I would buy today if I found the right 200 at a good price. Stuff keeps happening to delay my spouse's approval - Thursday it was $9k in closing costs on a commercial loan that should have been rolled into the loan but weren't. Before that it was $4k a month in AirBnB income evaporating overnight.. There's always something.!
Before the recession I was looking for a 2013-15 and now can include 2016-17 in the search because they have moved to the edge of the $3x,000 mark. It used to be that to get a 2016-17 for a 3-handle you were only seeing vehicles that had been in horrible wrecks and somehow avoided rebuilt/salvage titles. Several for sale now have been in bad crashes, including the blue one in NC.
On your problems below, most dealerships have been deemed essential businesses because of the service department and local lobbying and almost all dealerships are open. You can probably test drive a 200 without the salesman in the car if you ask and they have taken a copy of your license and you leave them some collateral like your wife (jk). You could also wear a mask and gloves and tell the junior salesman to sit in the 3rd row lol.
On problem 2, you can still get a car shipped with no problem - maybe even for cheaper than last month. Dealers and Mud members are connected with good auto shipping services and there is always Uship. Trucking is essential and has not been interrupted for the most part.
problem 3 depends on what you find and the price and if you want to buy it. If we go into a Great Depression (unlikely) you might look foolish for buying a luxury vehicle in month 2. If the economy recovers you might feel you got a deal in a moment of uncertainty. But Land Cruisers, like all vehicles, are not investments that might "go back up" with the stock market. They continually depreciate over time - just at a slower rate after their initial steep curve.
Some dealerships are stubborn and try to hold the line on a non-competitive price and sit on inventory for years. More successful dealerships set a competitive, dynamic price and move their inventory extremely quickly. Floor-plan financing companies don't like to see dealerships sitting on stale inventory of used cars that they have financed. I believe most used car inventory is financed and time is not the friend of a financed depreciating asset.
Sorry to derail this thread - back to real world transaction prices for 200 series!
A 2017 with 101k miles sold for $42,000 in Palm Beach, FL this week. White with black seats, said no accidents but I suspect a repainted rear bumper.
Who is actually buying right now? Being cooped up like this REALLY has me wanting to pickup a landcruiser and take sometrips when it is all over.
Problem 1 - I've never actually driven a 200. I really can't buy without doing that. I can find one on a local dealership (they are open, crazily enough) but I'm not going to get in a car with some random salesman right now!
Problem 2 - Once I'm ready to buy, how do i go get it? I'd almost certainly be buying from half a continent away. I know the planes are almost empty, but I'm pretty sure my wife would kill me if I announced I was taking a flight to get a car.
Problem 3 - does it even make sense to buy right now if I can get past the first two issues? 20 million and growing fresh unemployed. Eventually those folks are going to start getting cars repossessed - banks can't waive payments forever. Seems like a flood of used cars, the newly destitutes might be picking up the cheap used Chevy Sonics - but they won't picking up $50000 used Landcruisers. Those of us lucky enough to hold our jobs (and also not have to pay for the upkeep of several unemployed family members) can only absorb so many of them without prices decreasing!
