ABC 11 by Michael Perchick
March was a busy month for Dan Kastner and the team at Atlas Motor Co. in Raleigh.
"On the sales side, we have seen an uptick. There have been a handful of folks that have expressed that they have purchased the car earlier than they expected. There have been some folks who, instead of buying a new car, went to a cheaper used car. But on the service side, we have seen a lot of customers come in recently who have tried to get ahead of the curve for saving money on some on due maintenance with us here," said Kastner, who works as the Sales Manager.
Atlas Motor Co. specializes in used BMW sales, with Kastner noting its reputation and wide array of contacts have enabled the team to continue finding vehicles.
"We have a number of dealers from across the country that contact us with their trade-ins that are BMW models," Kastner said. "We also have sold thousands of cars, so we have cars that we've sold two, three, four, five, six years ago that are now coming back on trade."
Still, there are challenges.
"Our main point of sourcing is from the wholesale market, and with tariffs that has changed. The wholesale prices have gone up. With that, new car dealers who may be more afraid of new car prices going up are holding onto their trades, which then limits supply, similar to how it did in COVID. Limited supply in the wholesale side makes it harder for us to source inventory," Kastner explained.
Off-camera, two separate used-car dealers told ABC11 that auction prices have increased, cutting into potential profits and leading to price hikes for consumers.
Newly released economic data shows how buyers have worked to minimize those effects. According to analysis from Cox Automotive, there were 1.66 million used vehicles sold at retail last month, up 9.4% from February and 12.2% year-over-year. The rush on sales has led to a dip in supply.
"We're seeing from manufacturers that they're increasing prices by $5,000 just simply because of the impact of tariffs. And that's a significant impact. When you think about a car that you could have purchased for $70,000 and now it's going to be $75,000, and you times that times eight or nine vehicles that you would want to purchase," explained Travis Brisbon, President and CEO of Triangle Corporate Coach and Wisdom Care Transportation.
The business has a fleet of 57 vehicles in North Carolina, catering to audiences such as for corporate events and quinceañeras as well as non-emergency medical transportation.
"We've also seen some customers slow down booking as a result of some of the spending cuts or holding back on spending that they're doing in their organizations," said Brisbon, who added they're further seeing price increases in vehicle maintenance.
The focus now is on balancing rising costs without potentially losing customers.
"That is one of the challenges that we face when we do our strategy sessions. And we try to understand what can we do to not lose money, but also not to drive our consumers away with higher prices," said Maria Brisbon, who serves as Vice President and COO.
The Brisbons participated in a roundtable with other business owners and economic officials in Raleigh on Thursday morning, led by Congresswoman Deborah Ross.
Ross, a Democrat, said there is support about taking action to rein in the president's authority to unilaterally enact tariffs.
"There are a lot of businesses that have become global, because trade is global, and they are pushing back on the Trump administration and pushing back on my Republican colleagues. These economic issues should be bipartisan," said Ross.
Several Republicans, including North Carolina's US Sen. Thom Tillis, have signed onto a measure toward that effect; the White House has previously stated President Trump would veto such a bill should it land on his desk.
Trophy Brewing Company hosted the event.
"We've seen some of our packaging costs go up by 3-5% increases that have been reportedly related to tariffs. We've seen other elements go up 8-10%. That's not what we're really worried about. We're worried about is the possibility that those could turn into 15, 20% at some point in time. And really, we just don't know. And that's the way it's really impacts us," said co-owner and Chief Brewing Officer Les Stewart.
Though some big-box chains have the flexibility to stock up on supplies to try to get ahead of increased prices, Stewart said that's not feasible for them.
"We don't have the cash flow nor the storage space to be able to do that kind of backstop," Stewart said.
On an individual level, some consumers have tried to stock up where they could. Advanced estimates of US retail and food service sales from March released by the U.S. Census Bureau show a 1.4% increase from February and 4.6% from last March. Further, retail trade sales were up 1.4% from February and 4.6% over last year. While the figures are adjusted for season variation, holiday, and trading-day differences, they do not account for price changes.
Link to full article: https://abc11.com/post/businesses-assess-effects-tariffs-consumers-take-action/16192702/