I think for consumers, a lot of them wish we can go back to 2019. Welcome to the car dealership guy market update, a monthly discussion with automotive industry experts and dealers about where our car market is today and where it may be headed. Today, I'm speaking with Jessica Caldwell, head of insights at Edmonds and Jen Baluev, general manager of Norm Reeves, Honda Superstore, West Covina. Don't forget to click subscribe so you never miss an episode. But before we get into the show, the car dealership guy market update is brought to you by Edmonds.
我认为对于消费者来说,很多人希望我们能回到2019年。欢迎来到汽车经销商市场更新,这是一个与汽车行业专家和经销商一起讨论当前汽车市场状况和未来发展方向的月度讨论节目。今天,我将与Edmonds的Insights主管Jessica Caldwell和Norm Reeves Honda Superstore West Covina的总经理Jen Baluev进行对话。别忘了点击订阅,这样您就不会错过任何一集。但在开始节目之前,汽车经销商市场更新节目是由Edmonds赞助的。
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New customers signing up through Edmonds.com slash CDG will receive an exclusive 50% off pricing for the first 90 days. Again, visit edmunds.com slash CDG or click the link in the show notes below. Jessica, a lot's been going on recently. Q1 was quite a whirlwind. We know that the market right now, there's a lot of movements on the new end-use side. But if you can just start us out with how Q1 shook out and take us a little bit of the SARS. For those that don't know, SARS fancy word for how many new vehicles are we tracking to sell in a year? Right? So if you sell one car this month, SARS would be 12. Obviously, we're talking about much bigger numbers. But I always like in the spirit of the podcast, I always like to keep things super simple. Needless to say, that is what SARS practice pretty much is.
But anyways, with that said, Jessica, take us in. No, SARS gives us a really good indication of how the year will turn out. Because if we just look at it December or March, for instance, we think, oh, this is going to be a fantastic year. But those are generally high volume months are not necessarily reflective of what we see in January. But I think if we looked at the manufacturer reports, they came out in the beginning of April. And it seemed like everyone was pretty positive. I mean, we have to probably couch that with the fact that it was an easy comp year over year, quarter over quarter, because sales were not as strong. So I think if we look at where March shaked out, it was about a 15 and a half SARS, which is pretty good.
And generally speaking, pre pandemic, most months, if it was over 17 million, it would be considered a great month. If it was under, it's like, okay, well, what kind of happened? I'd say we don't really hold ourselves to those standards anymore with inventory the way it is. We would be very hard to get to those type of SARS numbers. But I think that it was a relatively decent quarter. I would say that it definitely varies by vehicle line, by manufacturer. And I know we'll get into a little bit more, but affordability is such a big issue in the industry right now. And you can really see that reflected in the sales numbers where things that are affordable, that people can get into their monthly budget. They did very well.
Those manufacturers that sell those type of vehicles did very well. And those that don't didn't really have as good a quarter. That's helpful. So Jessica, do you think that you mentioned that we are as an industry selling fewer cars, right? I guess by historical standards, that would be viewed negatively. But do you think that those historical standards are standards of aiming to sell 17 million per year? Does that matter anymore? Or even to take that even a step further, right? Is it for the industry, for the consumer, or for one versus the other? Is it actually better to be in a situation where we're selling fewer cars and these vehicles are maybe holding their value more? And of course dealers have higher margins. I mean, what do you think about this?
Yeah, I mean, it depends where you sit. I think for dealers and for automakers, profitability margins are key. And if that's better, then of course, the situation is definitely better. I mean, where we were before pre-pandemic at three to four million vehicles sitting in an inventory every month, that was way too much. However, if you are a consumer, that is great because that means more incentives. And if we look at incentives historically, they've been a lot higher than they are. Today at this lower inventory number. So I think for consumers, a lot of them wish we could go back to 2019 type of numbers and incentives and all of that versus automakers and dealers trying to find the right group.
Because I mean, the interesting thing about the chip shortage was that we as an industry have never been in a situation where inventory was too low. The issue with inventories always been it's too high. So there really isn't necessarily that playbook of how do we recover from this? What are the best ways forward? What are the strategies that we really like implement so we don't go back to an unhealthy way of doing business where we're forced into offering a lot of incentive dollars? So I think that's what the interesting thing about now. And we don't really know necessarily how this is going to end because we don't really have that historical modeling of this is what happens when you have too many vehicles and you're trying to deal with that.
Jessica, how would you rate right now the overall health of the new vehicle market? I would say it's decent, but it really depends on who you are and what you're selling because right now, obviously we know consumers are stretched financially. Affordability is a major concern. We have high interest rates. So consumers are looking for something that they can trust. They know it's not going to break down. They trust the brand. It's a price that they can afford. And those vehicles, I'd say, are doing quite well. On the other side of the spectrum, you have vehicles that are a bit larger, maybe were in more favor when interest rates were low.
