FORT MYERS, Fla. — Inflation is causing prices for consumer goods to soar at a rate we haven’t seen in years.
One of those areas the hardest hit is the automotive industry. It stems back to the supply-chain issue we’re facing right now. Shipping boats loaded with goods are being left in harbors leaving supply low and demand high.
"We already have a debt in this country of about 28-trillion and we just keep printing money, right?" says Adam Bruno, Certified Financial Fiduciary. "So the idea is eventually we’ll have to replace that debt somehow. So prices are going to be affected by that.”
According to Bruno, this is the largest increase in inflation we’ve seen over the course of the last 30 years. He says we’re on track to have a year where inflation is between 6-7%. To put that into perspective, the 100-year average is about 3.25%. Creating both short-term and long-term outcomes.
"It’s going to hit us very hard when that tax bill, all of a sudden, increases," said Bruno. "We’ve seen little inklings of that so far- little changes, things that have happened on the hill that have led us to know that this is the discussion right now. Taxes are going to have to go up.”
Meanwhile, you can pay more money for a used car now than you would paying the MSRP on a brand-new vehicle. Ryan Gambill, a finance manager at Honda of Fort Myers, says they used to sell about 1,000 cars a month.
"Depending on what store and brand you work for, when they sell a couple hundred cars a month and you don’t have those cars in the lot, that’s what causes the inflation in the price," said Gambill. "Because there’s just no supply.”
A majority of those cars they sold were used. But now, even those are hard to come by. Making trade-in values soar.
"Even the values of the cars have been a lot higher than they’ve ever been before," Gambill said. "Like a trade-in value- a lot of customers look at Kelly Blue Book and the values of their trades are higher. They’re looking at it like, ‘Wow, I paid less for this car a year ago and my value is $5,000 higher.’”
With such a high demand for used cars right now Gambill says, if you can afford to, now is the time to sell. And if you can hold off on buying that new car, Gambill says do it.
According to Gambill, this could go on for another three to four months… which might also see a dip in prices.
