What's putting the brakes on America's auto industry?
Set back from Lakewood’s bustling, traffic-laden Route 9 is the soft-blue stucco headquarters of Priority Auto Mall. Just a year and a half ago, its parking lot was packed, featuring row after row of Camrys and minivans, complemented by some token Highlanders and a Lexus or two thrown in for good measure. On this balmy summer day, though, just a dozen or so cars are on the lot.
Moshe Kramer is Priority’s owner, and he steps out of the sleek glass doors to survey his lot.
“Anyone buying now is putting down a deposit before the car even hits my lot,” he says. “That’s what kind of demand we’re dealing with.”
Proving his point, when we step inside the shop, we find a sweet young couple recently blessed with their third baby sitting at a desk cluttered with piles of paperwork and old license plates, working out the financing agreement to purchase their first minivan. In more normal times, they would have first perused a variety of vans on the lot, taken two or three vehicles of their liking for a test drive before deciding on one to buy. Now, the husband is putting down a deposit without even seeing the vehicle.
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