People wanted to go super size their purchase decision and buy something bigger. And those vehicles we see are struggling. So the interesting thing is that there really isn't a blanket statement for the health of the industry. It really is fragmented, which is a little atypical, not completely atypical, but a little bit different than what we have seen in the past. It was kind of like, things are down. Everyone's suffering to some degree. But there are some brands that are doing quite well while there's are certainly feeling the struggle.
Yeah, that's a good point. I think I haven't looked as closely as to status as many years as you have. You've been doing this for a long time. But the dispersion that we're seeing between what you just mentioned, the brands that are over-applied and brands that are under-supplied, it's really massive. And whether it's Toyota 30-day supply I think I just saw or the Stellantis and Chrysler Dodge E-Pram, that's over 200 in some cases, it's pretty mind-boggling that after a few years we've gone to this whole different type of cycle right now with day supply.
Yeah, I mean, I think it is something that is interesting too. And it's also, I think when it feels like consumers are pushed against the wall and we saw this in the recession as well, they tend to go with brands that they know and they trust and they're not likely to try something different. And the fact that someone like Toyota, everyone's had an experience in a Corolla, like we've been so many people's first car or so many people's best friends first car. And you think, okay, that is something that I could afford, put in my budget and immediately it becomes on the consideration list where someone like Jeep who may be in a bit of a different situation where they've upsized their brand a bit, upscaled their brand a bit, people may not have the same feeling in these type of economic times.
And Jessica, I want to ask you about the brands that are the winners, the hottest vehicles. So before we do that, Jen, what are you seeing on the new side on your end? Right? How is the market shifting on the new side for you in store? The inventory is obviously getting better. A year ago, we had seven cars on the lot at the end of the month and sometimes zero where today as of this morning, we have 307 just to put things in perspective. 307 new Hondas on your lot. Correct. As of this morning. You know, with that said, obviously there's more incentives that the factory has applied towards certain models. Consumers have more choices. The competition's gotten a lot more fierce. But it's still pretty healthy. We had about a 30 day supply. I think it's a healthy number where consumers have plenty of choice. Dealers still making a decent margin where it works in the factory. Doesn't have to spend as much money on incentives. So that's that happy medium where I feel like, again, consumer doesn't break the bank when it's time for them to buy a car. They don't have to pay crazy addendums and $5,000 markups that some of the dealers have done doing COVID years. I feel like this is a sweet spot for Honda at least or for any manufacturer. I feel like a 30 day supply is probably the right number. All right. So Jessica, what do you see? The brands are you seeing right now as the winners or hottest vehicles? Yeah. I mean, I think Toyota is doing really well, especially with their hybrid line. I mean, you look at how fast a lot of their hybrids are selling. It looks like they just go off the truck and they're driven off by a customer that day. They're so they're so small. Also, Honda's doing really well. I'm sure a lot of dealers would love to be at Jen's store. I know where that stores and I know they do a lot of business there. Also, they have some of the other smaller Japanese brands, Mazda, Subaru. I think they really push smaller vehicles, more affordability. It seems like those brands are doing quite well. And again, the other side of the spectrum, Nissan has been in the news for struggling a bit and that certainly is the case. They're waiting for a lot of new product. They seem like they've been doing a lot of fleet, which is historically a lover that they have pulled that has not been the healthiest for them. They have said recently that they're not going to go back to their old pattern of incentives. We'll see. Obviously, the jury saw it on that one. We'll see how they get through the summer.
Can you explain that a bit deeper? Super important topic. And, you know, I was pretty when I saw it. Anyways, can you just give us a little bit of a deeper dive into what that actually means and how it's going to impact the industry with Nissan? Well, I mean, if we look at Nissan historically, you know, they've always had very big, bigger volume aspirations. I feel like they kind of want to get back to that place where they're more on an even plain field in terms of sales with Honda and Toyota, a place that they once were. And I'd say that one thing that they have historically done pre pandemic was really lean on consumer incentives, a lot of fleet sales and not necessarily the what you would call like healthy fleet sales going to like commercial or government fleets, but the retail, which would hurt essentially their residual values at the end of the day. And they've been pulling, you know, those, you know, those lovers, I would say, a lot.
And they did that, you know, quite significantly, I'd say pre pandemic. And that wasn't always the healthiest. I mean, they had, you know, a lot of complaints about their stair step incentive programs that were just very hard to mitigate and get through for, you know, for a lot of years. And I think obviously with this inventory shortage, it kind of gives everyone a bit of a clean slate to start again and to incorporate better, healthier business practices for themselves as well as their dealer body. I think it's easy to fall back on old habits when market share starts to go down, especially your competitors, you know, doing so well.
