The largest car dealer in the USA is struggling - falling sales and profits and redundancies. Is this because new cars are poorly built and no one wants them, or is it a wider problem with the US economy.
I used to change my car every three or four years or when there was a new model. Now I’m keeping my eight year old car. I want buttons not touch screens - this might be an age thing 
It stands to reason that the bottom leg of the K recovery is getting squeezed and is likely to keep vehicle longer as long as it runs. $50k new car avg has to slow things down. Last car below $20k no longer available. Used car prices probably up too.
No surprise that sales growth is slowing.
You would think autoparts like Autozone and OReilly would be doing well, but apparently tariffs are hitting hard. Bargains are harder to find.
I’ve been looking at new cars (not interested in buying, just interested). There are touchscreens everywhere, and not just in electric cars. If I were a manufacturer I would consider building a ‘non-electric’ car with just the basics and sell it at a rock bottom price. There must be a market for one of these.
Each switch costs the manufacturer more, each one needs to be installed and electrically connected, each one is a potential failure point. A touchscreen still has to have a wiring bundle throughout the car, of course, but you eliminate a dozen switches or more, make the connection (on the dashboard end) one big plug instead of a dozen smaller ones, you save money.
Manufacturers went overboard when they found out they could do this; they’re coming back now, but you’re not going to find a car with no toiuchscreen again, I don’t think.
Probably not. There was an example on YouTube of a screen failing and it costing $3k for a new one.
I’m keeping my current car, switches and all.
There is also this problem that I’ve come across recently:
Fancy trading in a car and rolling over debt on a depreciating asset. no wonder people aren’t buying.
That is not how cars are put together. The component is built and plugged in. Where do you come up with this stuff?
The average car cost is in the $50k area. You really think buttons are cost-prohibitive? Be serious.
Sigh. Yes, but the dashboard component is pre-assembled somewhere else before the assembly line at the factory. If you look behind that, you will find a maze of wires going to each individual component - or a single cable running to a touch screen.
Since you like AI so much, here’s the answer to “Do manufacturers put in touch screens to lower costs?”
Yes, carmakers often use touchscreens to lower production costs
Replacing dozens of physical buttons, knobs, and their associated wiring with a single screen reduces component count and labor, saving money per vehicle. While sold as modern, this approach reduces manufacturing complexity, though some luxury brands are now reversing this trend due to consumer demand for tactile controls
I inhabit a universe called “reality”. I’ve also spent time behind the dash of my boat and several cars. I also read voraciously. That’s where I come up with this “stuff”.
You are in make believe land. Buttons on digital equipment are not strewn wires in complex mazes. Where do you get this stuff?
Yes, major car manufacturers—including Hyundai, Volkswagen, Porsche, and Mercedes-Benz—are bringing back physical buttons and knobs to EVs and hybrids. Driven by safety regulations, high customer frustration, and poor usability of screens, brands are abandoning all-digital interiors for essential functions like climate control, audio volume, and hazard lights.
[image]Autoblog +5
Car Max is struggling because they sell overpriced used cars. It’s a good place to go test drive a few cars. Not a good place to buy. Often an equivalent new car with discounts and rebates can be found for less than a used one at Car Max.
Don’t like touch screens? Try a Mazda. My 2025 Mazda 3 6-speed manual hatch has no touch screen. Cost $30k. Starts at about $25k for the sedan with auto transmission.
My last car purchase was from Car Max. It is coming up on three years now. Experience was both positive and negative. Overall, generally positive. If your typical “feature” on a used car transaction is haggling over different aspects of price, there was none of that in my Car Max experience. I suppose if the Carfax report of the car you selected has something negative, one could decide to “have a discussion”. But, that was not my experience. The major negative for me was the close out process. Was that because I opted to pay for the car with my own funds rather than use Car Max financing? Don’t know. But, annoying enough for me to still remember that portion on an otherwise pleasant car buying experience.
Likewise. We bought a used van there two years ago; we had to have specific features and rather thanh chase down 15 different used car lots (and deal with those salesmen) we chose to go to CarMax to get it. They found the van we wanted at a lot in Virginia and we paid a modest amount to have it delivered here, after which we test drove, blah blah blah.
