PRINCE GEORGE – New or used, all car sales are being impacted by a global microchip shortage.
Advice from those who sell cars is clear, if you like something, buy it now before it’s gone.
“I recommend getting into it while you can, don’t wait,” says Don Fitzpatrick, Senior Product Specialist with the Northland Auto Group.
It’s a true game of supply and demand, views of empty car lots have been seen around Prince George for months in some cases while others are full.
Some car lots have fared better than others, but it has largely been because they’ve been stockpiling used cars when the supply of their own ran low.
Major automakers like General Motors, have been plagued with shortages of microchips which has led to the price of used inventory to balloon, in diesel trucks especially.
The Canadian Consumer Price Index labelled the purchase of a passenger car at 91.4 points in 2010, now in 2021, that number has jumped to 112.1 points.
Commerce expert Charles Scott says it could even get worse.
Scott says with the uptick in items that require microchips, the demand has risen faster than supply, and those five major companies who produce the chips just can’t keep up.
For others to enter the market, the price to start up a plant is billions, Scott says too expensive never mind finding the skilled workers to do the job.