And the way you do that is usually through a lot of incentives, you know, selling more to fleet and it looks like they could be going in that direction. So they're saying kind of preempting probably the rumor mill of saying, we're not going to go down that road of very high incentives like we've, like we have in the past, we're going to try to accomplish this in a healthier way. However, that seems pretty hard in this environment. I mean, it's very hard to stand out from a product perspective because everyone's products are so good. So you know, I, it's, that's why I'm saying like maybe a few more months have got to go by before we see if Nissan is going to stick to this promise. And that really is sort of the crux of this whole recovery is that once one automaker starts offering more incentives in an effort to still share, which is common in other areas of the market to not just with Nissan for something like pickup trucks, if they decide to go in heavy with incentives, win share. And then all of a sudden, you know, their competitors feel like they have to do the same to protect their market share.
And it kind of sets forward this, you know, this, you know, race to the bottom, I guess you can call it of, you know, just unhealthy business practices. Yeah, well stated, you know, like I had a bunch of dealers reach out to me as Nissan was starting to kind of amp up their fleet sales and like deals were pissed. They were like, you know, we were just in a meeting. They were just in a meeting with Nissan. I don't know, like a year ago, a year and a half. And Nissan kind of made these promises that they would not go nuts on selling to fleet and, you know, basically hurting the residual values of the older vehicles and kind of back pedal that very quickly.
So yeah, I mean, interesting development. Yeah. I mean, the one thing is that, okay, so the end of March is the end of the Japanese fiscal year. And we do see sometimes a typical things happen from the Japanese automakers at that time. So they can make their sales targets and their numbers. But you know, so I would say that like, let's hold our judgment right now. But the other thing that is a little troubling about Nissan is that fact that if we do think about this age of affordability, they have a lot of products that fit that bill. A lot of vehicles are quite affordable from them. So I think the question is, so, you know, what's going on? Is it their, you know, buyer base or just struggling more financially than perhaps a Toyota buyer base is, but I think that there are probably some deeper questions there as well.
Alright. Well, you brought up the A word, not me. So let's talk about affordability. Alright. So Jen, you mentioned to us off the call prior that the sub compact vehicle is making a comeback, a comeback in your store and with Honda, I want to know, like, one, I want you to tell us what that really means to you. But two, is this really, I mean, just strictly driven by affordability, right? Like at some points, the sub compact, if you look back two years ago, I mean, I almost thought the car was dead or that, you know, that type was dead. Everyone went bigger, fancier, and now hearing you say that was like, wow, back to reality.
So, I mean, what's what's happening here with the sub compact vehicle? Well, I think there's a couple of things in play. One, we're in Southern California, which is very unique if you were compared to the rest of the United States. It is a sub compact market car from what I can understand. That's number one. I'm going to, in California, I filled out my tank yesterday, it was 549 a gallon, right? So drive in the truck. It's a little bit pricey. And number three, you know, we just didn't have any civics.
So we didn't have any of the sub compact cars. You know, if I were to use Honda as an example, right when COVID started, it was a new model for Honda and from what I can again understand. They have over engineered their chip and they just couldn't get that fancy chip and they couldn't make it. So with gas prices, the fact that we're here in Southern California and affordability and the high interest rates, it really comes down to a budget to a consumer in the monthly payment. But that said, it's consumers almost forced to get into a civic versus a Tacoma or something else that's maybe even more practical for their lifestyle.
But it's, you know, if it comes down to a monthly payment. I mean, those are probably the end drivers that making that, making that shift. I mean, if I were to look at the last three months, three months of our sales, civic is definitely the winner, where it was in the case a year ago, where it was a CRV just because we didn't have any civics. And it's probably similar situation across other manufacturers. Across other manufacturers and also across, you know, types of vehicles, because Jessica, I know that you had mentioned about pickup trucks. What's happening there?
Yeah, I mean, it seemed like pickup trucks were just the hottest thing. I mean, so hot that there are even EV versions coming out on, you know, on pickup trucks. But, you know, I think going back to, you know, Jen's point about affordability and what people are looking versus what they want and what is realistic for them.
You know, that age of pickup trucks is kind of dying for the recreational user. I mean, of course, there's always a market fee people who really need pickup trucks. We do see that sales are, you know, are definitely not as strong. There was, you know, some issues with the 2024 F-150, which probably didn't help that along, but very compelling incentives right now on the current F-150. So, but I do think it is isolated to the larger truck, which I think is a symptom of the affordability issue. Because if we do look at these smaller trucks, more of the midsize trucks, those are doing quite well.
So, you know, I think a lot of people jump into the truck market when times are good. And they're like, I'm just going to make that leap and, you know, take advantage of low interest rates and what I can upsell myself to. And that's just not happening as much now. I was pretty shocked to see the numbers on the Ford Maverick. Like, I did not expect to see this, you know, little truck sell so well. I actually posted about this a couple of times.