In all we paid probably $500 too much, but I didn’t care about that; what did bother me was the “guarantee”, which was supposed to be a year, but it turns out only the first 30 days is “bring it back here”, after that it’s “take it to one of our affiliated repair centers” - which are the same places I would go anyway The catch is that after the 30 days it’s a certain amount or nothing, ie if the repair is $100 I eat it. If it’s over $250 I still have to pay $250 and then they dicker with the “affiliate.” That was not clearly explained at the time, and I resented it when I found out.
That and the “buy this upgrade” and “insure this stuff” and all the other claptrap that happens in the office during the closeout. I guess that’s standard everywhere, but it stinks.
I recently sold my car, the process is pretty smooth. I had an appraisal from edmonds.com, I used that to shop around like toyota dealer, carvana and few others. Everyone quoted lower price, then I went to carmax. Initially they quoted lower price and once I showed the estimate, they said, that is the price they will buy it. BTW, my car is hardly used < 20K and in a very good condition. But the process of selling itself is pretty smooth. It took about an 40~45 minutes to finish the paperwork, and that is it. They gave a cheque which got credited into my account next day. It is the buying process.
Now, the business has suffered last year to the then management, specifically CEO’s, few bad mistakes. Which I have details on other boards. The biggest challenge is the company needs to increase sales. Reduce the time car sits on their lot, as it depreciates. Lastly, they need to make their omni channel for buyer more smooth, and move their sales more online. The commission to their sales people is eating into their margin.
They should be able to peer-perform.
@Kingran Quite interesting. Just for grins, I decided to quiz Edmonds on an appraisal of my car. Lots of questions on the form, and finally it says, check my email inbox for the valuation. When I open the referenced email, there is a CarMax addendum - They would like to buy my car. Heh-heh!! Not at that valuation – significant cut due to mileage.
Sounds like you did your homework and were prepared. I mean, that Edmonds appraisal has all sorts of data that might be help explain why CarMax offered you the price in the estimate. Given the age of your sold vehicle, I would guess the grading was between clean and outstanding.
My vehicle was in an excellent condition. I had the odometer, VIN details, that’s all I input. Most of the other questions were straight forward for us.
Car Max is a good place to get a free appraisal, and test drive a car or two while they are appraising your car. We’ve sold a couple of cars to them. The last two went to Carvana who gave a far better offer.
I wouldn’t likely buy a car from Car Max or Carvana. Remember when comparing, Car Max and Carvana prices are fixed. Whatever your local dealer is asking is negotiable.
Over the years I’ve purchased 4 used vehicles from Carmax, and have sold 2 used vehicles to Carmax. In all cases, the transactions were very smooth with no major issues. Once when we bought a car from them, there was a small mistake on the listing (I think they accidentally included a feature from a higher trim that didn’t exist in the trim we bought) and while closing the sale, they voluntarily dropped the price by $500. We would have bought it anyway without the drop in price (this was mid-Covid era) because we needed another vehicle right away due to one of our kids starting a new job that required commuting by car. They even put a big red bow on the car when I brought said kid to Carmax to pick up their new used car!
For the first 3 purchases, we dealt with the same guy that we randomly met the first time we walked into the Carmax facility. For the first time, seems like they do a simple round-robin of which salesperson gets the next customer that walks in, so we got him. But for subsequent purchases, we had his card and called him directly before coming in to look at vehicles. They generally have “fair” prices, but not “good” prices, but I just don’t have any appetite to interact with traditional car dealers, or shudder, even worse, used car dealers.
The main Audi dealer made a complete hash of selling the car that I ended up with. They always took pictures of their cars against a tiled wall, so I could always tell that I was looking at the same car. They then advertised the car on four different sites at four different prices! I went into the showroom and spoke to the salesman who asked which Audi Q5 I was after. I told him the one advertised at £x (lowest price). He took me to the car which had a sticker price of more than £x! He then offered me £2,000 more for my old Q5 than they had offered me a year before so I happily bought the new Q5. Who said that cars don’t appreciate
Very unusual behaviour for a large main dealer selling a luxury car.