If you are hoping to purchase a new vehicle, you could be left idling, waiting for several months.
Sunrise Toyota is experiencing a three- to four-month wait time for new vehicles to arrive.
“There is a (computer) chip shortage, plant shutdowns, and delays,” explained general sales manager, Dane Raybould. “If there is a part issue, that slows the plant down (and) it shuts production down, but it doesn’t stop the consumer from buying vehicles.”
Buyers are getting frustrated, Raybould concedes - especially people who need a car immediately following an accident.
“People ask us if we are going out of business,” he said of people who see an almost empty lot where once shiny new cars dominated. “It’s really hard for us because we have customers coming in who want to buy cars, but they don’t want to wait; they want something now.”
Fortunately, the supply shortage has resulted in no layoffs at Sunrise Toyota. Sales representatives are still working hard to get customers to put their orders through, Raybould said.
“If people know what they want then we suggest they place an order,” he said. “Otherwise, they will sit and wait for one that will be sold before it even arrives on the lot.”
Raybould doesn’t envision the situation getting any better until the pandemic is over, noting the worker shortage is a big issue.
He said Sunrise Toyota has cars out at sea, on container ships that are waiting to get unloaded. However, there is nobody at the ports to unload them.
“It’s an ongoing ... issue that we have no control over,” he said. “It’s frustrating because we want to sell cars and we really can’t.”
Jim Wilson Chevrolet Buick GMC is facing the same problem. Right now, wait times vary from four to six months.
“I have had a customer personally that has had a vehicle on order since last May and it has not come in yet,” says sales manager, James Wilson. “There is a shipping shortage, but there also seems to be a shortage of trucks to ship them across the border."
Jim Wilson Chevrolet Buick GMC has some trucks still sitting in Michigan, built and ready to go, but there is no one to ship them.
“The trucks seem to be the bigger portion of our sales, which is a problem,” Wilson said. “We just don’t sell as many cars.”
For the most part, buyers have been understanding, Wilson says.
“It’s surprising,” he said. “When you are looking to make the second biggest purchase of your life you are expecting it to come the way you want it and when it’s supposed to arrive.”
In years prior to the pandemic, there would be 250 vehicles on the lot in west Orillia. During COVID, there are times when there have been zero new vehicles on the lot.
“Most of the vehicles arriving are already sold,” he said. “Usually, we have a bunch of vehicles to look at, sell, and make changes to, and now we can’t do that.”
Before COVID, Wilson had nine salespeople on staff. Now, he has five with another two laid off.
Wilson is hopeful that things will start to get back to normal in the summertime.
“With the talks about provinces lifting certain restrictions and moving freely, I’m starting to have some positive thoughts about the summertime,” he said. “I’ve been fooled before, but that’s light at the end of the tunnel kind of thinking.”
Wilson thanks the community for their support during the pandemic.