But, you know, it's like shrinkflation has made its way into the cars. I mean, it's not just the Maverick. I mean, the Maverick has done well, but if we look at how quick these vehicles are turning, I mean, Tacoma, Colorado actually have sold quicker than the Maverick in March. And then also Canyon isn't too far behind. So, it really is a segment versus just, you know, one anomaly, which, you know, again, that's people doing opposite of supersizing.
No, totally. No, I wrote about the Maverick the other day. So, I was top of mind, but yeah, it's you're absolutely right. It's all across the board for just, you know, relatively inexpensive pickup trucks. And so, Jen, so back to just general affordability, right? I feel like we talk about this a lot just because it's been the most important thing in the market. It's been driving consumer decisions. You know, again, I've written a lot about a lot about this topic. I'm curious to know from your end, right? Just like day to day, how are you managing through this? What are you doing in store? Like, how are you quote unquote combating this as much as you can affordability?
Well, I mean, we control our controllables, right? How do we interact with the consumer? We train ourselves people to negotiate when it comes to negative equity or it comes to the price of the car and how much the payment is versus what it was in 2019 is to negotiate with empathy. We just try to more share information with them for them to understand why the payment is $650 versus 430 for a similar type of vehicle. Maybe this spread not as big, but just as an example. And really trying to train ourselves people that haven't had to deal with it really in the last three years.
Some of them have forgotten. Some of them have joined automotive forces after COVID. So they don't even know what the car business was like prior to COVID. So a lot of it has to do with training and educating the consumer, you know, with empathy in order for them to have a better experience when it comes to transacting on a new automobile in today's world. Yeah. And then from an actual financial product perspective, right? Are you doing more leases 84 months from now?
We're definitely doing a lot more leases now, well, and it's twofold. We again, there's a little bit more incentives from the factory standpoint. There's not as many accessories on the per vehicle basis, which makes leasing a lot more affordable and more attractive to the consumer. I mean, just to put things in perspective during COVID, prior to COVID, we were at about 43 to 45 percent. It was pretty consistent leasing. And during COVID, we dropped all the way down to 15 percent and we backed in the mid 40s.
So I mean, the leasing has picked up tremendously here in the last quarter or so. Absolutely. Good thing to see is that one of the tools that we were forced to use the almost and forced by the consumer mainly contrary to anybody's belief, it wasn't on the dealer side, it's the 84 month loans. And we're basically don't see those as much anymore because leasing is more available to a consumer and makes it more attractive where we get to see the, for both the customer and for the dealer where they can get into a new vehicle every two, three, you know, every two, three years for a lower payment with more technology in the car versus sending somebody off on a seven year loan. It's just not a good situation for neither the party, factory dealer or the consumer. I was talking about used car leasing as well. You're referring to new car leasing.
And I feel like altogether, it just seems like that's where the industry is trending. Like prices have eclipsed the hurdle of where, you know, to your point, 84 month loan was sort of like a stop gap, it seems like potentially and leasing is just taking off now. So this episode is brought to you by my very own car dealership guy, industry job board. CDG jobs.com, my industry job board connecting the best talent and automotive with the best companies will remain absolutely free for CDG listeners to post and fill available roles at their companies.
This free job board is for anyone in automotive vendors, dealers, lenders, manufacturers, auto tech, everyone already over 100 companies have posted open positions, including lithium motors, recurrent credit acceptance, Vero's credit, cars commerce, shift digital plug, full path, Westlake trade pending, you get the point. The best part is that when these companies hire through CDG jobs.com, they are hiring the most informed candidates in the marketplace. So don't hesitate. You can add your open roles today by visiting CDG jobs.com or clicking the link in the show notes below that's CDG jobs.com. You mentioned negative equity. Jessica, I want to ask you about this, right? What are we seeing with negative equity in the market? We know that it's been rising, sure. But like, take us a little bit through what is actually happening right now across the board for negative equity.
Well, it's like, I think it's becoming a story again, because when trade and values, as we know, we're so incredibly high, negative equity wasn't really a thing because people were just were loving it. They were getting so much for their trade in and it wasn't a concern. And now it's starting to rear its ugly head again. And we're watching it basically climb in the first quarter of this year, it was about 23% of all trade ins had, you know, had negative equity associated with that trade. It's probably not a great number, especially when we look at the amounts at six, over $6,000 on average rolling into your next loan.
That that's probably is the most disturbing trend because that's the highest it's ever been on average. So as we look towards the rest of the year, you know, will negative equity continue to climb? It certainly has been higher in terms of percentage at other points in time. I think right now it's just the amount, which is worrisome because we know how much vehicles are right now. We know that there probably were some pandemic regret purchases that people either made too quickly because there wasn't a lot of inventory or just doesn't fit their lifestyle. Now they're back into market and they paid a lot of money for their vehicle. And you know, now it's not worth as much and it kind of puts them in. I would imagine a very bad mood and probably a very uncomfortable conversation in the FNI office. But it's, you know, it's a part of the industry, I guess, you know, to say the least.
