American Customers Still Paying For Bells and Whistles

American Customers Still Paying For Bells and Whistles: Transaction Prices Rise in July
By Justin Stoltzfus

Along with all of the other information that’s coming from major auto analyst firm TrueCar, one of the major revelations for the beginning of August is that, although many more families are doing without bigger and more expensive vehicles, the transaction prices for many modern cars and other rides are actually going up, indicating that more than a few buyers are still looking for vehicles jam-packed with new and exciting features. Specifically, a TrueCar report from the beginning of this month shows transaction prices rising year-over-year for auto makers Chrysler, Ford, Honda and Hyundai. Models for GM, Nissan and Toyota showed a slight decline in transaction prices overall.

This revelation would seem to show that in a time when personal budgets are leaner, consumers are still willing to spend on all the bells and whistles that the range of auto makers are offering in today’s twenty-first century market. In many vehicles, new proprietary tech options are major sellers, whether it’s the SYNC system from Ford or company navigation and audiovisual dashboard items from other makers. Bluetooth and similar technologies also raise the final price for a car sale. On the safety side, some of the newest and most expensive features include things like electronic stability control, blind spot monitoring, collision sensing, rollover sensors, and parallel parking assistance. Some of these items will actually bring accident risks down, but it’s always necessary for buyers to think about how these extras will affect their bottom line.

Another issue that TrueCar deals with is the changing rates of incentive spending that have an effect on buyers. As of the beginning of this month, it seems that incentive spending for all auto makers is slightly up from June, but down in year-over-year comparisons. According to TrueCar’s charts, the biggest current incentive spenders are Nissan with an 8.9% increase, and Honda with a 7.6% increase. This kind of information is useful to buyers who are about to visit a lot, and who are looking for the best combination of rebates and incentives and financing deals to make their purchases less costly over time. For those who are trying to buy more features with less income, it’s even more necessary to take advantage of local deals and special offers from manufacturers in order to control what you pay for your next car.