Why Now’s A Bad Time To Buy A New Car

If you’re in the market for a new car, buckle up because it’s going to be a rough ride. A new study has some bad news for shoppers: prices are climbing, and inventories are shrinking. Not exactly the kind of combo you want when you’re about to drop a few thousand on a new ride.

That’s a terrible combination for buyers, as Cox Automotive found new vehicle inventories dropped 7.4% in April to 2.49 million units. Inventories are also down 10.5% from a year ago and down 200,000 units from March.

More: Panic Buying Hits America As Trump’s Tariffs Spark Car Buying Frenzy

Cox noted it’s not unusual to see sales rise as part of the typical ‘spring bounce,’ but inventories aren’t being replenished as fast as people buying new vehicles. This is being chalked up to tariffs and uncertainty, which caused some automakers to suspend shipments and halt production.

This imbalance pushed the average new vehicle supply to 66 days, which was “down 16 days compared to last year and down six days from last month.” However, supplies vary wildly by automaker, as Toyota and Lexus both have less than a one-month supply of new vehicles. On the flip side, Land Rover, Infiniti, Mitsubishi, Ram, and Jaguar all have more than 100 days’ worth of inventories.

April Days’ Supply of Inventory by Brand / Cox

While sales jumped in April due to fears about price hikes from tariffs, things calmed down a little later in the month. However, one thing that didn’t come down was prices.

Cox says the average new-vehicle listing price at the end of April was $48,656, or $774 (1.6%) more than at the start of the month. That price was also up $1,318 (2.8%) from a year ago. That’s roughly on par with the average transaction price of $48,699.

Speaking of price increases, the damn is starting to break. Ford cited tariffs as part of the reason they were raising prices on the Maverick, Bronco Sport, and Mustang Mach-E. They certainly won’t be the last to do so.

RETAIL DATA USA