And Jen, what do you so I think it's important to kind of bifurcate this for a second because obviously every vehicle should have negative equity or will like it's depreciating asset. You buy that car, you drive it off the lot, it's worthless. But like you said, Jessica, like the big thing here is the just level of negative equity. Jen, like in store, what do you generally consider like a meaningful level of negative equity nowadays, you know, something inconsequential? Like, do you, where do you draw that line? Well, generally speaking, it's still at the manageable levels. I mean, there's some extreme examples where somebody on a $30,000 or $40,000 car is upside down, maybe $15,000 or $20,000, but that's a very extreme case. Generally, what we're seeing right now is I'll be about anywhere from three to $5,000, I think would be the average. And it's still manageable. It really depends on what collateral they are looking at. But it's not like I said, it's not where it's on unmanageable levels.
I think also it's important to point out that people that bought a car during COVID and had a trade in are not in the same position as people that bought a car during COVID and didn't have a trade in because the trade was worth a lot more, which mitigated some of that. If they apply, yeah, if they applied all that equity position during their during their purchase. So I think there's two types of buyers. Again, the ones that had the trade in, there may be not as in bed of a shape today as opposed to ones that purchased the car with zero down for 84 months, 2021. And obviously, those folks are not in the best shape compared to the rest of the month.
I don't know if either of you saw this, but I posted a story about a dealer here on the East Coast, a subprime dealer or primarily subprime. And he's been buying a lot of used EVs. Because what he's found out is that with the used EV tax credit, he's basically buying these EVs. He's doing a deal that's like roughly like $25,000 out the door. And the government, like you can basically auto apply $4,000 of the tax credit on the spot for the client. So you come, you're out of equity, you have bad credit. I mean, whatever it may be, you pretty much have a $4,000 down payment ready for you. And so he texts me every week, he's showing me what he's buying. He's buying almost 25%, or 25% of his weekly sales are used EVs right now. And it's strictly, it's not because it's an EV, it's because it's $4,000 of down payment, which is helping your customer get approved, or it's helping mitigate the negative equity, which is pretty remarkable.
That I mean, that's interesting. Because if he is primarily a subprime dealer, I wonder if these folks that are buying EVs are necessarily well equipped to buy an EV, if they've thought about like charging, or they kind of just get swayed by the fact that, oh, this is a new car, the deal seems great. But I would imagine that some people are not necessarily thinking about how good it's going to fit into their lifestyle. That's a really good point, by the way, because you're right, like, it depends where, you know, where this person lives, right? Like, do you live in the city where there's like a charger in every block, or do you live? I mean, do you have a garage? Yeah, like, I think that's a, that's a really good point, right? Like, what are these? I mean, what are they actually doing with the EV once they buy?
Yeah, but I mean, there has been a lot of chat though about what a great deal of used EVs are. I mean, not from an industry standpoint, because that means the depreciation is so strong. But from the consumer standpoint, I have seen a lot. It's like, oh, wait a second, I can get a Tesla for $25,000, you know, I'll do that. And that's going to be an ongoing issue for new EVs, is really competing against the used ones at significant discount. Yeah, and so we'll dive more into EVs shortly. And Jessica, can you give us an overview on rates? You know, you always put out great data with respect to where we are from an interest rates, and how the market's trending, right? So take us there. Yeah, I mean, we pretty much look at where interest rates are from a national level every month, and you know, every month they think, okay, maybe this is the month that's going to go down, the Fed's been a bit quiet, you know, there hasn't been any price hikes.
And we do definitely see some, you know, some result of automaker incentive spending in subsidizing interest rates, but they still are quite high on the new side, still over 7% on average. And then on the used side, still over 11% on average. And, you know, that's why we really talk to consumers about almost doing the calculation on the amount of interest you're going to pay, because all of a sudden 11% interest for, you know, five, six years on a $30,000, $40,000 loan, the amount of interest is pretty mind-boggling, because people tend not to think about that component, especially since we've been in an era of low interest rates for such a long period of time. And that comes as I think sometimes a shock to buyers just because the rates are quite high. But I think with automaker subsidizing on the new side, we probably will see the new interest rates start to fall on average, but the use just not a lot of relief there. The certified pre-owned programs are really making, I think, much of a dent or historically.
Yeah, I've heard, I've been hearing anyone here is an economist, not on this call, meaning none of my buddies or my dealer friends are already economists, but I've been getting these murmurs like, hey, it feels like we're getting ready for like, you know, inflation 2.0. And so there is some concern out there about these rates. Jen, would you say at this point, your consumers, your customers are sort of like accustomed to the, you know, 7% new car interest rate, right? Because, you know, when this just started two years ago, roughly speaking, it was a shock. I mean, again, I going by my personal experience and I'm posting this data to the world, people were commenting into thousands, like, what is this? Like, I would not buy a car at 7%. And I bet you like 50% of those people, I ended up doing it. But needless to say, like, do you feel like at this point, like consumers are more or less accustomed already to where interest rate levels are today?
