies if this is a dumb question. How long must a new car sit before it becomes too risky to buy from a reliability standpoint; i.e., shrunken seals, internal corrosion from old fluids; etc? I’ve often wondered about that; especially for cars that have been sitting outside.
One thing for sure, I’d rather not daily drive on tires that are older than 6 years. I’ve seen way too much saying that’s where tires start getting questionable.
When I was first car shopping in July of 2015, I found a leftover Chevrolet Cruze diesel from 2014 for sale. It had a very high sticker for a Cruze, and had a beautiful “Cocoa and Cashmere” interior package. Despite the oddities to it, there wasn’t much incentive on it.
Not a dumb question at all and all good concerns. I recall several years ago there was a bunch of writing about an auction of new old cars from a dealer in Nebraska (google “lambrecht dealer auction”) and a few of these cars were 50 years old with virtually no miles on the clock. Many people were wondering exactly what you ask.
I’d speculate that most of the cars covered in this post would be “ok”…with the possible exception of the Suzuki.
^ this. TBH, with the obvious exception of the Viper, I’d avoid any of those unless they were offered dirt cheap and I was capable of identifying and rectifying any issues. And no, I’d very much doubt those would be offered with any guarantee, I’m sure the seller would require the buyer to agree none would apply.
I remember the dealer auction you were discussing Jeff. I believe the dealer just simply took whatever was unsold when the new models came in and stuck them out back. They weren’t a big dealership but a few cars a year over the decades…
Maybe these were something similar?
The oldest “new” car that I’ve known someone to buy was when my aunt bought a 1986 Isuzu Impulse in 1988. She got a great deal on that car, but (shockingly!) it gave her quite a bit of trouble. Eventually she replaced it with a Subaru SVX.
I bought a new 2006 Crown Victoria in late 2007. The dealership I bought mine from had two of them – the one we didn’t buy looked like no one had even touched it in over a year… covered with thick dirt, dead battery, low tires, etc. After we bought ours (and the dealer realized that some odd people out there would actually buy a Crown Vic), they washed it and put it on the front of their lot, with a big “Discount!” sign on the windshield.
Aren’t there a few “new” 2012? Lexus LFAs out there? Talk about having cash tied up in inventory! However they have appreciated handsomely since new.
A nearby Jaguar dealer still had an unsold Jaguar X-type wagon two years after the model was discontinued. Maybe more than one, can’t remember.
What about the last AMC dealer , Collier Motors ? The man’s son is selling off the remaining inventory.
I would love the red dart hands down or the Volkswagen CC other than blue
A friend’s father was an Olds dealer, and had a mid-70s Olds 88 convertible on dealer plates for years and years. That thing was likely 15-20 years old before it got sold and titled.
I always thought (and still think) the Dodge Dart was a very good looking car. Really liked it. Though I have no personal experience with the car so cannot speak to its quality. Wish they hadn’t taken it off the market so soon. Also liked the Chrysler 200 in terms of styling, but again, no experience with this car.
Many are used for ‘service loaners’, which I bet the Darts, Journeys and 200’s were and then finally sold off.