Absolutely. I mean, when the rates first shut up, I mean, it was quite an experience here on the floor and the consumers thought that we were trying to take advantage of them. And it was an interesting time. But at this point in time, unless you have that one customer that just haven't been shopping for a car, you know, in a while, and it doesn't really read the news or he's not really involved. I mean, you'll have an oddball situation from time to time.
But generally speaking, I would say, yeah, consumers are aware that it's a much higher rate. Some of them still want to get into the fives and sixties at times. But generally speaking, I think that the sevens and eights are very acceptable for somebody with good credit. Now, when you say seven nates, you're referred to new cars, not used cars, is that right? Or both new cars and like a 2023 or 2024 use car. Yeah. A good we've had a quite a good success with certified rates, because Honda has some good programs on Honda True used and certified. So it allows those particular car, you know, compete in the marketplace. So if you were to certify a car, you can qualify for those submitted rates from the factory. I mean, again, we've had a pretty good luck with that.
So speaking of use, Jen, like, what's your use car profitability like nowadays? Give us a general overview. Well, that was a big side. That was a big side, Jen. Because, you know, my, you know, my travels in automotive universe, the one thing that I feel less constant in the use car profitability is change. It really depends on the time of the year, the time, it really depends. In the last quarter, it's been quite healthy. However, I can't say that about the last quarter of last year, you know, availability of use cars to stack position is definitely a challenge. So we had to, we had to really sharpen our tools to try to acquire use cars.
I mean, we haven't made, we haven't made any new cars in the last, you know, during COVID in the last three years, there's no use car factory that makes use cars. So there's just less of them out there in the marketplace. And when we go out and try to get them, it's definitely a challenge. So keeping a lot full of cars.
When you say we've had to sharpen our tools with respect to acquisition, what have you done? How are you doing it? Well, we have to pay, we have to pay more attention to little details, whether it's the recon time, whether it's how much we pay for the car, what our look to book is, what we're offering up front for the vehicle. Again, how is our service acquisitions are working, how is our auction acquisition are performing, how is our ICOs, you know, ICO buying team performing, what are we putting into trades on the website if somebody wants to do a quick evaluation of their car, would definitely have adjusted our dials to pay up more just to get the car, you know, for trade ins, if there is a trade in, you know, pre COVID levels, for example, you know, was common for a sales person to make a deal to kick the trade.
Hey, can I make this deal? If the trade wasn't part of the deal, it's definitely not the case anymore. You know, we want to keep that car regardless, whether it's a wholesale or retail piece. There's incentive structure for our salespeople that if they have anyone, doesn't matter what kind of car it is, whether it's the one that can make it across the lane or not. There's a heavy incentive for them to bring that vehicle to the store and we'll buy it and they'll be incentivized for it. So I mean, it's not one thing, it's the aggregate of little things that make a difference.
I also wonder as we think about the used car pipeline moving forward, at some point, probably at the end of this year, we're starting to feel the ramifications of the drop off and lease returns because leases fill off the cliff. So it feels like it's going to be a challenge for especially someone like Honda brand who historically has had highly seen, you said over 40% then down to the teens, it's like, that's such a good supply of used vehicles. I imagine that's a bit of a daunting outlook in the next few years. Yes, I am. We used to have anywhere from 180 to 200 lease returns per month. And we're down to, I think June of this year, June, July would be the lowest point we're going to have as low as 36 leases that are going to come back. So it's definitely a challenge. Jen, when are you projecting that? When are you projecting that? June of this year, June, July, we're going to be like in the mid 100s. I think the lowest month will be 36 when we looked at it in the beginning of this year, just when we're doing forecasting. That's exactly what we said. Wow.
Jessica, how is that going to play out? Are we going to see the biggest question that gets like, are use car prices going to rise again? Or are they just not going to depreciate us quickly? Yeah, I mean, it kind of depends on how we handle this and exactly where this happens. But it's not like it's a surprise. Like Jen said, it's not like there's a use car factory. We know exactly how many vehicles were sold. But we are dealing with a lot of factors is the fact that people, they bought out their lease, new car sales rates have been lower over the past few years. Leases fell off a cliff. I mean, daily rental volume wasn't very good for a long time. That has luckily come back. But all those factors are kind of feeding into this use car pipeline, which has made it very atypical. And why use car acquisition has been probably quite a rollercoaster. Of late. So yeah, I can imagine that we're going to get to the point where use car prices could change. I mean, this is going to affect near new used. So we still have the older used vehicles, which probably won't fill as much of a fact. But it's going to trickle down as always a waterfall in the use car market. Yeah, I mean, it's quite a case study. What do you think about the next couple of months? What's about to happen? It's going to be very interesting to watch. Stock up on your use vehicles.
What I was going to say is, Jen, I think what I like about these time periods where people are like actually care about efficiency is that people start to like, you know, really look through all the, you know, looks in crannies. And, you know, speaking with with someone just about a deal about, you know, like how much depreciation are you associating with your vehicle per day, right? So like every day that you don't transport that car to your lot, or it's waiting and reconditioning, right?
Like on a fully loaded basis, how much are you really, you know, how much are you really losing? Not just, you know, how much are you buying it for, but truly like, you know, like that whole time to line that you're mentioning, it's very much in vogue again, and in looking at every part of the process, right? Down from I bought that car in auction, it takes me four days to get to here. Let's get it to two days, three days, right? Like every single day matters. So yeah, I'm assuming you're referring to a holding costs.
So I mean, I think a healthy number is about 30 bucks a day. Anything, anything higher than that, like if you get into the 50s and 60s, then chances are your use car operation is not very, very, very healthy, and there's room for improvement. But again, if there's no magic bullet, it's just doing the little things, right, is what's going to make a big difference. Really, what I wanted to ask you is, like, high, you're in California, so it's kind of cheating, but hybrid versus EV, right? Like what are you seeing in your store? Definitely hybrid. Hybrid has a lot of demand consumers asking for hybrid. And you're not a Toyota store, right? I want to, like, I'm reminding the audience, the listeners, like you're not a Toyota store, which is like, Toyota's kind of becomes synonymous with hybrid right now. So anywho, go ahead.
Hybrid consumers are willing to spend more money on the hybrid, and they feel that that's a better value. We don't necessarily see a lot of demand for EVs, maybe for the simple fact that we don't have any, but there's a lot of enthusiasts and a lot of Honda fans that are waiting for the EVs. So I think there will be that initial wave of customers that innovators and early adopters that would end up buying a prologue. But from a general standpoint, we do not see a lot of demand for an EV, other than the selected few. Which I think is also a testament to, well, obviously, Honda's EV lineup, but also, it's kind of like, I don't want to say winner takes most, but, you know, like, there's definitely preferred, there's clearly preferred brands, and, you know, we know Tesla clearly, you know, market leader, but it's not like, you know, the normal vehicle or like decision making is just different for consumers when it comes to buying an EV.
Yeah, I think that's right, especially when we ask consumers about, are you willing to buy an EV from, you know, a different brand than what you own? It seems like people are much more open. And we even see that in some of the, you know, the trade in data that you have a lot of luxury cars, Audi's BMWs being traded in for Kia EVs. And you wouldn't necessarily see that on the internal combustion engine side. So I do think that there is this openness that exists more for EVs, especially for the early adopters. I think as we go for more of the mass market consumer, that may change a little bit, because people will tend to stick with what they know a bit more there, less willing to take the financial risk if, you know, things don't work out for them. But it's a tremendous opportunity, I think for dealers and automakers right now to kind of find that new customer, because conquesting is always extremely difficult and expensive.
Jen, did you go through, um, did you go through the installation process in your store with installing chargers and all that? Yes, we're at tier one. So we were, Honda has, I believe, three different, three different tiers for the United States and California being the largest market, I think 40% of all EVs in the United States are sold in California. I might be wrong on my numbers, but I think I'm pretty close. But yes, it was a requirement went through invest quarter million dollars into the EV infrastructure last year. How much did that cost you?
About 250,000. And how do you feel so far about that investment? We feel great. Why? That was the why. Well, I think it's too soon to rate. And again, we don't have any veto sale yet. But I mean, I think we need to have them. I mean, if we're moving into that era, you know, in 2026, Honda's going to have quite a few other models that are going to be EV. So, I mean, you just have to have the infrastructure to service them. All right, it's not just the charts, it's the lifts, it's the, you know, the forklift, it's the training of the technicians. I mean, it's not just having charge about there.
Yeah. I loved the long term mindset. I loved the long term mindset. So, Yeah, I think being prepared is probably such a good tip just because if you are bringing new customers into your fold into your dealerships and giving them a great experience there probably is probably more important than just taking care of your current customers. It's like, you know, we if we can do things right and not leave you astray. Because it definitely feels like there are some retail challenges that, you know, other companies have faced from EV customers and a lot of complaints there. And maybe I was a little bit prestigious on the on the feeling feeling great. But I mean, on the serious note, again, I think it's a necessity, we have to do it and where the industries had it not having an infrastructure to be able to service EVs and sell them. I mean, honestly, it's not sustainable. Yeah. Do you think that this, you know, EV bump is actually a bump in a road? Like, are we still on a secular incline? Jen Jessica kind of posed that to either of you. I think there's quite a, it's, you know, I think my guess is good as yours. But I think there's still challenges in the entire EV experience for the consumer. Although I think manufacturers have sold the range anxiety, I think the charging experience, unless you own a home and you're there at a set time and you don't drive as many miles per day, it's a challenge for a customer.
So if you see, for example, on your navi screen that, okay, there's six chargers and four of them are busy, but two are available. It doesn't mean that they're available. They might be out of order. So when you pull the pull up there, there might be a 30 or 40 minute wait to get into a next in line just to go charge. There is, for example, if the charger is up to 150 kilowatts per hour, which is a fast charge, and all six chargers are working at the same time, you pull in it from the same circuit, I guess I'm not an electrician, but your, your download or upload, whatever the right word is, cuts down in half to 75 kilowatts per hour. So you charge from 20 to 80 percent, goes from 30 minutes to hour and a half. And if you're working professional in the middle of the day, that needs a little bit of juice, you know, waiting for two hours to try to get some, some, some, some electricity or some of the charge, it's just not an option.
So it really, it really encompasses a certain consumer with a certain lifestyle that would, you know, enjoy the EV experience. It's definitely not for everybody. So if we solve that, because a lot of the manufacturers, what they're doing is they're pretty, I feel like they're producing the cars, but they're not really producing the charge and network. And those cars are being dumped onto already congested networks that are out there, such as EV Go, you know, Tesla or Electrify America. And so I can tell you that just in the last 12 months, you can, you can, 12 months, there's a lot more EVs that are utilizing the same network. And it's gotten a lot easier here in the last 12 months. And it's only going to get worse unless we build more chargers and more infrastructure. It's that I would bet there would be a certain segment of the consumer. Once they have that experience, they're just going to be turned off on it unless that particular piece improves.
And yeah, just to tack on to what Jen is saying about just the EV experience, electrification experience, I would say everything that you have to do now. And that's another thing that we constantly see when we've talked to customers and in our surveys. And actually, it was the fifth most popular reason as to why people don't want to buy an EV is that they don't want to do with the hassle. And what they're referring to is learning all of those things that was just mentioned about where to charge, how to do it, how to plan road trips, how to, you know, rely on public infrastructure if you don't have a single family home or a place where you can charge. All of those things are tasks.
And even if you love the idea of buying an EV and even if it's exciting, you still have to accomplish all these tasks, which people don't like to do. And I don't blame them because it is definitely difficult, especially if you have any resources of, you know, or any experience in this area, even finding, you know, someone was telling me, like, Oh, I got to find electrician to install into my house. I don't even want to do that. And I think we have to help solve that piece as well and make it not seem like such a task and make it as easy and seamless as possible. But I think that that is going to be, you know, a real challenge because it is, it is a different relationship with your vehicle than you have with a gas powered vehicle. And people have to to realize that and embrace it for them to be happy with their vehicle, which is ultimately what we want. Yeah, I don't I don't think EVs are going to be 100% of our or our business. Well, tell us a governor Newsome and Joe Biden at this point.
You know, it's funny. I was just thinking like, I know there's some dealerships that specialize in EVs, but it feels like it feels like it would be very helpful if like one of these dealerships that specializes in EVs actually have like a concierge process, right? Because everything you just mentioned, like I would not want to deal with that. Plus, like, you know, people's time is super valuable. And so to your point, right, it's not just install a charge on my home. That's like, the, you know, that's the table stakes one, but like an actual concierge for every, every other little thing in between. So just a thought for anyone listening, maybe someone has some creative ideas.
Anywho, all right, well, really great insights. Jessica, looking forward to Q2. What are you looking out for? You know, what data are you expecting to shift most? Well, I think probably the one we're looking most at is incentives to see what exactly happens in that arena if someone starts to spend a little bit more. What we have seen in Q1 is that there's been a really unusual selldown for 2023. It started off very fast. And we thought, Oh gosh, by then, by by fall of last year, all the 2023 model years would be gone. And that has not been the case. It seems like there's a lot more lingering even in the first quarter. So is that selldown complete in Q2? Are we going into the summer with some 2023s, which would be a little atypical?
And that's why I think incentives will come into play to see exactly how automakers are going to shift those vehicles. And of course, I think that's what everyone will be looking at incentives and inventory as well to see exactly what happens in that arena. Yeah, inventory is a big one. Jan, what are you expecting to see in your store? I think we're in a better position than most manufacturers. You know, Honda has been very disciplined about their inventory and they're continuing to be disciplined, at least in our conversations with them, that they want to stick to about a 30 day supply.
So with incentives, I feel like the other strategy that Honda's been implementing is if I would take their core court, for example, they're actually going to produce less of them just so they don't have to spend money on incentive, which was almost unheard of pre in the pre-COVID years. So that's definitely a change. So but I would agree with what Jessica said. Well, great conversation. Thank you, Jessica Caldwell, head of insights at Edmunds, Jen Belluive, GM of norm reads, Honda superstore. Thanks for coming on. This was really, really insightful. Great. Thank you. Thank you, sir. All right. Hope you enjoyed that episode.
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